Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109

[BABIN]

Hello,

In the Personal Combat Report written by a Spitfire pilot who shot down a Me 109 in August 1944, it was told :

" ... I observed the E/A's hood fly off and the pilot searching around his cockpit. He threw out about 30 small pieces of paper and then baled out at 800 ft over the back of his aircraft ..."

I wonder what these "small pieces of paper" could be ... somebody have an idea ?

Thanks

Pierre

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Well, the Hungarian Ju 88's and Fw 189's dropped 100 000's of leaflets over the Soviet Union and sometimes they dropped few bunch of them against the attacking fighters too, to confuse them, but it is a very different story. Maybe he just tore up some personal documents before baled out.

[Peter]

Maps and intelligense, mission objective I would guess.

Peter

[Larry]

But surely if he had left them in the aircraft they would have been blown to bits when the aircraft hit the ground. Why risk you life ripping up documents?

[WEISNER]

Blown up when hitting the ground???? Not so! several hard crash sites have given up all kinds of Intellagence! Pilot ID including unit info and possible location of the unit, Via stamps etc..in the various ID books that were kept, Maps with important alternate landing airfields (Fueling Sites) on them...And other types of Paper goodies. once found, Here comes the Bombs.... And some of these paper items are still being found TODAY.... when a crash site is excavated!
Perhaps some member who has been involved in such a historical dig can add some info?
Kevin

[Adam]

surely the place of the incident might also be relevant? It seems the assumption is it was intell for the enemy, but if the pilot was miles from the front lines inside friendly territory, then perhaps it was something he wasn't supposed to have - either at all, or just in the aircraft at the time?

[Dan O'Connell]

How about you were just in the process of getting shot down....I wouldn't be thinking to smartly at the time either LOL You're told to protect these papers, and you're maybe 19 or 20 years old...you are going to do what you remembered being ordered, even if it wasn't the best use of your time at the moment.

[BABIN]

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your replies.

The German pilot was a young Unteroffizier, belonging to a Jagdeschwader. His Me 109 crashed close to his airfield, located about 200 km from the Normandy front, in a still occupied area ... and an already straffed or bombed airfield by the Allied Air Forces ! Probably the thrown up documents were intelligence, but the way this young pilot took to get rid of them, wasn't the best : they could be picked up by French partisans or Jetburg commandos who spied on the German airfield (and other German camps or installations) in the area.

I guess German pilots and crews had specifical instructions to get rid of intelligence documents when their aircraft was hit and about to crash, but was it more important than saving their life : to waste some seconds before bailing out could be fatal ...

Pierre

[Franek Grabowski]

Well, perhaps it was a notebook or something like that, that locked him in the cockpit? Or perhaps he had to throw it away because unable to reach something or unstrap himself.

[WEISNER]

Dan makes a very good point above!
K