Jagdgeschwader 1 / 9. Staffel / 22. April, 1944

[sixtyone]

Hello, we make an research for our town history. April 22, 1944, a young German pilot was downed near the Central German town of Kassel from pilots of the 4th fighter wing. Meanwhile, we know a lot from the American side but not so much from the Germans, but we need more background information about this JG. Have anyone information about the 1. Jagdgeschwader, 9. Staffel. The German pilot was flying in this unit. Thanks, Harry

[kb]

From 9th Staffel:

Obw. Franz-Wilhelm Heck-Luftkampf P51, Absturz bei Korbach "Gelb 19"
Ogefr. Konrad Fricke-Luftkampf P51, absturz be Fritzlar "Gelb 22"
Uffz. Kurt Ziegenfuss-Luftkampf P51, absturz bei Korbach "Gelb 17"

[sixtyone]

Originally Posted by kb

From 9th Staffel:

Obw. Franz-Wilhelm Heck-Luftkampf P51, Absturz bei Korbach "Gelb 19"
Ogefr. Konrad Fricke-Luftkampf P51, absturz be Fritzlar "Gelb 22"
Uffz. Kurt Ziegenfuss-Luftkampf P51, absturz bei Korbach "Gelb 17"

Thanks for the replied. Mr. Fricke was downed near our village. The American reports tells us, that they spotted 20+ Me 109s in the area of Kassel. Most of this Me 109s were downed.

The Americans lost only one fighter plane (engine trouble). We must know which German units were involved in the fight with the squadrons of the 4th fighter wing and where the homebase of the German fighters where.

We know only the JG 1/9. Staffel where Mr. Fricke made his service. My dad was a witness as this pilot crashed. The pilot tried to underpass a powerline with high speed with a Mustang on his tail. But his cabin was cut of by the powerline (thick as an strong mans arm) and he crashed into a loam pit near the village of Besse not Fritzlar! The location of the town of Fritzlar is 10 KM west of the village Besse.

The dead pilot was covered with his parachute by the residents of this village. My dad remember also, that this aircraft had a red cross painted on the side. The pilot was only 19 years old.

Harry

[Andreas Brekken]

Hello.

The best source would be the unit histories by Jochen Prien and Eric Mombeek in my opinion.

The pilots mentioned as lost is as stated by kb, here you have the loss records as they are entered in my database. Pleas note that I have written the loss percentages as 55 - 100% as these are the ones that would be covered by a so-called Totalverlust, and even if the possibility is high that all these aircraft were total scrap, we can not be sure (OK, ok... I am a sick person!):

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=114693

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=114692

http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=114691


The III. Gruppe was entangled in a hard dogfight with the P-51's and the Gruppe as a total lost 14 aircraft this day, 12 of them in this dogfight! (Jochen Prien list 15, 12 of them in combat, and 3 non-combat, I have not found evidence of the last non-combat loss in contemporate records, but Jochen might have other sources I have not yet seen for this last one)

Best regards,
Andreas B

[drgondog]

Andreas - It is interesting to note that 4FG claimed 17 so curious as to the 3 (or 2) 'Non Combat' causes were. The 4th just happened to catch 9/JG1 trying to form up around 12,000 feet SW Kassel.

Encounter reports estimate 20+ so it would have likely been more than 9/JG1 but who knows?

Regards,

Bill

[Andreas Brekken]

Hi.

The entire III. Gruppe was involved in this combat, both 7. and 8. Staffel losing aircraft. The 9. Staffel was not very hard hit within the Gruppe, the 7. Staffel got the worst beating.

I would say that 17 claims vs 12 real losses is a very fair overclaimimng rate for this combat, there would be approximately 25 aircraft in the III. Gruppe formation when they started off, maybe Jochen have further details. It s not unlikely that a couple of these had some mishap on landing and/or take-off, the Bf 109 G was not a walk in the park for (I would guess) partly inexperienced pilots.

The closest I can get for now is the strength return for III. Gruppe two days earlier (20th April) when they reported a total of 43 aircraft, 24 of these being combat ready, but the unit had only 31 pilots, 21 being combat ready, 2 partially combat ready and 8 not ready for combat flying.

So in my opinion the 20+ estimate is as spot on as one can get.

Interestingly the III. Gruppe had a considerable higher number of aircraft and pilots on the 30th! (52 and 43 respectively) but a lower number of these were ready for combat.

Regards,
Andreas B

[kb]

Originally Posted by drgondog

Andreas - It is interesting to note that 4FG claimed 17 so curious as to the 3 (or 2) 'Non Combat' causes were. The 4th just happened to catch 9/JG1 trying to form up around 12,000 feet SW Kassel.

Encounter reports estimate 20+ so it would have likely been more than 9/JG1 but who knows?

Regards,

Bill

III/JG 1 put up what it could on this date; roughly 20 ME109s-the formation was led by Hptmn. Grislawski. The Germans claimed to have been attacked by over 100 Mustangs (only 33 4FG P51s actually).

US claims were lead by Willard Millikan, who claimed 4 ME109s (using only 666 rounds of 12.7mm). III/JG 1 claimed 3 P51s, claimed by the Experten aloft that day (Grislawski, Burckhardt, and Kaiser).

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by kb

III/JG 1 put up what it could on this date; roughly 20 ME109s-the formation was led by Hptmn. Grislawski. The Germans claimed to have been attacked by over 100 Mustangs (only 33 4FG P51s actually).

US claims were lead by Willard Millikan, who claimed 4 ME109s (using only 666 rounds of 12.7mm). III/JG 1 claimed 3 P51s, claimed by the Experten aloft that day (Grislawski, Burckhardt, and Kaiser).

The 4th Fg was the only adversary and the figure of 33 is close. Interstingly enough USAF 85 overlooked Milliken's claims - which is pure oversight as the Encounter Reports don't leave much room for doubt on at least three of the 4!

Regards,

Bill

[kb]

Originally Posted by drgondog

The 4th Fg was the only adversary and the figure of 33 is close. Interstingly enough USAF 85 overlooked Milliken's claims - which is pure oversight as the Encounter Reports don't leave much room for doubt on at least three of the 4!

Regards,

Bill

4FG figure of 33 P51s is taken from VIII FC Narrative of Operations for this date (courtesy of Tony Wood). 4FG had a number of aborts.

Hptm Eberle (III/JG1 Kdr) also claimed a P51, but I have no specifics of time/location.

[sixtyone]

Originally Posted by kb

4FG figure of 33 P51s is taken from VIII FC Narrative of Operations for this date (courtesy of Tony Wood). 4FG had a number of aborts.

Hptm Eberle (III/JG1 Kdr) also claimed a P51, but I have no specifics of time/location.

We have several copies of the American pilot combat reports of this date. Most of the combat action were down on the deck. The German pilots flew very acrobatically, but they were downed one after another. The reason must be, that the young German pilots had not so much combat experience then the American pilots. Another reason would be, that the P51 had an higher technical standard then a Me 109 who was developed in the mid 30s.

Harry