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Old 8th January 2016, 14:12
Icare9 Icare9 is offline
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Location: East Sussex
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Ju 88 A-1 21 August 1940, Kings Somborne

HNY all
There is a Memorial erected in the early 50's by the community and RBL for the 4 crew of a Ju88A that crashed near Kings Somborne.
The Memorial gives the date as 23 August with 4 unknown aircrew.

Further research locally seems to have produced 4 Names,
Ogefr. Gerhard Freude - pilot;
Oblt. Max-Dankward (Dankwort?) Birkenstock - observer
Uffz. Rudolf Schulze - radio observer
Gefr. Franz Becker - gunner
which appear to have been furnished by the VdK but none of those Names appear in the CWGC database.
http://www.astoft2.co.uk/hants/hoplandsmemorial.htm
It's obviously possible that the crew may have been incinerated in the crash, but as someone described the aircraft as a Ju88A-1 presumably there was something left for identification at least of the aircraft (not too difficult as I think only the A-1 and A-4 (just) would have been in service in August 1940).

If the locals and RBL were able to forgive and forget so soon after the War, is it possible to rectify the "forgot" aspect so as to identify the aircraft, crew and their final resting place?

Appreciate anything further to help complete.

Last edited by Icare9; 9th January 2016 at 11:43.
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