Search Spitfire 52 FG

[JP Favrais]

Hello
I search some information( name pilot, mission, crash, ) for three SPITFIRE
serial NA 883. EF 647. JK 160. shot down the 9 February 1944
Thank you for your help jean paul

[SteveB]

Jean Paul

The recent history of 52FG “Spitfires and Yellow Tail Mustangs” by Tom Ivie and Paul Ludwig states:

"9 February 1944 turned out to be a bad day for the 4thFS as a dive-bombing mission resulted in the loss of three pilots. The first air battle took place over the harbour at Nice in France when the flight of four Spitfires led by Lt Henry Montgomery was jumped by Fw190s as they were pulling up from their dive bombing attacks. Widely separated and under attack at all times the Spitfire pilots were unable to aid each other. First to fall was F/O James H Montgomery Jr whose aircraft was last seen going down in flames. He would become a PoW. Next F/O Bob Hoover’s Spitfire was hit and he bailed out and went in the water three miles off Nice harbour. Two enemy speed boats were observed to go out after him. The Germans then turned and pursued the other two Spitfires, but Henry Montgomery and Bradley Smith managed to elude the Fw190s after desperately manoeuvring for 25 minutes.
Later that day Maj William M Houston led a section to search for the two downed pilots and Houston’s flight was attacked by Fw190s. Lt John L Bishop was shot down six miles SE of Cannes, France and became PoW, and Lt Stanley Pell suffered a hole through his left wing. Houston and Lt Robert L Burnett III managed to escape the bounce and claimed they probably destroyed a Fw190 near Nice. Their claim was never given official credit."

As far as I can see there is no other info in the book that enables these names to be connected up with your serial numbers.

Steve

[JP Favrais]

Hello Steve, Paul, Robert
Thank you very much for the answer and your help
Steve Thank you if you have the serial with the name of pilot jean paul

[shooshoobaby]

JP - From Bob Hoover's book " Forever Flying " page 64.
A/C Sitfire Vc # MA 833 code WD-R.
After downing FW - 190 , he was bounced by 2 FW - 190s. Two of his Squadron Mates turned tail and ran for home - they were punished for it.
Hoover was shot down by Siegried "Bamm" Lemke. he bailed out , landed in water, picked up by German ship , POW Luft 1.
Lempke also shot down Pilots Bishop and Montgomery.
Cheers,
Mike

[RossGmann]

EF647 Vc 14-4-43 82MU 26-4-43 Fort Jersey 11-5-43 Casablanca 30-5-43 Malta 1-8-43 NAfrica 30-10-43 12/52USAAF 30-11-43 lost France 9-2-44

JK160 Vc 29-1-43 222MU 10-2-43 Fort Hudson 20-2-43 Gibraltar 7-3-43 NWAfrica 31-3-43 12/52USAAF 31-12-43 lost France 9-2-44

I’m puzzled about the next entry

MA883VcT 8-8-43 222MU 29-8-43 Cardinal Gibbons 3-9-43 Casablanca 20-9-43 NAfrican ASC 31-10-43 USAAF 12th AF 31-12-43 [lost over France 9-2-44] Tipped up during engine run Gaudo 4-3-45

www.luftwaffe.cz/lemkes.html Claimed 4 x Spitfires on that day Entries 16, 17, 18, 19

Kind regards
Ross

[JohnE]

Spitfire International places Montgomery in EF647.

/John E.

[paulmcmillan]

Originally Posted by JP Favrais

Hello
I search some information( name pilot, mission, crash, ) for three SPITFIRE
serial NA 883. EF 647. JK 160. shot down the 9 February 1944
Thank you for your help jean paul

The only point (at the moment) is that I think it should be MA883 NOT NA883

Also see

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/s.../44FebMACR.htm

For the MACR numbers

[robert]

Hi,


it seems they were all shot down by Ofw.S.Lemke from 1/JG2.


Regards

Robert

[Alex Smart]

Hi,

For what its worth I had
EF647 - F/O James H Montgomery Jr
JK160 - F/O R.A. Hoover
MA883 - Lt John L Bishop

ref "Spitfire the History"
EF647 -USAAF 30-11 lost France 9-2-44 12/52.
JK160 - USAAF 12/52 31-12 lost France 9-2-44.
MA883 - USAAF 12th AF 31-12 lost over France 9-2-44.

ref "Spitfire International"
EF647 - US 12th AF 52FG Corsica 30.11.43 Missing over Italy Cat FB/E 9-2-44 SOC.
JK160 - US 12th AF 52FG 2nd FS Corsica 31.12.43;Shot down over France Cat FB/E 9.2.44 SOC.
MA883 - US 12th AF 52 FG 31.12.43 Lost over France Cat FB/E 9.2.44SOC.

In none of those mentioned above are there any pilots named.

However if you look in the index and page 457 of Spitfire International -

Montgomery Lt. JH along with Hoover Lt. RA,are noted, while there is only a ref to a Bishop Lt. (who may or may not be the same Lt.Bishop) who made a safe forced landing in BL240 at Manston on 13.1.43.

On page 457 the ref to Montgomery and Hoover is -
9.2.44 - 52nd FG 4th FS FTR (Lt. RA Hoover POW).
9.2.44 - 52nd FG 4th FS FTR (Lt. JH Montgomery jnr Killed ).
[ above were EF647 & MA883]

Also mentioned here was
9.2.44 - 31st FG crashed short of runway in soft dirt (Lt. Sturm head & face injuries).

Can anyone check in "Spitfires and Yellow Tailed Mustangs" for any relevant info please ?

As the above now places Bishop in JK160 and Hoover in MA883.

So -
EF647 - F/O. James H. Montgomery jr.
JK160 - Lt. John L. Bishop
MA883 - F/O. R.A. Hoover

Alex