3./JG 4 & JG 53 mix?

[Paul E.]

On 13 May, 1944 Otto Van de Loo of 3./JG 4 shot down a P-40 15Km East of Velletri, Italy, according to his claims record. The only P-40 shot down that day appears to that of 2nd Lt. Arthur F. Kusch, Jr. of the 324th Fighter Group. Amazingly, there is an eye witness account of this air battle written by another pilot of the 324th FG. His account identifies the 20 or so ME 109s as being from the "Pik As" JG which would be JG 53. He says that there were also 2 or 3 dozen FW109s with bombs flying below the 109s but that he didn't think that they took part in the air battle. He places the combat as being about 30 Km Further East of there but surely it was the same encounter.

Is it possible that JG53 and 3./JG4 would have been flying together in May of 1944? Was this actually a different air engagement?

A confounding fact is that even though there seems to be on record only one P-40 shot down on that day, the eye witness pilot himself was shot down, although unlike Lt. Kusch, he bailled out and was rescued.

Can anyone shed some light on Otto Van de Loo's kill and the possible unit mix or anything else that might solve this riddle?

Paul

[Nick Beale]

Both units were operating that day and you might want to take a look at my accont at http://www.ghostbombers.com/SG4/sg4frame.html

III./JG 53 was in action against Spitfires (aborting its escort mission for SG 4's Focke-Wulfs) at 13.23 and 3./JG 4 fought against P-40s at 13.30.