[HGabor]

Hi Craig,

Several losses on May 7, 1945 in Czech and Austria, but no Yaks were lost in the morning. On May 7, 1945 IL-2 Sturmoviks attacked the Miroslav and Znojmo (Brno-SW) area in Moravia in multiple waves throughout the day for the loss of several IL-2s:

17 VA, 136 ShAD, 715 ShAP, 2nd Sq., IL-2m3, S/N: 12656, white '25', was downed by flak, crashed in Miroslav. Crew of Ml.Lt. Petr Vasilevich Kravtsev - Nikolai Fedorovich Chertov was KIA. Last fatal combat loss of the 715 ShAP in WWII. Poor guys...

5 VA, 7 GvShAD, 130 GvShAP, IL-2m3, S/N: 12586 crashlanded at their airfield after attacking Miroslav due to flak in the afternoon. Hitarashvili - Lebedin crew OK.

5 VA, 7 GvShAD, 130 GvShAP, IL-2m3, S/N: 18895118 crashlanded at Zaichi(Зайчи?)-NW, 2 km, Hohenau-N,-NW, 30 km in the afternoon after attacking Miroslav. Later repaired, Nazarov-Velitskovich crew OK.

17 VA, 306 ShAD, 672 ShAP attacked the Znojmo area at Brno-SW, one IL-2m3, S/N: 18870106 crashed at Zizendorf(?), Austria en route home. Bershak crew OK.

5 VA, 4 GvShAD, 92 GvShAP, IL-2m3, S/N: 1874799, white '95', crashlanded at Zaichi(Зайчи?) due to flak. Karpitskii-Savchenko crew OK.

IL-2m3 of 5 VA, 4 GvShAD, S/N: 11461 was written-off for wear and tear.

5 VA, 279 IAD, 192 IAP, La-7FN, S/N: 45212545 was lost after escorting 9 IL-2 to Miroslav in the afternoon and crashlanded at base (Htrasshof, Austria) Ml.Lt. Alexandr Gerasimovich Spirin was unhurt.

5 VA, 12 GvShAD, 190 GvShAP IL-2m3, S/N: 18872128 at 14:50 local, crashed at Dürnkrut-W, 5 km in Austria. Gv.Lt. Emelyan Sergeevich Anukhin Sq. commander crew OK.

5 VA, 12 GvShAD, 188 GvShAP, 1st Sq., IL-2m3 Sturmoviks, S/N: 1877086 and 11041 were repaired at base due to combat damages.

5 VA, 331 IAD, 179 IAP, Yak-1B, S/N: 18177 burned on Luzhitse (Лужице) airbase at 21:25 PM local due to maintenance mistake after mission.

We still can check reports on dogfights, but there were no fighter losses for Hartmann, that's for sure.

Overall I am a bit skeptic about the date errors/changes, because if we accept them, then there are no limits. If anything can change, then everything is possible, so then what's the point to investigate any claims at all? That is why I think here we have to stay with the written claims. If they messed them up, too bad, what is written is written. (Same for the soviets...)

Summary: no matter how we twist them, looks like Hartmann's 352nd was just another overclaim - among his many.

Regards,
Gabor