[S Heisey]

Hello to all,

Here's what the possible conclusions I have come up with regarding Hans Roehrig. First has anyone read the book "Doorknob52" in which the author Fredrick Arnold (formerly known as Kohn) tells the story of being shot down by a ME109 on July 11, 1943 in Sicily and was captured shortly thereafter. The pilot of this encounter visits him shortly before he is interrogated. The German pilot was concerned with a wingman he had lost a few weeks earlier. Mr. Arnold said the German pilots name was Karl Muenster and assumed he was from JG/27. I have not located any German pilot located in the area under this name...however take into account that Mr. Arnold was very young and scared and a jew in the hands of the Germans and that this pilot did not hand him his business card with the spelling of his name? Also Mr. Arnold wrote his book some forty years after the ordeal. I suspect that the name he heard or thought he heard was more likely the name of his missing wing man or comrad and perhaps phonically something close to Karl Muller? Mr. Arnold told the German pilot that he thought the downed pilot was picked up in the water by the British...so a possible POW? Now I think the pilot that shot Mr. Arnold down was possibly Hans Roehrig or Max Nairz or Schulte. But I think the pilot he was speaking to was Hans Roehrig at that time. Now Mr. Arnold escapes that same day due to the exodus from Sicily in light of the eminent Allied invasion. Cut to July 13, 1943 Roehrig is escorting JU52's in the Catania area (note: Wilhem Mestmacher of JG/77 was also listed as MIA on July 13, 1943 while escorting JU52's in Catania) Arnold and wingman come across his lone ME109 (is this unusual for a single ME109 to escort several JU52's? or did the others engage Spitfires leaving Roehrig alone?) Roehrig engages the wingman and scratch one P-38 (Franke pilot of the 71st) The ME109 pilot communicates with Arnold via radio(?) and states he's willing to surrender due to the fact he's low on fuel and cannot make it to his base? (again did he have a belly tank he had to drop due to the Spitfires leaving him vulnarable?) Arnold agrees and escorts him to Palermo where he is shot down by ground fire while on a dead stick approach to a recently captured airfield. Please realize I'm paraphrasing and the book goes into much greater detail, but the dates and locations fit. Roehrig was listed as KIA due to not returning from the mission and it was assumed he fell to Spitfires (according to one source) Now Mr. Arnold has taken flak (no pun intended) for his book and you can find both pro and con regarding his story all over the internet and I'll admit that my evidence is circumstancial but the dates areas and circumstances all fit reasonably well. Mr. Arnold became very good friends with Erich Hartmann and Hartmann tried to help him locate this pilot and again they assumed he was from JG/27, however this was before the internet and other information became avaliable. I know there are more pieces to this puzzle yet to be found . If anyone can confirm or detract from any of the above I'd appreciate it very much and I'm sure Mr. Arnold would too.

Thank You
Scott