Quote:
Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner
Good morning for all.
Am just reading "The Road to Arnhem" by Donald R. Burgett, who mentions that on the night of 19th/20th September 1944, the LW launched an attack on Eindhoven with some 100+ machines, which the author mentions as being JKu 87 and Ju 88.
Between pgs.82-83, the author do mention that a FLARE stuck to the bomb-bay of one of the bombers, who was pursued by Allied anti-aircraft fire and searchlights, but the bomber managed to escape.
I am aware of the units invovled thanks to this previous post at Toch down here:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...ndhoven&page=2
My question, therefore is to know IF, there is the record for a DAMAGED machine that matches this report or remembrance of Donald R. Burgett?
It may have been a "Pathfinder" unit, so probably KG 66.
Is there the record of a damaged Ju 88 S or T that returned back with the ignited Flare on the belly or whose crew had to bail out due to the fire on their belly? This surely would be the machine described by the Parachute (Screaming Eagle) veteran on his memories.
According to Burgett, the LW achieved a real victory that night, bombing several British vehicles on the town.
Adriano |
Hi Adriano,
This must be your lucky day
Yes there is a record, the story is completely true! As told to me by the pilot in question himself and recorded in his Flugbuch: Having taken off from Fliegerhorst Dedelstorf at 19:20 hrs, Fw. Harry Wende (FF) , Uffz. Paul Trunt (BO) and Uffz. Heinz Lunow (BF) were flying in Ju 88 S-3 Z6+HL of 3./KG66 above Eindhoven when their aircraft was hit in the bomb bay by FLAK (i.e. Allied AAA). One of the LC50 Leuchtbomben (sky marker flares) ignited, but because it was stuck, the crew was not able to jettison it and the LC50 started to burn through the fuselage structure. "Burning like a comet" (quote Harry Wende) they barely made it to Münster-Handorf, where the inevitable crash landing followed at 21:25 hrs. According to Fw. Wende, when one of the groundcrews at Münster-Handorf later inspected the airframe, he almost fainted: The fire had almost completely consumed the frames..
Hope this helps,
Marcel
PS The Besatzung Wende survived the war