Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Cornwell
... I regret that the evidence available does not allow us to identify the French pilot(s) responsible with the certainty you suggest.... S/Lt François Perina claimed a Ju87 '8 km east of Bouillon' (confirmed by 47 ZOAE) which I consider the more plausible candidate for that flown by Migeod. Unfortunately, Cne Jean-Marie Accart's account of this action in his Chasseurs du Ciel (1946) throws no further light on the matter as he was not personally involved.
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I see your point. I agree that my 'conclusive' statement was a bit premature, as i did not know about Perina's claims. I found an October 1995 interview with Perina in which he stated: “On Sunday, May 12, the Germans occupied Sedan. Junkers Ju-87s were already dive-bombing the airfield at Sedan when we arrived and attacked them. One Stuka was just in front of me; I hardly had to aim. In four minutes I got four of them, one after the other. Two fell in French lines and were confirmed by the confirmation officer, the other two came down in German lines and could only be counted as probables.” Heinz has not mentioned St.G. 76 having suffered such a catastrophic loss (11 out of 12) in conjunction with his shootdown, so I'm wondering if he were located elsewhere than in the midst of this particular flight/staffel of doomed Stukas. Perhaps we'll be able to ask him a bit more about the large losses of that day. La Meslee's victories, as you said, seem to have occurred more singly (geographically and timeline separated), one of which being cited as near Boullion. Could you provide me the source (a quote and reference) regarding Perina's naming "east of Boullion" as the specific location of one of his shootdowns? Was it in Accart's book? Could you provide a specific quote if so?
Thanks