Quote:
Originally Posted by ju55dk
Hi Christopher.
Was your father also with Hearne on the 9 of april 1945 when Hearne claimed a Bf 109 near Aalborg?
Junker
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I saw Dad today and also looked in in his logbook. On 9 April 1945 he was with another flight of Mustangs that failed to rendezvous with the Mosquitos they were to escort, and turned back to Peterhead. They only booked 1.5 hrs of flight time which would not be enough time to go to Norway and back.
On the other hand, he told me that after the Lista operation, they met four Bf109s over the North Sea on their return home. He and his C.O. split up, and each of them briefly attacked a pair of the Messerschmitts. However, the Germans fled for home and no additional kills were claimed. He thinks it is possible that one or more of the German aircraft were hit, and perhaps this explains the missing aircraft you mentioned. He was told later that those four Messerschmitts had been strafing the Newcastle area.
I am noticing that his memory is much more faulty in the past six months or so than it used to be, so I would not take these statements as gospel if they conflict with official records. I also note from his logbook that the dogfight over Lista/Lister, when Peter Hearne shot down a 109, was on April 11, rather than April 14. The next entry is for April 15th so perhaps my dad's book is in error, or perhaps Hearne did not file his claim until the 14th.