Air war at Iasi, Romania 1944

[Nokose]

Joerg, I'll write you up the story on this dogfight and send it to you. Unless the Bf 109 claimed by Mariinskiy is a Romanian Bf 109 it appears that all 4 FW 190s and the 1 Bf 109 claimed by the 129 GIAP have no basis. Of the 4 claims by SG10 only one is a reality.

[Jim P.]

Does anyone have specific loss information for Klaus Riebecke mentioned earlier by Nokose & yogybär? I presume the aircraft may have been an FW 190?

[yogybär]

It definitely must have been a Fw190, yes. In Khazanov's article, he writes that

Feldwebel K. Riebicke (592 sorties) during an attack near a railway station of the Dniestr River bridge the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery hit his “Focke-Wulf”

a) That does not fit to the info in this thread "Lvov area" and to the info that III./SG10 was in Markersdorf.
b) The Dnestr river is quite far away from Iasi, and the actions at the Dnestr were in mid-May.

I guess we need a NVM or other reliable info for Mr. Riebecke to clarify this.

[Matti Salonen]

1944-06-06, 9./SG 10, FW 190F-8, 580040, 6 km südwestlich Föuste-Miasto nahe Lemberg, Absturz infolge Flakbeschuß und Aufschlagbrand. Bruch 100 %.
Flugzeugführer Fw Riebicke, Klaus, +

Matti

[yogybär]

Matti, thank you!

So the loss and death of Mr. Riebecke has nothing to do with the battles near Iasi nor with any battles in Bessarabia. Mr. Khazanov's article has an error here.

[Nokose]

Nikita,
Thanks. So the Soviet time would be 06:38-06:50. The problem with some Luftwaffe units in the east is that some used Berlin and some used eastern European. It looks like Norbert Schmitt got Mariinskiy from the description of the length of the dogfight.

[Nokose]

On Schmitt being the victor it now looks less likely now. I didn't realize that IV/JG54 was in that area at the time. Schmitt's altitude was at 2000m at 05:50 and Mariinskiy was already in a dive. Oblt Paul-Rudolf Deterra 10./JG54 claimed a Airacobra at 05:50 at that location but I believe at 1700m.

[Jim P.]

Matti, thank you for the added information on Klaus Riebicke.

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by Nokose

Unless the Bf 109 claimed by Mariinskiy is a Romanian Bf 109 ...

There was no Rumanian Bf 109G loss on 4 May.
Two claims were filed around Iasi (Yassy) by anti-aircraft artillery crews.

[Nokose]

Thanks Denes for clearing up that point.

Nikita,
You listed Uffz Juegen Nordmann 1./JG52 who claimed a Yak-9 at 68 697 at 1000m 11:34 as a Yak-7 from 6 IAP. Were there any FW 190 listed in that fight?

Uffz Klaus Bogisch 4./SG10 claimed an Airacobra at 11:33 at 68 831 at 200m.

Lt Walter Werkmeister 5./SG10 claimed a LaGG-5 at 11:35 (the location is listed as TB-3.2 at 1200m on TW's list. I have no idea where that location is located.)

I had a list at one time of IV/JG54 pilots but it was probably lost in one of my past home movings so I'm not sure on the name for Lt. Barzau 10./JG54.