Pieces of paper thrown out of a Me 109

[BABIN]

Hello,

In the Personal Combat Report written by a Spitfire pilot who shot down a Me 109 in August 1944, it was told :

" ... I observed the E/A's hood fly off and the pilot searching around his cockpit. He threw out about 30 small pieces of paper and then baled out at 800 ft over the back of his aircraft ..."

I wonder what these "small pieces of paper" could be ... somebody have an idea ?

Thanks

Pierre

[Csaba B. Stenge]

Well, the Hungarian Ju 88's and Fw 189's dropped 100 000's of leaflets over the Soviet Union and sometimes they dropped few bunch of them against the attacking fighters too, to confuse them, but it is a very different story. Maybe he just tore up some personal documents before baled out.

[Peter]

Maps and intelligense, mission objective I would guess.

Peter

[Larry]

But surely if he had left them in the aircraft they would have been blown to bits when the aircraft hit the ground. Why risk you life ripping up documents?

[WEISNER]

Blown up when hitting the ground???? Not so! several hard crash sites have given up all kinds of Intellagence! Pilot ID including unit info and possible location of the unit, Via stamps etc..in the various ID books that were kept, Maps with important alternate landing airfields (Fueling Sites) on them...And other types of Paper goodies. once found, Here comes the Bombs.... And some of these paper items are still being found TODAY.... when a crash site is excavated!
Perhaps some member who has been involved in such a historical dig can add some info?
Kevin

[Adam]

surely the place of the incident might also be relevant? It seems the assumption is it was intell for the enemy, but if the pilot was miles from the front lines inside friendly territory, then perhaps it was something he wasn't supposed to have - either at all, or just in the aircraft at the time?

[Franek Grabowski]

Well, perhaps it was a notebook or something like that, that locked him in the cockpit? Or perhaps he had to throw it away because unable to reach something or unstrap himself.

[WEISNER]

Dan makes a very good point above!
K

[Jon]

Yes i'm with Dan on this, young pilot fresh out of training, taught from day one to destroy all documents and aircraft in the event of a crash landing behind enemy lines. Looks like he went into auto pilot, thats what training is all about, no thinking just acting as taught.
Also to consider is when the hood was jettisoned any loose papers,maps etc would have been sucked out by the slipstream. Try leaving some paper on your car seat and open both front windows at 80mph !

[brewerjerry]

Originally Posted by Jon

Also to consider is when the hood was jettisoned any loose papers,maps etc would have been sucked out by the slipstream. Try leaving some paper on your car seat and open both front windows at 80mph !

Hi
I would tend to agree, I read a combat report od a luftwaffe D 520 being shot down, It had a similar comment about papers coming out when the hood was opened.
cheers
Jerry