German document - Adinkerke - 8 July 1941

[Leendert]

Trying to figure out some written text on https://catalog.archives.gov/id/3174...objectPage=878 and specifically the lines preceding and after 'Adinkerke' in the right hand corner.

It appears to involve an a/c crash (Allied? German?) around 15.45 hrs on 8 VII 1941 with 'Pilot tot' (?).

Help to decipher the few lines in text is appreciated, thanks.

Leendert

[Chris Goss]

You need to be more specific as it appears there are 1424 pages to sift through............?

[Leendert]

Link should open on relative Page. If not, it's image/Page 878. Leendert

[Rottler]

Hello Leendert,
the text is
"15.45 etwa 4 km südostwärts Adinkerke feindlicher Jäger nach Luftkampf brennend abgestürzt. Pilot tot" (= 15.45 about 4 km southeast of Adinkerke an enemy fighter crashed in flames after an aerial combat. Pilot dead).

Regards
Leo

[Chris Goss]

Trouble is I can see no RAF matches unless body was not recovered while the only possible German is Uffz Held who was killed north of St Omer

[Leendert]

Thanks for deciphering text for me.
Described RAF loss can be identified as Spitfire R7218 of No. 145 Squadron with F/O Jiri Machacek (KIA). Came down in "De Moeren/Les Moëres" BE/FR border area between Dunkirk and Adinkerke/Veurne (Furnes).

Leendert

[Chris Goss]

Sounds right and he is still recorded as missing.
https://fcafa.com/2024/10/11/jiri-ma...ne-of-the-few/

[Franek Grabowski]

I think I am getting blind, I still cannot see the entry.
Anyway, there was another Spitfire lost in the area of Koksijde, Spitfire IIB P8502 RF-C with S/L Tadeusz Arentowicz still missing, believed lost in sea.
The one mentioned in FInke's loss report must have been Spitfire IIA P7845 ZF-C of Sgt Józef Biel. I think he was the only Spit pilot to bail out in that combat.
Franek

[Leendert]

The link Chris gave in #7 has a little mistake. It says Machacek was shot down at about 10.00 a.m. This however is the time when witnesses appeared at the town office of De Moeren (BE side of border) on the 9th of July to record the pilot's death.
Statement has that the pilot was found on 8 July 1941 at (around) 16:00 hrs, so approx. the time the German report has.

Leendert

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski

I think I am getting blind, I still cannot see the entry.
Franek

Weirdly the link takes me to one (printed) page on my laptop and to another (handwritten) one on my iPad.