Ju 86P Shot down by Soviet Spit V 10/43

[DavidIsby]

Hooton's EAGLE IN FLAMES makes reference to a Ju 86P high-altitude recon aircraft being shot down by a Soviet Spitfire V in October 1943.

This would have been after the surviving Soviet Spitfire Vs would have been pulled back to interceptor duties.

Does anyone have the date of this incident or any other details?

thanks
david isby

[Laurent Rizzotti]

The Russian webpage below is supposed to show the Ju 86 losses on the Eastern Front between 1941 and 1943, but I don't think your Ju 86 is in it, the last loss by a recon unit being in February 1943.

http://www.airwar.ru/history/av2ww/a...ju86loss1.html

The two losses of Einsatzgruppe/BFS2 in fall 1943 were probably in the rear area. The first one is shown as being shot down by ground fire in a partisan-held area. The second is missing, and a quick search on the Volksbund database with the pilot name show a Karl Hans Festensen (no rank) missing in Russia (no more precise location) on 1 Oct 43 (meaning sometimes during October 1943 for many MIA in this database).

At least according to Soviet sources, German aircraft were used to bomb partisan-held area, using them as 'training targets'. If I compare to what was done in France in 1944, ad-hoc units were created to bomb partisan areas with all available aircraft, often outdated and coming with their crews from schools or second-line units.

Hope it helps