Maj. W. Hoffman NJG5 meets Lancaster pilot he shot down in hospital 1945.

[Kirmington]

F/O. Kevin Muncer and crew of 166 Squadron were shot down at approximately 2145 hrs. near Grosshabersdorf on the Nürnburg raid of 16/17.03.45. F/O. Muncer baled out, badly wounded and was treated at the German Military Hospital No. 438 at Bruckburg. A little while after he was admitted, he was introduced to another patient, a Luftwaffe Officer (who Muncer recalled was a pilot but he may have been another crew member, possibly a wireless operator) whose JU88 had been shot down the same night by a Mosquito intruder. The man had come down in the same area as Muncer so it was suggested that his aircraft had shot down Muncer's before being hit by the Mosquito. The German airman was suffering from burns to the face and neck and was still at the hospital when the Americans arrived in April 45.
Now, a search of the internet reveals that Hoffman and crew were shot down by a Mosquito that night, but he was not seriously injured (one source says bruising). From my (amateur) reading of the relevant entry in the Nachtjagd Combat Archive, there were 3 other crew members, Köhler, Fryba, Modl.
Can anyone throw any more light on the subject?

[Chris Goss]

Ju 88G-6, 620046, C9+BB of Stab I./NJG 5 was shot down by an intruder near Bamberg and the only one wounded was Fw Ferdinand Modl

[Kirmington]

Thank you Chris, do you have any idea of Modl's position in the plane or ay more details of his injuries?

[Chris Goss]

Bordmechaniker I believe and no idea of his injuries.

[RodM]

There are several possibilities...

Maj. Max Eckhoff died in the crash of II./NJG2 Ju99G6 621089 near Buch, by Schwäb-Gmünd, after air combat. However, this crash occurred some distance SW of where Muncer's Lancaster crashed.

Lt. Hans Rasper and Lt. Herbert Ludwig both piloted II./NJG101 Ju88G6s that were shot down by return fire over/near Nürnberg.

Rasper's Ju88 came down in Altenberg at 21:45h, and Ludwig's Ju88 came down at Fischbach at 21:41h.

Both crews survived, although all of Ludwig's crew suffered injuries.

Muncer's Lancaster (PA234) crashed at map grid ref wT215912 (49 22 50 N, 10 47 27 E), or 1 kilometre NW of Bürglein.

Rasper and Ludwig's Ju88s crashed around 25 kilometres further east of Lancaster PA234, while Eckhoff's Ju88 crashed 90 kilometres south-west.

Rasper was shot down while attacking a Lancaster over Nürnberg. He claimed the Lancaster as destroyed.

Ludwig claimed a Lancaster shot down 10-20 kilometres west of Nürnberg at 21:35h and was then shot down while attacking a second Lancaster of Nürnberg, which he also claimed destroyed.

[RodM]

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In looking at the Ludwig crew, all suffered injuries:

Lt. Herbert Ludwig (Pilot) - suffered scratches and bruises and slight burns to his eyelids, hair, and the back of his head.

Ofw. Rottmann (Bordfunker) - broke an ankle while landing by parachute.

Fw. Toni Dietrich (Bordfunker) - suffered heavy burn to his head.

Uffz. Erich Gränitz (Bordmechaniker) - possible burns, admitted to hospital on 23 March 1945 with breathing difficulties.

Ludwig, Dietrich, and Gränitz resumed operational flying on 5th April. Ludwig and Gränitz died during a night ground attack mission on the night of 23-24 April 1945 (Dietrich didn't fly that night).

Rasper's crew consisted of Lt. Rasper (pilot), Ofw. Eisbold (Bordfunker), and Fw. Bauer (role unknown). I don't know if any of the crew were injured, Rasper wasn't. Lt. Rasper was shot down on the night of 26-27 April 1945 during a ground attack mission. He became a PoW. His Bordfunker, Uffz. Rothenbücher died. I don't have any information about the rest of the crew.

[Kirmington]

Hi Rod, thank you for your reply. Muncer was in Reserve Hospital (German Army Medical Corps) Bruckberg nr. Ansbach. It was he who told me the story in the 1980's and I have had it confirmed in a contemporary diary note of another airman on his squadron to whom he related the tail on his return home 1945. Muncer was sure the German aircraft had been shot down by a mosquito.
P.S. You and I were in touch many years ago about Nonnenmacher.

[RodM]

Yes, it's a shame that Kevin never recalled even a first name of the airman.

I have looked at NJG losses from around that time but cannot find a match that (a) was likely in the same hospital, (b) suffered burns, and (c) was captured at the hospital when the Americans arrived.

I don't think Kevin encountered the German airman straight away (i.e. on or around 17 March), the first meeting likely occurred several days later. From Kevin's Liberation Questionnaire, the Americans arrived on 18 April 1945.

Of the airmen I mentioned, I don't know all the details about Ofw. Rottmann. He likely landed by parachute in Nürnberg and he never rejoined the crew. He suffered a broken ankle. No serious burns are mentioned.

The airman Kevin encountered was not Fw. Ferdinand Modl.

Modl - an Austrian - wrote an account of what happened to him, while in Salzburg in September 1945, one month after he was discharged from the Wehrmacht by the US occupation forces in Salzburg. His injuries were not debilitating because he worked as a truck driver for the US occupation forces in Austria after the war.

Modl's account is clear on where he was hospitalized (Bamberg, mentioned more than once) and the nature of his injuries. He doesn't mention encountering any enemy airman, although he mentions visits by his crew and friends and family. Modl's typewritten account ends at 10.4.45, where he mentions receiving good food and getting a good nights' sleep.