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Tony Jonsson Bf109 Pilot POW question-Nov 22,1942
The Icelandic ace Tony Jonsson wrote in his auto biography "Dancing in the Skies" (Grub-1994) that he shot down over Bone a Me-109. Here's the entire couple of paragraphs, slightly edited.:
"He was about to strafe Bone airfield in a Me-109 when my bullets hit his engine, so he crash landed on the field. When I landed shortly afterward,the pilot stood by his wrecked plane and was chatting with a bunch of soldiers that had surrounded him. The circle of soldiers opened up as I approached and someone said 'Leutnant, here's the pilot who shot you down.'
The German approached me smiling, offered his hand and said in faultless English ' 'Sergeant, I am thankful that your bullets hit the engine and not the cockpit Now the was is over for me and I shall survive. I hope you have the same luck. He then handed me his Luger, saying 'You can keep this gun,it's no use to me anymore.'
This took place in the morning, and the rest of the day he spent with us at dispersal,completely unfettered. He showed us a snapshot of his wife and two children and claimed to be please to be a Prisoner of War, as that meant he would see his family again...We were beginning to form a liking for this ex-adversary and felt a little sad when a group of soldiers came to take him away."
With all this information, this German Luftwaffe POW remains completely unknown. In the 1975 copy of "Fighters over Tunisia", it is mentioned that 'F/Sgt Jonsson attacking one Bf-109 as it was strafing the airfield, forcing it to crash land." This is recorded as taking part on November 22,1942
In MAW-3 there is no mention of this incident.
Can anyone shed some light on this discrepancy?
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