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Old 6th September 2007, 12:33
BABIN BABIN is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Angers, West of France
Posts: 219
BABIN
Re: Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your replies.

The German pilot was a young Unteroffizier, belonging to a Jagdeschwader. His Me 109 crashed close to his airfield, located about 200 km from the Normandy front, in a still occupied area ... and an already straffed or bombed airfield by the Allied Air Forces ! Probably the thrown up documents were intelligence, but the way this young pilot took to get rid of them, wasn't the best : they could be picked up by French partisans or Jetburg commandos who spied on the German airfield (and other German camps or installations) in the area.

I guess German pilots and crews had specifical instructions to get rid of intelligence documents when their aircraft was hit and about to crash, but was it more important than saving their life : to waste some seconds before bailing out could be fatal ...

Pierre
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