Seeking ID of Crashed French a/c Maldingen, Belgium 12.5.40
 

Hello (posted originally on the Luft Board by accident),

Can anyone ID the aircraft type and details of this apparently French a/c SD at Maldingen, Belgium on 12.5.40?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251105424122...122%26_rdc%3D1

and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/251105424209...209%26_rdc%3D1

Any help would be appreciated. The tail wheel, visible in one of these photos, may be the clue needed to ID the a/c type.

Regards,

Re: Seeking ID of Crashed French a/c Maldingen, Belgium 12.5.40
 

Larry

Both items have been removed from e-bay.
Not that I can ID any tailwheel anyway, but perhaps someone else could...

Cheers
Stig

Re: Seeking ID of Crashed French a/c Maldingen, Belgium 12.5.40
 

Larry,

Due to the removal of the pictures from eBay I have no idea what was on them, but Maldingen seems a bit far to the east of Belgium and on 12 May 1940 was occupied by the Germans already. One should read Maldegem, which is between Brugge (Bruges) and Gent instead?
For a week from 12 May 1940 on GC III with MS-406 fighter operated from that base.

Again, I haven't seen the pics, so my surmise only.

Regards,

Leendert

Re: Seeking ID of Crashed French a/c Maldingen, Belgium 12.5.40
 

Larry, all,

Since you posted it on both boards, I copy my answer on this thread, which is indeed the better one.

To start, I think Maldingen is correct, and not Maldegem. The pictures are taken by German soldiers on May 11, and by that time they were still very far from Maldegem. Maldingen is some 10km south if St Vith in the Belgian Ardennes.

Next I think this simply involves a Battle, the only type lost in this area (and unfortunately in high numbers). Since they attacked German columns and were shot down doing so there are pictures of the crashed and burning aircraft. There are similar pictures of a crshed and burning No. 226 Sqn Battle.

The caption/text on the first picture shows 10.5 which is then corrected into 11.5. This seems logical because on 12.5 no aircraft were lost anymore this north. On the 12th all Battle actions were targeting Bouillon.
However, on May 11 two attacks took place against the roads around St Vith, which is a few km north of Maldingen in the Ardennes.
Around 11.00 a.m. four Battles of No. 218 Sqn and four from No. 88 Sqn attacked. Seven were lost, the eighth (of 88 Sqn) being written off on return.
Of these seven, six have fairly accurate crash locations, none of which is close to Maldingen. There is one lost "towards St Vith":
Battle K9325 of No. 218 Sqn, the crew of F/O Hudson, Sgt Thomson and AC1 Ellis. They succesfully escaped (by parachute). No crash location or aircraft code known.
It could be this one.

As always speculation by deduction.
Of course open to any better explanation.

Regards, Pieter

Re: Seeking ID of Crashed French a/c Maldingen, Belgium 12.5.40
 

try google's webcache:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...K8ArgI&ct=clnk

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...K8ArgI&ct=clnk