[HGabor]

Hi BenFolk,
Hartmann took off from Havlíčkův Brod (Německý Brod / Deutsch Brod) on May 8, 1945 in order to check the Soviet push towards their airfield. He was ordered to fly this mission by his superior, so it was not just a free hunt mission eg. to Olomouc.

Brno was much closer to his airfield than Olomouc (and for almost two weeks it was already in Soviet hands, therefore they knew the Russians were that close!) and he followed the main road to there. There is no main road connecting D.B. to Olomouc directly, only the one passing through Brno, where, by the way, he claimed that Yak-9 at approx. 9:00 LT. This means that his ‘lost’ mysterious Yak-9 had to go down in the Soviet records around 11:00 Moscow Time. There was no such loss!

The 8 VA IL-2s and Yak-3s near Olomouc flew their mission between 08:00-08:50 local time. They collided soon after they left the target ~ around 8:30 LT. This means that the Yak-3 and the IL-2 (More precisely 565 ShAP IL-2, S/N: 9816, Ml.lt. Shishnev bailed out and 112 GvIAP Yak-3, S/N: 0829227, Gv.Lt. Kuzin, KIA) were already burning on the ground for about half an hour, when Hartmann claimed 'his Yak-9' over Brno much closer to his airfield around 09:00 local time. (The Ju 88 mentioned previously was spotted and reported by the regional PVO claiming 4 dropped bombs, which caused no damages.)

Considering all of this, everything that happened in the Olomouc area (The Soviet 60th Army, the Soviet 8th Air Army, the observed German planes, etc.) is completely irrelevant and independent regarding Hartmann’s 352nd.

Cheers,
Gabor