Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

The rear and mid upper gunner of Lancaster NE170 of 166 Sqn claimed a Me 410 shot down at 0226 hours on 8 June 1944 on a raid on railway near Versailles.

Would anyone be able to pinpoint a source to a possible id of the German aircraft?

Thanks

Mikkel Plannthin

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

The only Me 410 unit in France (that I can think of right now, at least) was 1.(F)/121. According to Allied intelligence, its aircraft (number not given) were up from 0336-0547 (Summer Time), photographing the Cherbourg Peninsula and warships nearby.

1.(F)/33 also had a few 410s but was based down on the Mediterranean coast.

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

Nick
Thank you! I suppose the crew might have wrongly identified the a/c. I guess it could have been a Me 210 or another twin-engined night fighter.

Mikkel

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

II/KG51 lost three Me410s on the 7-6-44 (7/8th ?) but these were lost on an intruder mission to England and thought to have come down in the North Sea. Cannot get at my records for now due to being put in the loft over Christmas.

Regards
Brian Bines

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

Brian,
Sorry to hear that you've been put in the loft over Christmas! I'd forgotten about II./KG 51 — they'd been operating from Soesterberg, Holland and I'm not sure when they deployed any elements to French bases.

Mikkel,
Neither the Me 410 nor the 210 really served as a night fighter (apart from disappointing trials). The 410 was used offensively as an intruder, carrying bombs and guns but no radar.

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

Gents
Thank you. I've been looking into the documents again. While the combat report for my crew for "my" crew clearly states that it was a Me 410, another crew was attacked three minutes later. Their combat report states that this aircraft was a Me 110. Surely this was another aircraft as the first had been shot down at the time, but it may indicate a unit operating Me 110 rather than Me 410s was in action.

Mikkel

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

The Michael Balss book 'Deutche Nachtjagd' shows the loss of Bf 110 G-4 3C+BS 480161 of 9/NJG4 on 7/8-6-44 Uffz Philipp Feilen baled out wounded, Uffz Richard Keib and Gef. Werner Lohmann both gefallen. However its mission area is InvasionFront Caen, no location of crash or cause shown just that if failed to return from a combat mission.

Re: Me 410 (?) shot down 8 June 44 near Versailles
 

Just to add fuels to the fire, George Preddy claimed 4 Ju-88s in late July '44. Looking at the gun camera film, it is clear that they are ME-410s.