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Re: Seeking source for WIA report for Lt Georg Dörffel, pilot in 5.(S)/LG2
Pieter,
Thanx for the help. I'm sure that Peter C. will sort that out.
In the meantime, I've received four excellent new photos of the aircraft that landed intact at ‘Le Gibet’, Jausselette, east of Perwez. One of them, besides confirming the Perwez location in a caption, notes that it had 50 MG bullet holes in it. Two of the new photos show several German recon motorcycle troops in full combat gear visiting the downed plane, which indicates that it came down very close to the advancing German front line, probably one of the 5 Staffel losses on 14 May. Can anyone confirm when the German front line in Belgium reached the Perwez area? If it was 14 May this would confirm that it is one of the 14 May losses, despite the absence of unit codes (see below).
The photos also show that the a/c did not yet carry a unit code but still had its factory SKZ, apparently GW+MO, on what appears to be a new or newly refurbished a/c. The a/c had apparently been recently assigned as a replacement, possibly to 5.(S)/LG2, just before the WC began, and unit painters had not yet had time to apply either the unit coding or the 5 Staffel insignia before it was shot down. The camouflage paint job looks very crisp and new. Does the Hs123 SKZ GW+MO translate into a specific W.Nr., which would then tell us whether it is an A-1 or a B-1?
Most likely this is either the a/c of Uffz Karl-Siegfried Lückel, or Lt Georg Ritter both of which were WIA and apparently escaped capture. But which one? They apparently came down with 2-3km of each other. Does anyone have photos of a Hs123 crashed and exploded at Grand-Rosière-Hôtômont?
Does anyone have any further info on either of these losses or the possible wounding of Lt. Georg Dörffel on the same day? If the report is accurate, I'm assuming that Dörffel brought his aircraft back to base, which would eliminate the likelyhood of the "Le Gibet" a/c being his. From the five photos we now have it it, we know that this Hs123 sat out in the field for several weeks after landing by the growth of the field crop around it. This means that it should have been carried in the LW reports, at least initially, as a 100% loss, despite appearing to be relatively intact.
Still need some help here.
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