Ju 52 loss in Austria or Slovakia on 26 April 1941

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

I would like details of a Ju 52 loss that occured on 26 April 1941, probably in the Pressburg (now Bratislava) area. The aircraft of KGzbv 50 crashed during a flight from Belgrad to Wien, according to this death card available on fold3: https://www.fold3.com/image/69911664...tion-1939-1948

Fold3 reads the name of this man as Gehswein, but I personnaly read it as Gesswein (compare with how Pressburg is written), and it is confirmed by http://www.denkmalprojekt.org/2024/a...k1_wk2_bw.html. This last website says he died in Wien.

Thanks in advance

[Rottler]

Hello Laurent,

in the GQM loss return is noted:
26.4.41 K.G.z.b.V. 50 Hundsheimerkogel, unfreiwillige Bodenberührung, Ju 52 WNr. 6409, 75%
Lt Ernst Wirth
Fw Fred Heinze Bf
Uffz Franz Gesswein F
Ogefr Werner Reichold Bm
Ogefr Alfred Dittmann 1. Wart
Uffz Richard Gripp, all +
Further + Uffz Karl Brinkmann 6. Kl.Kw.Kol.Gebirgs-Div. Kol 94

Regards
Leo

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks Leo

The Hundsheimer Kogel is a hill close to the Austrian-Slovak border, near Hainburg and Donau, about 40 km east of Vienna and 10 km west of Pressburg/Bratislava (https://sonnabend.at/natur-berge/hundsheimer-kogel/).

I found death cards for all the men you listed, all agree that the crash occured on Hundsheimer Kogel (now that I know what to search, I can read it...) at 15h45-15h50.

One difference: Uffz Richard Gnipp with a n

And I found two other men who died in the same place and same time in a crash by searching "26 Apr 1941" and "Flug" on fold3): Flg Kurt Holzhausen (https://www.fold3.com/image/699319242 and https://www.fold3.com/image/699533081) and ObGefr Karl Buchner (https://www.fold3.com/image/691869754), both of 6.(H)/31.

Next by searching 31 for this date, I found the following men who died in a crash "between Belgrad and Wien, near Pressburg".
_ Uffz Erwin Langer (https://www.fold3.com/image/693014120). Unit is given as 6.(H)/31 or K.G.z.b.V. 50, and both are crossed...
_ Uffz Artur Hermann Lorenz, of 6.(H)/31. (https://www.fold3.com/image/692487783)
_ Gefr Franz Schmid, of 6.(H)/31. (https://www.fold3.com/image/699313992, with same details as crew, but written Flüg and so not found above)

By searching Belgrad, I add Gefr Hans-Joachim Jank (https://www.fold3.com/image/692104498, same place and hour). Unit was written as 6.(H)/31, the 1 being overwritten in red as a 0 according to fold3 but I am not so sure.

So that makes a total of 6 possible new passengers of the crashed Ju 52. They could also have been in another aircraft but the loss hour is the same for the one that are listed. As these 6 men are from Luftwaffe (even if unit is unclear for two of them), they may appear in Lutfwaffe loss list, but probably not at the same time than the crash, but rather in "ground losses", as they were probably ground crew.

If somebody has something about these men, I will be interested.