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Re: 17.Febr. 1940 Crash of a He111 III.KG51
Remi,
Normally Peter Cornwell, who is the main overseer of the EOE Luftwaffe data base would answer this, but he is in France on a vacation, so I'll jump in here. Our much revised all-source DB of all Luftwaffe losses (less training) is now complete from 1.9.39 through 31.8.40, and Peter will resume work on completing this through the end of 1940 when he returns. We already have a draft list through the end of the year, but Peter is extensively updating his earlier "BoBT&N" & "The Blitz Then and Now" work, and continuing it to the end of 1940. We will probably be making upgrades and changes forever to this DB, once completed, and are now diligently attempting to match thousands of crash and FL photos to these losses as well as data from about 200 FB, with a great deal of success. Many new W.Nr. and plane codes, as well as more precise crash locations from combat actions are coming out of this effort.
Our revised DB shows the following, which I'm quite sure is based upon NVM info provided by Winfried Bock, who has shared his entire NVM data with us for the 1939-40 period. This has allowed up to come up with the crew names and positions not found in Peter's "The Battle of France: Then and Now":
"February 17, 1940: III./KG51 Heinkel He111H-2. Stalled and crashed 2 km east of Memmingen flying in snow shower. (Ff) Fw Joachim Müller, (Beo) Oberfw Bernhard Knobel, (Bf) Oberfw Rudolf Klinke, and (Bm) Oberfw Johann Gonnar all killed. Aircraft 100% write-off."
If anyone who reads this knows of any photos of this incident, I would greatly appreciate hearing about it. Obviously we would also like to know the Staffel of this a/c, and any possible plane codes or W.Nr. for this loss.
Regards,
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