The Eagles Over Europe Project

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-kdw...-kdwnz9N-L.jpg

In the EoE LW Loss DB, there are about 10 photos of this a/c. Putting them together, this is revealed to be Hs123 of 6.(S)/LG2 with the code L2+DP

This is the only one photo that has a location, but we can't decipher it.

"Merlin" says: "this caption is hard to decipher. The first capital letter is a mixture of Sytterlin and normal writing, for the next ones there are some possibilities and the location ends with '...nditier'. I could not find anything similar in the loss reports for II./LG 2."

Although this says "Juni 1940" this has to be the date of the photo, not the date of the crash. There are only three possible 6 Staffel reports that might be this a/c in the EoE LW loss DB during the entire Western Campaign of May-June, 1940, all in mid-May:

"May 13, 1940:
6.(S)/LG2 Henschel Hs123A-1. Believed shot down by Sgt Wilkinson of No. 3 Squadron between Jauche and Pitrain, south of Tienen (Belgium), during ground-attack sortie 1.00 p.m. FF Fw Hans Knerr killed. Aircraft 100% write-off.

6.(S)/LG2 Henschel Hs123A-1. Believed shot down by Sgt Allen of No. 3 Squadron over Orp-Jauche, south of Tienen (Belgium), during ground-attack mission 1.00 p.m. FF Lt Hans-Joachim Fritz badly wounded, admitted to hospital in Jülich. Aircraft 100% write-off.
May 15, 1940:
6.(S)/LG2 Henschel Hs123A-1. Shot down by flak near Altiaux, 15 km south of Wavre (Belgium). FF Gefr Walter Krug killed. Aircraft 100% write-off."
Can anyone put this information together with the partial place name and come up with a solution to this mystery? Based upon the condition of the wreck, unless the pilot baled out this crash would have resulted in a fatality to the pilot. This makes the first and third the most likely candidates. However, there is no visible field grave in the photos. This plane crashed near a major road and was repeatedly photographed by German soldiers over a considerable period of time as the wreck was much disturbed. The swastika was not removed from the tail, so this crash likely did not happen behind Allied lines or at least happened very close to the front lines at the time of the incident.

Who can solve this one?