17 March 1944 - III./JG 2

[Jochen Prien]

Gentlemen,

on 17 March 1944 III./JG2 lost one Fw190 in aerial combat northeast of Chartres and one more that was shot down while taking off from Chartres airfield, both in the afternoon.

On the other hand claims for a certain and a probable P-47 are mentioned in officcial records although in the known claims records, in particular the BA held Abschussfilme, there is not a trace of these claims.

Both 8th and 9th USAAF lost two P-47s each over France on this date. While no claim for an Fw 190 from 8th USAAF units is known ( to me at least ), I wonder whether a 9th USAAF FG filed claims for the two Fw 190s lost by III./JG2.

The only other trace of an aerial combat involving German fighters over France on this day leads to I./JG 26 which reported battle damage to one of its aircraft on this day.

Can anybody enlighten me which German unit claimed the a/m P-47s, or the other way round, how and where the 4 P-47s from 8th and 9th USAAF were lost.

As usual - any substantiated hint would be gratefully appreciated.

KR

Jochen Prien