He-111 KG55

[steve sheridan]

Chris, i concluded this myself, however looking at Peter Cornwell's post, he says that all the crew were unhurt?
Im not one for disputing what the experts say, but i haven't seen any response to the contrary.
My notes mentioned the post i pasted below, and Peter also says that the a/c was written off, which has caused some doubts over the validity of the previous claim, and recovery and continuous service of W.Nr 2145!

Best regards,
Steve.

[David Ransome]

Hi,

And I have to say sorry that I'm still not in a position to double check all my cross referencing info yet. I agree that if the a/c was badly burnt, and particularly if the main part of the fuselage was severely damaged, it would be hard to see it being recovered. Having said that, if the major part of the fuselage itself was retrievable then it could have reappeared with salvaged parts from other aircraft under it's original WNr.

Chris, do we know how much of the fuselage was burnt beyond repair?

Regards,

David

[David Ransome]

And just to add.....

My now deceased contact did tell me that there were many instances of aircraft (or parts thereof) being recovered which had crash landed in former enemy territory, after the Germans had advanced. It would be nice to find more real evidence of this however!

Regards,

David

[Chris Goss]

All that I can say is having seen the burns to Hans Kaufhold's face and hands, to see that this ac was recovered and flew again surprises me greatly