Luftwaffe crash at Oberpfaffenhofen 1.5.40

[steve sheridan]

Hi can anybody help with this loss from i believe KG51 1.5.40.

I have the name Lt Artur Wolff Von Plotteg and Gefr Lorenz Haberl killed in the incident at Oberpfaffenhofen. Does anybody have the details on hand.

Best regs,
Steve.

[Peter Cornwell]

Steve,

I have no knowledge of the deaths of these men nor of a loss for KG51 on May 1, 1940. Anyone ?

[steve sheridan]

Peter i have since found the original source of this incident.
The details are in the German edition of Dierich's KG51 book, and lists this aircraft from 3/KG51.
There is also another crewman listed as KIA Lt Artur Wolf.
No other details noted.

Best regs,
Steve.

[Peter Cornwell]

Hello Steve,

Thanks for quoting your source. On further checking I now find that the GQM Returns do indeed report the loss of a Junkers Ju88A-1 of I./KG51 at Oberpfaffenhofen on May 1, 1940, (100% Bruch) with the death of two crewmen including the aforementioned Lt Wolf. Yet the VDK website contains no reference to these men nor is there any mention of them in the NVMs for I./KG51 that I have on file. So it remains something of a mystery to me I fear.

Incidentally, this loss does not feature in The Battle of France Then & Now as it falls outside the parameters adopted for inclusion - not being directly relevant to operations over the Western Front which remain the main focus of the book.

Regards,

Peter C

[steve sheridan]

Hello Peter, thanks for the confirmation of this incident from the GQM records.
Can you possibly help with another querie from KG51 that should possibly feature from your new book, which i may add, i have on order!

2.6.40 I/KG51 loss Oblt Paul Kiebele, Fw George Koppel, Ofw. Schultzki all KIA. France

Rgs,
Steve.

[Peter Cornwell]

Hi Steve,

Happy to oblige. From p414 of The Battle of France Then & Now which I hope you enjoy when it arrives:

3./KG51 Junkers Ju88A. Shot down by S/Lt Picot of GC III/9 between Nantua and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and crashed near Dagneux, north-east of Lyons, following attack on Marseille 9.10 a.m. Oberlt P. Kibele, Oberfw M. Schulzki, Fw G. Köppel, and Uffz R. Bauer killed. Aircraft a write-off.

[Peter Cornwell]

Laurent,

My database entry for this loss currently remains as shown but obviously now needs urgent revision. I was unaware that this crew was originally buried at Bramans so far from Dagneux. Many thanks for bringing this to my attention, I am most grateful.

Peter C

[Laurent Rizzotti]

You're welcome Peter.

Dagneux is a German war cemetery where sometime after the war (between 1952 and 1961) WWII German war dead from 27 French departement (SE France, up to Toulouse and Clermont-Ferrand) were reburied after having been exhumated from their wartime graves.

So the fact that a crew is buried in Dagneux does not mean he died in this area, but somewhere in these 27 departments.

You can find the list here:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsch...%A4tte_Dagneux