[Leo Etgen]

Hello Kutscha

The figures that I posted are those included in the account of this operation given in The Luftwaffe Over Germany by Caldwell and Muller compiled by Marktscheffel which describes that the fighters from Prague were recalled when the bombers turned north thus putting them out of range but does not give their number. The figure of 60 is sourced from The Last Flight of the Luftwaffe by Weir which gives this approximation for the aircraft based at Prague and recalled. Interestingly, the Caldwell and Muller book mentions that the OKL war diary in a brief summery states that 183 aircraft were prepared for take-off of which 50 returned. 106 pilots had returned by the end of the day claiming 23 victories and 77 others were still missing. If this is true, then could it be that the number of aircraft based at Prague that were recalled was actually about 15 and not 60?

Horrido!

Leo