Caldwell mission : 5th December 1941

[jeanba]

Hello

There are quite a lot of accounts of Caldwell's 5 Stuka kills on December 5th 1941, but I cannot get any account from the other side : number and type of aircraft engaged, units, losses, claims ...

Does anyone have information on this engaement ?

Thank you in advance

[Brian]

Hi Jeanba

There were many claims for Ju87s that day by both 112 and 250 Squadrons - at least 17 as far as I can see - but I have note of only four actual losses, all from Italian units.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Brian

[jeanba]

Thank you very much, but do you have the name of the units and type of aircraft engaged by the axis air forces ?
According to RAF sources, there were 30-40 Stuka (apparently Italian from what you said)+ 30 escort fighters (109, Mc200, Fiat G50 were claimed by the RAF pilots : which country, what type actually ?).
I have also read that 21 P40 were engaged (12 from 112 and 9 from 250)

[Brian]

Hi Jeanba

I can't answer all your questions (most of my material not to hand), but this is what I can offer at the moment:

I/StG1 and I/StG3 may have been involved, as was probably 209^Squadriglia.

I have noted that Sott Stefonia, Serg Mongano and Serg Lanfredi and their crews were posted missing (the latter later returned), and that a fourth Ju87 force-landed. I have no details of any possible Lw losses.

250 Sqn claimed 11 Ju87s + 4 probables and lost 4 P-40s (2 pilots killed)
112 Sqn claimed 6 Ju87 + 4 Italian fighters (G50/MC200) + Bf109 and lost one P-40 crashlanded.
1SAAF/274 Squadron lost 3 Hurricanes

I and II/JG27 claimed 5 P-40s and 2 Hurricanes
Italian fighters claimed 2 P-40s and one Hurricane

Sorry, this is all that I have. Hopefully someone else can help further.

Have you seen the Caldwell biography? I don't know what it says offhand, I've loaned my copy and its not come back yet!

Cheers
Brian

[CENTURION]

Hello jeanba,

on December 5, 1941, about 30 German Ju-87s and 9 Italian Ju-87s of the 239th Squadriglia, 102° Gruppo were sent to bomb armoured units in the Bir-el-Gobi area. They were escorted by 14 Fiat G-50s of the 20th Gruppo Caccia, by 13 Macchi MC-200s of the 153rd Gruppo Caccia and by some Me-109s of the I-II/JG27.
At about 11:40 the formation was attacked by P40s of the 112nd and 250th Squadron south of Bir-el-Gobi.
Three Italian Ju-87s failed to return. Serg. Magg. Lanfredi was wounded and force landed near Ain-el-Gazala. The Ju-87 of S. Ten. Pil. Steffanina Luigi was badly damaged and the gunner Av. Faienza Arduino was wounded at the head and shoulder. The plane was forced to land in enemy territory and the crew was captured. The Ju-87 of Serg. Pil. Mangeno Giovanni (gunner Av. Sc. Spada Martino) was shot down and both perished.
The 153rd Gruppo Caccia claimed many damaged enemy fighters for a damaged MC-200.
The 20th Gruppo Caccia claimed 3 P40s destroyed (by Capt. Borgogno, Mar. Bonelli, Serg. Magg. Pecchiari) for no loss.

The I/JG27 claimed 2 P40s destroyed (Hptm. Wolfgang Redlich and Uffz. Josef Grimm) for no loss.
The II/JG27 claimed 3 P40s destroyed (Uffz. Horst Reuter, Lt. Franz Kulp and Oblt. Gustav Rodel) and lost in combat 1 Me-109 F4 trop. - 8429-100% (the unknown pilot was not wounded).

I don't know the losses of the German Ju-87s.

At about 15:30 of the same day, the Ist SAAF and 274th Squadron engaged enemy fighters of the I/JG27 which claimed 2 Hurricanes. It's possible that some Macchi MC-202s of the 4th Stormo were also involved in the same fight (and claimed one enemy fighter destroyed).

Sources: "I/Jagdgeschwader 27" by Jochen Prien
"II/Jagdgeschwader 27" by Jochen Prien
"Il Walzer del 102° Gruppo" by Giuseppe Pesce
"Il 51° Stormo Caccia" by Nicola Malizia
"Il 53° Stormo Caccia"

Regards
Marco

[Jim Oxley]

Sadly Alexander's book on Caldwell doesn't provide any details of German or Italian units. It deals with the air battle of 5 December purely from the point of view of Caldwell combat report and memory, and the various article's of newspapers of the time.

[jeanba]

Originally Posted by Jim Oxley

Sadly Alexander's book on Caldwell doesn't provide any details of German or Italian units. It deals with the air battle of 5 December purely from the point of view of Caldwell combat report and memory, and the various article's of newspapers of the time.

Right, this is why asked on 12Oclock the question. Actually, we can find a lot of information on the 5th December morning mission from the RAF side, but it is much more difficult to find explicit reference to it from the axis side.
It is always more interesting to have the account of such a "famous" mission from both sides

I thank all of you very much for having taken the time to look for those information