[marquis]

Hello everybody,
this is my first post. I resurrect this thread because it contains the info I was after for years. Too bad that I arrived here only AFTER I got them!
I live in a country area north of Pisa, Italy. Since I was a child tales by old people about a dogfight over here in WWII circulated and fascinated me. For a long time I just knew that in october 1943 a US heavy bomber was downed by german fighters scrambled from Metato airfield crashing on a nearby hill. Allegedly parts of the rudder were kept stored in a neighbour's barn for years but I never saw them. Some of the crew managed to bailout and although helped by local peasants to escape the nazis, they finally became POW. After the war as gesture of acknoledgement they wanted to meet again those generous people with whom remained in touch for a long time. The same accounts told that one or more german fighters went down. One in particular, crashed in a soft mud field was deemed unrecoverable, so german engineers dumped a load of dirt to prevent local people from taking souvenirs, whereabouts of the pilot unknown.
As always in verbal stories witnesses often augmented facts with personal fantasy. For instance rumours said that one member of the crew found dead in the B-17 fuming wreckage was a woman. Also local chronicles misreported some important details such as the correct date of the event. That's why, despite my researches started long ago, I could never gain the matching info.
Now, thanks to my access to Footnote's MACR', I got most of the truth. That's how I found this thread.
A couple of considerations. First it's odd that everything occurred within less than a 3,5 kilometers (2 miles) radius, therefore everything seems to have happened within a short time:
the Metato airfield (now long gone), the crew landing after bailout, their hideways, the B-17 and Bf 109 crash sites. My farmhouse is pretty in the middle so I know the area very well.
According to the MACR the german fighters made several attacks, during which US gunners were able to shot down one aggressor, then, after the interphone was out and the plane became ungovernable, the crew was forced to adopt difficult and time consuming procedures - considering the situation - before managing to bail out.
One member tells that he went back and forth from the cockpit to the radio room to check and instruct the others (he saw 3 of them apparently dead).
All this, in my opinion, takes many minutes and therefore miles of flying, regardless of the type or the state of the aircraft.
Plus, some witness confirms the presence of heavy flak fire in the area, possibly in defense of Metato, during the battle. Since no other US planes crashed in this area - at least according to local accounts - the theory that Maj Kurt Ubben was not the only one claiming the B-17 42-30053 is quite plausible.
However fate made this as his last victory before he was KIA in 1944.
I also know very well the crash sites although I never attempted an onsite research, Chances are that the Uffz. Walter Linkmann and his Bf 109G are still buried in the ground, maybe one day.....
I'm avalaible to provide further details,in case someone is interested, but I'll be grateful to anyone adding more info. My intention is to publish the whole story, as much detailed as possible, on an italian aviation magazine or so. Thank you for the attention.