Oblt. Emil Bitsch

[Nikita Egorov]

Gentlemen,

Who knows anything about his opponents (possible victims) in his last four claims against USAAF bombers.

01.10.194313:44B-178./JG 3-14.10.194314:45B-178./JG 3Aschaffenburg-Würzburg19.12.194312:28B-178./JG 3Dolomit di Sesto13.02.1944-B-248./JG 3-

Searching though the forume I found his opponent on 19.12.1943: B-17 Flying Fortress serial # 42-5832 "War Bird II" , Pilot Lt. CYRIL C. STIDD, 99th Bomb Group, 15th A.F.

And who might shot him down on March 15, 1944?

TIA

[Nokose]

Nikita, all I have for the 01Oct43 is the raid on Wiener Neustadt, Austria for the 8th USAAF and all the losses seem to be B-24. On the 14Oct43 was the Schweinfurt raid and there are several B-17 that were shot down near Wurzburg. One is B-17F (42-30727) 1st Lt William C. Bisson (5 KIA 5 POW) at 15:00 near Hoehfeld, 15 miles W of Wurzburg. I'll check some more and give you a PM.

[Monaco]

Hello, just for the spelling: it is Würzburg in Franconia, my hometown.

[Nokose]

I found on Luftwaffe.cz that he was flying Bf 109G-6 (161 139) on the 15Mar44 and went down near Schijndel (Netherlands). I checked through the book "Beware the Thunderbolt!" by David R. McLaren for the 56th FG and found for the Bruswick raid they claimed in Bf 109 alone a total of 8 and 1 probable but all in the Dummer Lake region of Germany. Unless Schijndel is the wrong location then a P-47 from another FG got him.

[Nokose]

I found part of the answer in Wikipedia. The unit was the 352 FG. In Frank Olynyk's book "Stars & Bars" two aces of the 352 FG scored near Schijndel at Heusden. 328 FS 1st Lt. John Francis Thornell Jr shot down two Bf 109 at 12:30 and 328 FS Capt Donald Septimus Bryan shot down one Bf 109 at 12:30. There is still a possibility of another pilot who didn't make ace having shot down Bitsch.