KG66 loss 23-3-1944

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Well well, I./KG66 is popular these days!

Chris is right, to my knowledge the Besatzung (crew) was:
- Gruppenkommandeur Maj. Hermann Schmidt (FF)
- Uffz. Heinz Knode (BO)
- Uffz. Eduard Czech (BF)

(NB: this was the established "Besatzung Schmidt", sometimes joined by a fourth man: Fw. Ernst Berge (BS))

With apparently 1. Wart Friedrich Grove joining them on this ferry flight.

If I understood it correctly (and I stand corrected!), Laubman and Needham were ordered by their leader Wing Commander "Buck" McNair to strafe the Germans after they got out of their crashlanded plane and afterwards felt very bad about it..(Even after the war it seems..) PS: Czech got a "Kopfschuss" (shot in the head).

When I interviewed Knode in 2003 he was still very bitter about it and compared it to "shooting hares"..

I did not manage to get into contact with the Canadian pilots and therefore would be very grateful if somebody could help me with their pictures and the combat report.

TIA and best regards,

Marcel