Lt Rinker Wolfram NJG4

[RodM]

Hi Stig,

Gen.Genst,Qu.6.Abt. loss return -

URSACHE: "Absturz inf. Brennstoffmangel"

ULTRA CX/MSS/T.479/83 (I./NJG4 Ops report) -

"CREW OF LTN RINKER MADE PARACHUTE DESCENT 0115 HOURS [GMT] OWING LACK OF FUEL NEAR ELLENSTADT (VECHTA)".

To place this and other Nachtjagd losses on this night into a wider context, many crews baled out when fuel got low because they had extreme difficulty in finding a safe place to land due to bad weather. That does not mean all baled out only when the engines finally stopped...

Lt. Rinker and crew took off from Vechta at 22.32 hrs in the first wave for Unternehmen Gisela. Given that the Ju88G-6 had an average operational endurance of around four to four-and-a-half hours with full tanks (from memory), Lt. Rinker would have needed to land by around 02.32 - 03.00 hrs. The crew baled out at 02.15 hrs. The last Ju88 from the I./NJG4 first wave to land did so at Diepholz at 02.47 hrs. The time of the crash of the Ju88 is recorded in a British 2nd TAF ATI Report as "03.40 hrs" - if true, this equates to a flight time of 5 hours, 8 minutes (the longest flight time during Gisela I have recorded from many Nachtjagd Flugbücher is 5 hours, 25 minutes). The straight-line distance from Ellenstädt to Itegem is just over 300 kilometres (the precise crash location of the Ju88 was 3.2 km SW of Itegem).

Cheers

Rod

[Stig Jarlevik]

Well Rod

Thanks for providing the answer in black and white, but I still find it an odd reason. If everyone jumped out of airplanes with 85 minutes of fuel onboard, even if the weather is bad, no production in the world would have been enough to replace such losses.

Admittedly it was a rough night for Luftwaffe night fighters, so maybe it was after all the right decision to make in their case.

Cheers
Stig

[Luc Vervoort]

Hi Rod,

Many thanks for the additional information and confirmation of the crashlocation.

Best regards

Luc

[Nick Beale]

Attached is an extract from ULTRA CX/MSS/T479/83:

[Luc Vervoort]

All,

Thanks for the supplied information !

Best regards

Luc

[streak98]

Hi,

maybe further interesting.... Lt. Wolfram Rinker 1. / NJG 4 bailed out with his Crew on 01. February 1945 from Junkers Ju-88 G6 622312 due to Engine Trouble, 60 Kilometres south west of Hannover in the vicinity of Fischbeck (Weser) just four weeks before he died....

Any Informations regarding his Crewmembers for this Loss (01.02.1945) are welcome.

greetings

streak98

[Alain57]

Hi ,
Thank you all for this answer

Alain57