[RodM]

Hi Stig,

Gen.Genst,Qu.6.Abt. loss return -

URSACHE: "Absturz inf. Brennstoffmangel"

ULTRA CX/MSS/T.479/83 (I./NJG4 Ops report) -

"CREW OF LTN RINKER MADE PARACHUTE DESCENT 0115 HOURS [GMT] OWING LACK OF FUEL NEAR ELLENSTADT (VECHTA)".

To place this and other Nachtjagd losses on this night into a wider context, many crews baled out when fuel got low because they had extreme difficulty in finding a safe place to land due to bad weather. That does not mean all baled out only when the engines finally stopped...

Lt. Rinker and crew took off from Vechta at 22.32 hrs in the first wave for Unternehmen Gisela. Given that the Ju88G-6 had an average operational endurance of around four to four-and-a-half hours with full tanks (from memory), Lt. Rinker would have needed to land by around 02.32 - 03.00 hrs. The crew baled out at 02.15 hrs. The last Ju88 from the I./NJG4 first wave to land did so at Diepholz at 02.47 hrs. The time of the crash of the Ju88 is recorded in a British 2nd TAF ATI Report as "03.40 hrs" - if true, this equates to a flight time of 5 hours, 8 minutes (the longest flight time during Gisela I have recorded from many Nachtjagd Flugbücher is 5 hours, 25 minutes). The straight-line distance from Ellenstädt to Itegem is just over 300 kilometres (the precise crash location of the Ju88 was 3.2 km SW of Itegem).

Cheers

Rod