He-111 crash 16.12.1943 Croatia

[Larry deZeng]

Hi Tomislav,

I knew if this thread stayed current long enough one of the true experts on the air war over the former Yugoslavia - and particularly the NDH - would eventually find it! Thanks for joining in, and I think you are right about the date.

I would like to add one other possibility for consideration: a He 111 from BFS 5 based at Zemun (Semlin), July 1941 - October 1943. This school had lots of HE 111s and the student crews flew them all over the NDH, BiH, Srbska area and even beyond that. It's not too much of a stretch of the imagination to think of one of them crashing at Crikvenica after a practice flight to North Italy or Italian-occupied Slovenia. I have notes on some of the BFS 5 He 111 H-5, H-6 and P-5 losses over the Balkans but I did not write them all down and none of those that I have match the Crikvenica crash. Without the correct date or even the correct month and year, the job of finding the machine in question would be too time-consuming.

L.

[raus_punk]

oi!

Tomislave, I spoke to man who gave that date, but he is not anymore sure if that date is of crash or date when partisans have found that plane. I will try to find that book to check out correct data.

Raus

[Tomislav Haramincic]

Hi,

Larry thank you for your kind words, but I think I'm still far from being an expert.

I've checked my correspondence that I had with Raus about two years ago regarding this He 111 and came across a few names. Another source mentioned Fw. Rahm, Uffz. Horch and Bucholtz (unknown rank) as being killed in that crash. According to the same story, another crew member named Janssen should have benn taken prisoner by the partisans. I couldn't find anything that would connect any of these names to an aircraft crash. The Volksbund site provides as well no clues.

[Brian Bines]

Luftwaffe QM's returns dated 16-12-42 show that on 9-12-42 Ju52 5433 of Transportst.II. Fl Korps was shot down by fighters near Lampedon (hard to read spelling may not be corect) Ff Fw Ernst Bucholz, B Uffz Leo Leo Jannsen, Bm Uffz Karl Horsch, Bs Fw Hermann Rahm all missing to killed. Admendment dated 11-2-43 shows Jannsen and Horch notified as dead.

Checked spelling = Lampedusa Italy, if the crew were lost in Croatia perhaps they took off from here ?

[Brian Bines]

Tomislav,

If there are any other names linked to this crash let me know and I will try checking them,

Regards

Brian Bines

[Larry deZeng]

Transportstaffel II. Fliegerkorps was based at Reggio di Calabria on that date. The loss entry from my notes reads:

9 Dec 42: Ju 52 shot down by a fighter near Lampedusa Is. off the east coast of Tunisia, 100%, 2 KIA and 2 MIA.

So we know where it was based and where it was shot down and neither are anywhere near Crikvenica.

L.