JG.300 info help
 

Gentlemen,

I'm researching the death of my uncle (1stLt Harry S. Cook, 427th BS, 303rd BG) who was KIA on 15 Aug 44. This was the action portrayed in the Keith Ferris mural "Fortresses Under Fire" in which the the 303rd was engaged by units of JG.300 and JG.3.

I was hoping that someone with the JG.300 history (vol 1) could provide me with the details of the engagement from the German perspective, as covered by Lorant.

Thanks in advance,

Aldo

Re: JG.300 info help
 

You probably already have this, but here goes.

http://www.303rdbg.com/


Regards,
Mike

Re: JG.300 info help
 

Yeah Mike,

I've been all through the available 303rd info, spoken with each of the surviving crewmembers, and gathered the pertinent archival records from the National Archives and the USAF. I'd like to get more details from the JG.300 perspective. The info from the Luftwaffe fighter claims site helped, but I thought the JG.300 book might have first-person account(s) of the engagement.

Thanks,

Aldo

Re: JG.300 info help
 

The book describes the battle in details from the JG 300's view as well (between the pages 284 and 288) and contains the remembrance of Uffz. Ernst Schröder about the engagement too.
The authors are members of this site, so they maybe can give you some more details (but in such a busy day, generally not possible to say 'who shot down who' exactly)

Re: JG.300 info help
 

bump

Re: JG.300 info help
 

[quote=aldodog;47134]Gentlemen,

I'm researching the death of my uncle (1stLt Harry S. Cook, 427th BS, 303rd BG) who was KIA on 15 Aug 44. This was the action portrayed in the Keith Ferris mural "Fortresses Under Fire" in which the the 303rd was engaged by units of JG.300 and JG.3.

I was hoping that someone with the JG.300 history (vol 1) could provide me with the details of the engagement from the German perspective, as covered by Lorant.

Thanks in advance,

Re: JG.300 info help
 

Good Morning aldodog !

Five of the 9 B-17 Bombers of 303rd BG, which were shot up on August 15th, 1944 came down in my area in Germany. This is around Bitburg, pretty close to the Luxembourg border and the town of Trier.

Your uncle's B-17 finally exploded in air over the area of Malberg - Fliessem - Malbergweich in a valley of the Kyll river, which is located about 8 km due North of Bitburg.

In the final stage of the descent, your uncle obviously left the aircraft, but his parachute failed to open. A resident of Fliessem and his father recovered his body and brought it to the Malberg local cemetary for burial services.

This man is still in the possession of a photo of the person, he found at the crash-location. I am in the possession of a copy of the photo.

You should not focuss the German fighter-action for this event only to JG 300. The JG 3, IV. Gruppe is claiming nine B-17 for the same time-frame in the same area.

I hope, this helps for your researches. For more information, please contact me offboard.

All the best !

Horst Weber

Re: JG.300 info help
 

Thank you for responding Mr Weber, I've sent you a private message.