Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Mills
The loss record says crashed 1 km southwest of Magdeburg. FSA= fallschirmabsprung (parachuted), zu tief (too low)
Who knows, perhaps he was thrown from the plane on impact and his parachute deployed then?
|
Gents
Thank you for your continued help with my original question concerning Steinke.
Before I get too excited and declare in my mind that it was definatly Abbot who shot down Steinke, I would like to go over a couple of points with you both:
The axis of operations around Magdeburg where Steinke came down was definatly covered by the 352 FG? Is it possible another FG could of been operating in that area?
As IV./JG3 lost 3 Bf-109 aircraft on 29-Apr-44, could Abbot's kill possibly be one other than Steinke?
I have to say, with what has been posted already, I am hoping against hope on this one that it was Abbot however, I really am in the hands of you people who obviously have a wealth of knowledge on the sunject.
Gents, please put me out of my misery here, can all angles be covered in pinning Abbot's kill on to Rolf Steinke?
Your continued help really is appreciated.
Regards Richard.[/quote]
First - Kb either scenario works for me - high speed crash landings frequently threw the pilot and as he had punched his canopy at the very minimum he probably had loosened his seat belt/harness.
Richard - IMHO there is very little chance that one could match Abbott to Steinke unless a.) this location near Magdeburg is pretty close to Neuhaldensleben airfield and b.) no other 109s went down that close to same claim/award location to perhaps B-17 gunners.
As there was no other Mustang/109 claim against JG3 attacking B-17s in Magdeburg area it is probable that B-17 gunners actually matched a claim to two 109 kills if two or more IV./JG3 went down in that area..There were however credits for 109s from Brunswick through Steinhuder Lake to Stendal, Brandenburg and Berlin
ALL the other 109 credits (including 9th AF) were essentially in a straight line from east of Hannover to Berlin area. Only the 352nd FG were awarded a credit for a 109 and 190 in the general area of Magdeburg south of Berlin...
Last answer to question. The 328FS/352nn FG led by Abbott probably assigned to escort the smaller strike force of the 3rd BD attacking Magdeburg. There were too few long rang escorts to devote more than one group to a 'branch target' when the main target was Berlin... so highly probable that the 352nd was the assigned group to the attacking 381st and 447th BG's.
This was one of the 8th BC worst days (comparable to May12) for poor navigation and route execution. Several FGs orbited for close to an hour (including the 355th and 352nd at theri assigned R/V points waiting for their bombers to show up.
If you can get your hands on the 8th AF Fighter Command Mission Summary for 8th FC FO 320, it will be a complete roll up of all the individual FG assignments and results, including 9th AF and RAF units involved...