[Larry Hickey]

Luc, Sidney, et. al.

Between these posts and a private direct response, I'm convinced that this shows one of the crashed Bf109Ds of I./JGr102 that were lost in the famous air battle on 06.11.39. So we've pinpointed the date and the specific air battle, but cannot yet associate this photo with a particular loss since four of them seem possible:

From the EoE LW Loss List:

"1) Stab JGr.102Messerschmitt Bf109D-1. Shot down by Asp Lefol of GC II/5 in combat south-west of Saarlautern and abandoned over Anzeling 3.00 p.m. (Ff) Lt Günther Voigt (Gruppen NO) baled out and captured unhurt. Aircraft 100% write-off.

2) 1./JGr.102Messerschmitt Bf109D-1. Exploded under attack by Sgt A. Legrand of GC II/5 and crashed near Antilly, 10 km north of Metz 3.00 p.m. (Ff) Oberlt Waldemar von Roon (Staffelkapitän) badly wounded, died two days later. Aircraft 100% write-off.

3) 1./JGr.102Messerschmitt Bf109D-1. Shot down in combat with Curtiss H-75s of GC II/5 and crashed 30 km east of Metz 3.10 p.m. Believed that claimed by Sgt E. Salès near Eincheville. (Ff) Fw Fritz Giehl baled out and captured unhurt. Aircraft 100% write-off.

4) 3./JGr.102Messerschmitt Bf109D-1. Engine set alight under attack by Sgt E. Salès of GC II/5 east of Hesdorf and abandoned over Hunnenberg 3.00 p.m. (Ff) Oberlt Josef Kellner-Steinmetz (Staffelkapitän) baled out but killed. Aircraft 100% write-off."

All four of these are generally E & N of Metz towards the German border and within about 25km of each other.

Some comments on the crash photo:

1) I think that this "109" crashed into the side of a gully or ravine, and what we're seeing is not a bomb crater, or even a crater made by the crash, but mostly a terrain feature of the crash site.

2) The pilot certainly was either killed or bailed out.

In a perfect world, for our EoE coverage we would like to show on the German side photos of all four crash sites, photos of the damaged a/c that force-landed or returned to base, photos of the pilots shot down and killed or captured, and, on the French side, photos of the main French participants, including the successful pilots and their a/c, including the force-landed Curtiss referred to in an earlier post on this thread and for which at least two good photos exist.

What we already have, besides this photo, is a poor quality photo of Bf109D-1 "Red 7" FL somewhere in western Germany from this combat:

1) "2./JGr.102 Messerschmitt Bf109D-1. Belly-landed damaged following combat with Curtiss H-75s of GC II/5 over Metz 3.00 p.m. Possibly that damaged by Asp Lefol. Pilot unhurt. Aircraft Red 7 + repairable." (via Prien Collection)

and

2) A photo of an a/c of JGr102 Bf109D-1, with the tail and rear fuselage badly shot up that landed back at Lachen-Speyerdorf. This was W.Nr.519 and carried three victory tabs of the fin of the Gr Adj., Lt Harwig-Boris Domeier, who probably piloted the a/c that day. This is already one of our EoE Color Profile aircraft.

Who can help us take this further, including identifying the specific crash seen in the posted photo?