[Günther Ott]

Thank you all for hinting on the involvement of 97th FS, this helps me a lot.

Here are the details on the two Ju 52s which were lost during their sweep on 17 April 1944:

Ju 52/3m g8e W.Nr. 130859 1Z+FH of 1./TG 1 came down in flames at Pancevo . All 4 crew members were injured, however, the pilot, Ofw. Willi Lichy, died at the military hospital 521 at Belgrade on the same day.

Second victim was unarmed Ju 52/3m g14e W.Nr. 640996 D-AOCA “Harry Rother”, which was enroute on Lufthansa’s scheduled service E.17 from Vienna to Belgrade, continuing to Sofia, Thessaloniki and Athens with a crew of 3. Aboard were 4 passengers and a large load of mail. The radio operator had noticed the downing of the other Ju 52 and the crew tried to escape in vain by changing direction and flying close to the ground. Hits were received from the rear and from starboard and the plane caught fire immediately. It crashed at Alt-Pasua (Stare Pazova) about 26 km north of Semlin (Zemun) airfield. Three of the four passengers, among them a Red Cross nurse, were killed in the crash while the fourth died at hospital after two days. The pilot, 47 year old Flugkapitän Kurt Vogel, died of his serious injuries on 23 April 1944, while the two other crew members survived with only minor injuries.

It still puzzles me what it was about with the strafing of Semlin (Zemun) airfield. It is known that this attack took place only after the all-clear signal was released there, so that the majority of the 15th AF planes were supposed of having been on their way back to Italy. What other USAAF or possibly RAF unit could have been involved?

Regards,

Günther