Fw 190 Crashlanding October 14th 1944

[Trendle]

John, apropos „Bodenplatte - The Luftwaffes Last Hope“: About 12 Years ago, I was looking for a crahlanded B-17 Fortress near the little Hamlet Hausen am Tann, 7 Km südlich Balingen (Baden-Württemberg - Germany). An old woman told me in an Restaurant, that a fighter plane crashed nearby on January 1, 1945. So of course I got excited! She described the crash site fairly accurately and after only a short search I found parts of the fighter at the „Schafberg“, 2 Km north Hausen am Tann. She also remembered the name of the pilot: Unteroffizier Hans-Gustav Dierks, participant in “Operation Bodenplatte”. He, who was initially buried in Hausen am Tann, was brought home by his grandmother (?) in 1946 or 1947. He rests today in the honorary cemetery in his native town of Hamm/Westphalia) 5.(St.)/JG 4 / Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-8/R2 / # 681870 / Weiße 7 + presumably disorientation on the return flight „Bodenplatte“
Fred

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by John Manrho

Yes, please. I will drop you PM. If time is indeed 16.40 we have an issue. Also if somebody has mission reports for 428th FS and 430th FS for this day that would be great!

Email with ER sent; I'll start looking for Mission Reports later today.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by Trendle

I work with the books of Frank Olynyk -> “Credits For The Destruction of Enemy Aircraft In Air-To-Air Combat In World War 2 ETO & MTO“ and usually his remarks can be trusted.
October, 14th 1944

Lieutenant Carstensen 474th F.G./430th F.S. Fw 190 * 13 Km südlich Düsseldorf - Deutschland (dam.) 15.45 Lieutenant Henderson 474th F.G./430th F.S. Fw 190 * 13 Km südlich Düsseldorf - D. (unconf. dam.) 15.45
and:
2nd Lieutenant Rankin 474th F.G./428th F.S. Fw 190 * 15 Km südwestlich Düsseldorf - D. (dam. 0,5) 16.30->
2nd Lieutenant Clark 474th F.G./428th F.S. Fw 190 * 15 Km südwestlich Düsseldorf - D. (dam. 0,5) 16.30->
2nd Lieutenant Freeman 474th F.G./428th F.S. Fw 190 * 15 Km südwestlich Düsseldorf - D. (0,5) 16.30->
2nd Lieutenant Pemberton 474th F.G./428th F.S. Fw 190* 15 Km südwestlich Düsseldorf - D. (0,5) 16.30->

I have Mr. Olynyk's book as well and am currently at a loss to explain the time discrepancy. I'll start looking for Mission Reports later today and post anything I find.

[John Manrho]

Fred and Steve,

Yes, the PER clearly shows 16.40 hrs for Henderson. Furthermore he states that they bounced a group of 20 Bf 109's/Fw 190's......so this must be I./JG 26 too. It amazes me that Frank Olynyk wrote 15.45. Maybe there is a conflict between Mission Report and PER. Strange.

Fred, Bodenplatte is now an 18 year old book. I made errata sheet (based on Hikoki version page numbering) and put them on this board (other section). Unfortunately the attachment are no longer there. The case of Uffz. Dierks was corrected in v6 (2015) of the Errata sheet. If anybody wants an update, just send me a PM.

I appreciate the nice words regarding Bodenplatte. Ron and I worked on it for more than 10 years.

Cheers,

John

[Trendle]

Hello John,

I would be very happy if you would send me the Errata Sheets „Bodenplatte“ by e-mail! Thank you very much in advance. E-Mail: trendle.fred@gmail.com

All the best

Fred