German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Trying to figure out some written text on https://catalog.archives.gov/id/3174...objectPage=878 and specifically the lines preceding and after 'Adinkerke' in the right hand corner.

It appears to involve an a/c crash (Allied? German?) around 15.45 hrs on 8 VII 1941 with 'Pilot tot' (?).

Help to decipher the few lines in text is appreciated, thanks.

Leendert

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

You need to be more specific as it appears there are 1424 pages to sift through............?

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Link should open on relative Page. If not, it's image/Page 878. Leendert

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Hello Leendert,
the text is
"15.45 etwa 4 km südostwärts Adinkerke feindlicher Jäger nach Luftkampf brennend abgestürzt. Pilot tot" (= 15.45 about 4 km southeast of Adinkerke an enemy fighter crashed in flames after an aerial combat. Pilot dead).

Regards
Leo

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Trouble is I can see no RAF matches unless body was not recovered while the only possible German is Uffz Held who was killed north of St Omer

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Thanks for deciphering text for me.
Described RAF loss can be identified as Spitfire R7218 of No. 145 Squadron with F/O Jiri Machacek (KIA). Came down in "De Moeren/Les Moëres" BE/FR border area between Dunkirk and Adinkerke/Veurne (Furnes).

Leendert

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Sounds right and he is still recorded as missing.
https://fcafa.com/2024/10/11/jiri-ma...ne-of-the-few/

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

I think I am getting blind, I still cannot see the entry.
Anyway, there was another Spitfire lost in the area of Koksijde, Spitfire IIB P8502 RF-C with S/L Tadeusz Arentowicz still missing, believed lost in sea.
The one mentioned in FInke's loss report must have been Spitfire IIA P7845 ZF-C of Sgt Józef Biel. I think he was the only Spit pilot to bail out in that combat.
Franek

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

The link Chris gave in #7 has a little mistake. It says Machacek was shot down at about 10.00 a.m. This however is the time when witnesses appeared at the town office of De Moeren (BE side of border) on the 9th of July to record the pilot's death.
Statement has that the pilot was found on 8 July 1941 at (around) 16:00 hrs, so approx. the time the German report has.

Leendert

Re: German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941
 

Weirdly the link takes me to one (printed) page on my laptop and to another (handwritten) one on my iPad.