Dornier Do 17 top pilot Joachim Gey

[knusel]

Good evening Gentlemen,

I recommend "Dornier Do 17 Units of World War 2" by Chris Goss. It is a vivid and informative description of the service, accomplishments and drawbacks of that aircraft type. Furthermore, it includes a list of Do 17 Kampfflieger Ritterkreuz recipients.

I did an approximation to find out which pilot flew the most combat missions in the Do 17 based on the table of Peter Mosler and equipment data: I believe it's Joachim Gey (who was award the Ritterkreuz after his Do 17 service). He had 409 combat missions and flew the Do 17 from the beginning of the war until about November 1941, therefore his Do 17 total might be ~322 missions. The only guy I know with more missions is Emil Badorrek but he was an observer. I also wrote an inquiry to www.blitzgeschwader.de, the website about Gey's unit KG3, but I received no answer and meanwhile the website is out of order.

Does anybody of you know anything to speficy Joachim Gey's exact Do 17 mission total or a pilot with more Do 17 missions than he ?

Best greetings from Switzerland,

Michael

[Chris Goss]

According to the RK book, his mission total is not certain and he stopped operational flying end of 1942. According to him 324, according the OKW 409. Only way is if his PERS6 file makes a mention or whether his FB survived

[knusel]

Good evening Chris,

thanks for the hint. I succesfully downloaded his RK recommendation from the Bundesarchiv. In the text a definite total of 409 missions is reported:

• Poland 15
• France 27
• England 38
• Balkan 27
• Russia 302, of these 104 between DKiG recommendation and the end of 1942

His DKiG was awarded after his Do 17 service but before his Ju 88 service.
Therefore, now I think 305 is his precise Do 17 mission total, more than any other pilot I know.

Shall I send you the document scan (7 jpg's) ?

Cheers,

Michael