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Re: Luftbeobachterstaffel 3, Ju88 expert sought
Hello John,
I can assure you that I haven't made my mind up yet about the correct crash location of Niemann's Ju88:
1. I fully agree that the NVM info is a strong (and likely conclusive) source: 'Niederwerth' in combination with '/Holl.' is phonetically pointing to Nederweert/Holland.
2. Niemann's date/place of death is given as 1th March 1943 at Dormagen near Cologne, several days after his crash. Niemann could have been moved to a Luftwaffe hospital at Dormagen (there was actually a Reserve Luftwaffe Lazarett there), but when he was so badly wounded, then it would have been easier/faster to bring him to 'nearby' dutch hospitals.
I highly respect your expertise on Luftwaffe losses but I hope that you agree that the statement that a loss of a Venlo based unit is likely to be in the wider region around Venlo is not a convincing argument (:-). The Luftbeobachterstaffeln had to 'shadow' British and American bombers wherever they went, so a loss could occur far from the main operating airfield of a Luftbeob.Staffel. Even the I./NJG 1 lost nightfighters as far as Celle (H.D.Frank), Magdeburg (M.Meurer), Mulbjerg/Denmark (Guth) etc.
Do we have Dutch SGLO members in the area of Nederweert we could ask for help?
Warm greetings from Venlo, Marcel
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airfield Venlo in WW-2, I./NJG 1, He219-project
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