Knoke's claim, Nov 6 1942

[Kutscha]

Was this a/c really a Mosquito as he claimed?

As far as I could ascertain no Mosquitos were lost off the northern Dutch coast that day but a Ventura of 21 Sqd was. In fact I can find np Mosquitos lost this Nov day.

[Hans Nauta]

Hi Kutscha,

In fact 3 Ventura's, AE848 and AE784 and AJ200 were lost,all being claimed by Flak.
The crash locations are far away from the where Knoke claimed a Mosquito, 50 km NW of Heligoland.

No Mosquito's of Bomber Command were sent out that day, and of not misidentified, it might have been a PRU Mosquito. AFAIK none were lost, perhaps only damaged?

Regards,
Hans Nauta

[Kutscha]

Hi Hans,

I found this site on the Venturas, http://ns33.hosteur.com/%7Eheinzkno/.../Victory_2.htm

In the article, it speculates that one of the Venturas could have been Knoke's claim.

There is also this site but not sure how accurate it is, http://www.dehavilland.ukf.net/_DH98%20prodn%20list.txt

though it looks very comprehensive. Any idea who did the work?

Not to go OT but how accurate is Knoke's book, I flew for the Fuhrer.

[Hans Nauta]

Hi Kutcha,

I discussed this matter years ago with Franck Ruffino. The main 'problem' is that for all Ventura's a Flak claim exists:

AJ200: 14.31 hrs 2 km Z Spijkenisse
AE848: 14.35 hrs North Sea W Bergen aan Zee
AE784: 14.38 hrs Waddenzee 5 km E of Den Helder

Apart from that, crew members who perished are all buried in The Netherlands, virtually impossible that Knoke's claim could have been one of the Ventura's. So I cannot agree with the assumption of Franck.

Regards,
Hans Nauta

[Kutscha]

Thanks Hans.

Was Knoke padding his claims? There was such an occurance in North Africa with a staffel of one of the units there.

It would seem he is, as no Mosquito losses are recorded for that date. Or, he shot down a German a/c.

[mikeshilton]

Could it have been a USAAF Mosquito?