[Sue-88]

I wanted to let you know that the radio operator on this flight was my dad, Heinz Rattay. I know this is an old post. I found it doing an Internet search one day looking for info on my dad's flight crew, group, etc.

There is an explanation as to why there were only three crew members, but it's kind of involved. If anyone is interested, I can share more. It was curious to me about the Dole/Tavaux airfield, pretty sure that was disinformation. I have that they took off from Montelimar, where they were based and flew to Coganc for a briefing. Also interesting that they listed the pilot as slightly wounded and my dad as not wounded.

The pilot was in pretty bad shape, too weak to grasp the rescue line. They had already bypassed him when they picked up my dad who had broken ribs and pushed in teeth. Maybe wounded only applies to AA shots? I do know they checked and rechecked FUGe/altimeter. It showed as working but they doubted it for some reason.

The third guy was in the belly when they hit. If I understood my dad right he was the navigator/observer there to drop the torpedos kind of like a bomadier? Or maybe a gunner? (need to research that a bit) They thought he died on impact, and all the ammunition cartridges landed on top of him.

My dad tried to open the canopy when the plane hit the water but it would not pop. The plane filled up fast. He went down to the bottom to try to get out the belly hatch, but couldn't get through all the cartridges, etc. At the last possible moment, his hand struck a hole in the nose windscreen. He found out later the pilot got out that way, that's how the pilot (and his life vest) got so cut up. My dad was able to get out through the hole enlarged by the pilot.

Brian,
I and my brothers would like to find out how one gets a copy of that K report 401/1944. We're a little confused about what to request, whether we ask for the whole year and so on, because there were other interrogations of our father later, too. Maybe you could PM on that or direct me to info on this site?

From everything I've read, I'm thinking my dad was part of KG26. But understanding the Luftwaffe structure is a bit difficult. When we would ask him where he was based, he would say Riga. But, he spent all his active duty in France, much of it torpedoing ships in the Mediterranean.

I am very pleased to be here on this site. It is so hard to find info on the Internet when one's German is at the Kindergarten level.

Sue