Luftwaffe to Lincoln August 17th/18th, 1943

[Jaap Woortman]

Brian,

I have the same information as you have.
But I think that Balke is only talking about the contribution of KG 2 to the raid, 55 + 13 = 68 a/c. He doesn't give figures about the contribution of possible other units. We know that I./KG 66 was flying in this raid, not only with the 3 Ju 188's but also with Do 217's. It is also possible that Price in his book "Blitz über England" from 1978, were he has mentioned the 88 a/c to Lincoln, also has taken in account the contribution of SKG 10.

About your second question.
I have seen the AirMin Weekly Intel. Summary about the 5 POW's of KG 2 and had the same idea. Maybe Marcel can help.

Jaap

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Brian, Jaap,

You are correct that during this early period target marking was also carried out by the bomber units themselves (such as KG2 or KG6), probably because I./KG66 was not up to strength yet. For what it's worth hereby Altrogge's entry in his Leistungsbuch:

"Ziel: Dieselmotorenwerk in Lincoln. Auftrag: Horcheinsatz im Rahmen 2. Und 3./KG2 (II und III/KG2 meant?). Höhen über Ziel von 800 - 5000 m. Abschuss von 7 Maschinen durch Nachtjäger beobachtet. Seenotfall 70 km ostwärts Wash. Starke Nachtjagd vor allem im Wash (Steigraum), am Ziel leichte, mittlere und schwere Flak. Flugweg: Soesterberg - LF Katrin - Wash - Lincoln - Deelen"

As I understand it, a "Horcheinsatz" is a kind of "ELINT" (Electronic Intelligence" mission where the objective is to find out what radio and radar frequencies etc. the enemy (i.e. the British) is using. I don't know if we can conclude from the above that the Ju 188s involved did of did not do any target marking. Altrogge maybe not, but the other Ju 188s?

Which again reminds me how much this early period of I./KG66 is still a "Dark Age" to me. Altrogge is one of the few sources for this period and he was notoriously sloppy filling in the "Zulassungsnummer (aircraft code)"-column in his Flugbuch. That means that I'm not even sure which Staffel he belonged to at the time (2./, 4./KG66, or still E.Kdo.d.Lw. 188?) or whether he was temporarily detached to 3./KG66, the mysterious "Hör- und Störstaffel". (Which seems to have no connection to I./KG66 apart from their unit code.....)

All the best,

Marcel

[Brian Bines]

Marcel,

Thanks for that, POW's in 1944 show 3/KG66 as the 'Storstaffel' (Jamming Staffel) Radar investigation and jamming flights. All I have seen on them (prior to the reorganisation in 1944) is a loss of a Ju88S on the London raid on 29/30-1-1944,

Regards

Brian

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Hi Brian,

Correct, unfortunately I don't have much more.... I./KG66 veterans don't have any recollections of having close contact with personnel of the 3.KG66 Hör- und Störstaffel. The fact that the Staffeln were located separately (on purpose?!) on different airbases (3./KG66 at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, rest of I./KG66 at Montididier or Avord) would not have been very helpful regarding building or maintaining social contacts...

Regards,

Marcel