Ju-88 6/KG26 lost 26 july 1944

[martin75]

Hello,

can someone give me info on Ju-88 1H+GP lost 25 or 26 july 1944 ; two crewmembers, Uffz Horst Winkler and Uffz Heinz Rattay, made POW, one missing ; details on mission, localisation of loss, name of fourth crewmember ?

Thanks in advance. Regards

Claude

[Brian Bines]

Claude, 'K' report 401/1944 states aircraft took-off at 2030hrs, from Dole/Tavaux to attack Allied shipping in the Seine Estuary carrying two F.5B torpedos. Pilot selected a destroyer screened by a Corvette on which he made a torpedo run, at a height shown as 15m on the FuGe101 aircraft hit the sea and ditched before releasing torpedos ( given as Baie de la Seine at 2315hrs. on 26th July). Pilot claimed that following violent evasive action to avoid AA the FuGe101 was not working properly.
The mission was undertaken by a three man crew as no replacement was available for the sick gunner. Crew Ff Uffz Horst Winkler POW slightly wounded , B name and rank unknown missing, Bf Uffz Heinz Rattay POW.
'Achtung Torpedos Los' has Ogef. Heinz Bennewitz between Winkler and Rattay which suggests he was the missing B,

Regards

Brian Bines

[martin75]

All my thanks Brian !

the only problem I don't understand is that give us three crewmembers Winkler, Bennewitz and Rattay ; if plane crashed in sea, no chance for one man swimming back to german lines ; so we must think only three men in crew !

Regards

Claude

[Sue-88]

I wanted to let you know that the radio operator on this flight was my dad, Heinz Rattay. I know this is an old post. I found it doing an Internet search one day looking for info on my dad's flight crew, group, etc.

There is an explanation as to why there were only three crew members, but it's kind of involved. If anyone is interested, I can share more. It was curious to me about the Dole/Tavaux airfield, pretty sure that was disinformation. I have that they took off from Montelimar, where they were based and flew to Coganc for a briefing. Also interesting that they listed the pilot as slightly wounded and my dad as not wounded.

The pilot was in pretty bad shape, too weak to grasp the rescue line. They had already bypassed him when they picked up my dad who had broken ribs and pushed in teeth. Maybe wounded only applies to AA shots? I do know they checked and rechecked FUGe/altimeter. It showed as working but they doubted it for some reason.

The third guy was in the belly when they hit. If I understood my dad right he was the navigator/observer there to drop the torpedos kind of like a bomadier? Or maybe a gunner? (need to research that a bit) They thought he died on impact, and all the ammunition cartridges landed on top of him.

My dad tried to open the canopy when the plane hit the water but it would not pop. The plane filled up fast. He went down to the bottom to try to get out the belly hatch, but couldn't get through all the cartridges, etc. At the last possible moment, his hand struck a hole in the nose windscreen. He found out later the pilot got out that way, that's how the pilot (and his life vest) got so cut up. My dad was able to get out through the hole enlarged by the pilot.

Brian,
I and my brothers would like to find out how one gets a copy of that K report 401/1944. We're a little confused about what to request, whether we ask for the whole year and so on, because there were other interrogations of our father later, too. Maybe you could PM on that or direct me to info on this site?

From everything I've read, I'm thinking my dad was part of KG26. But understanding the Luftwaffe structure is a bit difficult. When we would ask him where he was based, he would say Riga. But, he spent all his active duty in France, much of it torpedoing ships in the Mediterranean.

I am very pleased to be here on this site. It is so hard to find info on the Internet when one's German is at the Kindergarten level.

Sue

[DB601E]

Hi Sue and Claude,
as far as i know, there was frequently a 3 men crew for Ju88 torpedo missions.
i'll send you a PM
Regards
Lino

[pmotch]

Sue..
Thanks for that post. Puts a real life feel to the Thread!
Glad your dad made it...

Tschuss
Motch

[Sue-88]

There was supposed to be 4: pilot, radio operator, nav./observer, gunner. But in 1944, yes there were frequently 3. My dad was a replacement on this crew. His normal crew had got shot down in the Med. a month before.... all perished. He had been grounded from that flight due to illness. Thanks for the PM, Lino.

I know I'm kind of a novice in understanding all this. I hope to learn a lot here. I don't want to ask questions that have already been answered elsewhere on the site, so I've got to spend some time reading here.

Sue

[martin75]

Hello,

according Admiralty War Diaries for july 1944, it seems 1H+GP was shot down by destroyer HMS Faulkner who picked up to of the crew.

Regards

Claude

[Brian Bines]

Sue,

If you send me an E-Mail address via a PM I can send you a copy of the report,

Regards

Brian Bines

On checking an earlier KG26 'K' report it says that in May1943 the IV/KG26 (Operational training Gruppe) moved from Grosseto to Riga/Spilve.

[Chris Goss]

Riga was where they trained for torpedo missions. I will see if I have an NVM for this loss