Fw 190 landed at West Malling, Mar '43

[Frasera]

Understand that an Fw 190 landed at West Malling, by mistake, on this date, His companion being shot down during overshoot. Any info on pilots/unit?
TIA
Alan Fraser
http://www.stirlingpilot.org.uk

[Chris Goss]

Four came down in the UK that night from I & II/SKG 10. Details in my book on Tip & Run but do say if you want more

[Brian Bines]

Would this be the incident when on the night of 16/17 April 1943 four Fw 190's of SKG 10 attempted to land at West Malling ? The events have been well covered previously in books/articles.
Oblt. Kurt Klahn St. Kap. of 2/SKG 10 was killed when he baled out too low on the approach to West Malling, Fw. Otto Bechtold of 7/SKG 10 was taken POW after landing, Ltn Fritz Setzer of 5/SKG 10 was taken POW injured and his a/c destroyed after landing, while Ofw. Otto Schulz of 7 staffel was seriously injured and his a/c wrecked after undershooting West Malling.
Otto Schulz was repatriated to Germany but a JG 6 loss list shows him as killed on 3-11-1944 when he attempted an emergency landing in a Fw 190 of 8/JG 6.
I beleive Ltn. Setzer was out of fuel following AA damage over London. The others may have overflown Essex crossed the Thames Estuary thinking it to be the Channel and thought they were landing in France perhaps someone else has a more definite answer

[Frasera]

Thanx Guys,
The reason for asking is the 149 Sqn Stirling which landed at West Malling (after a fight (?) with an 88) pulled up along side it - much to the consternation of the crew!
Alan F
http://www.stirlingpilot.org.uk

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hello Chris,

A good opportunity to congratulate you for your remarkable book "Luftwaffe Fighter-bombers over Britain - The tip and run campaign" (Crécy Publishing lim.) devoted to this long series of terror attacks on South-England 1942-43. You covered this difficult subject with decency, giving a well-deserved place to the civilian victims testimonys. After reading this, I better understood why my old friend Johann-Karl Müller (SKG 10) was tormented by nightmares until the end of his life. Your book is a must for the Luftwaffe fans and an essential work for those - I hope there are not too many - which did not fully realize the horror of this total war.
Thanks, Chris Goss !

Hals und Beinbruch - Jean-Yves Lorant.

[Chris Goss]

Jean-Yves: Thank you so much for your most kind comments. I was lucky to have contacted Herr Mueller many years ago and it was probably he who fired my interest in the subject. There are still a few unanswered questions (like from Herrn Limberg and Schroeter who wished not to correspond) and the only feedback that I have received on the book is minimal so must assume that the book answers nearly all of the questions!

Amicalement

Chris

[Frasera]

Thanx again, Guys. So thid could have been the night of 16/17 Apr, and not March as I was told verbally?
If so, were any Ju 88s lost near Munich after action against Bombers, that night?
TIA
Alan F

[guyfranklin]

beter late than never, but tagging on to the above posts, to clarify a small point about the 4th Pilot, oblt. Kurt Klahn...he bailed out sometime after over passing West Malling airfield, so didn't in fact attempt to land, presumably as a result of seeing what happened to his 3 colleagues. He in fact carried on in a SE direction until I believe he ran out of fuel (?) and bailed out too low and straight into trees in Staplehurst and died on impact. He came down in what is now our garden, much to the shock of our next door neighbour first thing on the morning of the 17th. He was buried I believe in Lenham or Bearsted cemetary initially until moved along with other remains in the 1960s. If anyone can shed any other bits of information about him/his background I'd greatly appreciate it. The remains of his plane still lie several feet down in a field to the rear of our house.

[Chris Goss]

Guy: What happened to Klahn (and his career) is covered in my book due out shortly and includes photos of the crashed ac. I cannot be certain but he was buried at Staplehurst (I saw the burial record some years ago) but is now at Cannock Chase

[guyfranklin]

Hi Chris - thanks for the update, do you have a photo of Klahn anywhere as this story has been bugging me for the past 21 years or so?! I know there were alot of misgivings amongst some locals at the time about burying a German Airman in the local churchyard, and that seemed to be the case for a number of other pilots who crashed/died in that part of the country (I know of at least x4 others). Still, good sense prevailed it seems, but I had no idea he was actually buried in Staplehurst itself until being taken up to Cannock. I appreciate you probably don't want to give any info away that will be covered in the book, but anything you have would be appreciated....let me know the name of the book/publication date as both I and my father would be keen to get a copy.

guy