[Don Caldwell]

Leo --

Your hypothesis that Rauh was downed by 354th FG Mustangs makes sense to me, because:

1. Location is better than the 352nd FG claim.
2. Time is better than the 352nd FG claim.
3. There are no other good possibilities. Altho my RAF claims are incomplete (thanks, Frank Olynyk!), Karlsruhe was too far south for the RAF.
4. Misidentifications by both sides were common, and Do 217 night fighters were very rare in the daylight ETO skies, altho they were claimed fairly frequently.
5. This was the P-51B's first month in combat, and its existence was still being denied by the RLM. Rauh probably hadn't studied a model.

The "Do 217" that was claimed as destroyed had a wingman that escaped as a damaged. Do you know any details of Rauh's mission? Did he have a wingman? If so, I'd say you have enuf evidence to claim a match.

Horrido!

Don