Lancaster MkII,LL689,115 Sq RAF

[ron_Ra]

it was schnaufers second kill that night
the 2 survivors landed in the zuiderzee( naam of the ijselmeer during the ww2)
the landed about 100 meters ofshore and were wounded ( burns)
the yelled because they didn't know witch deriction they must go
the germans came from hoorn and saved the 2 survivors

schnaufer shot an other plane down that night
on the 16 feb it was his birthday he became 23
but he had to go to the hospital for an oparation on his apendix

this accoordig the dutch book wespennest leeuwarden

[Icare9]

If I remember correctly, bomber pilots had a different parachute to the rest of the crew, they actually sat on theirs, strapped to them, as with the crew being ordered to bale out they would then clip on their parachutes and bale out while the pilot held the aircraft steady (if possible!) He woould then only have a short time to get from his seat to the escape hatch, so it made sense for him to always have his parachute with him. he wasn't likely to spend much time away from the cockpit, whereas the others had a chance to move around and a bulky parachute would get in everyones way.
That said, someone must have been certain of the facts that for some reason in this case, the pilot didn't have his chute attached, or a misunderstanding that the pilot didn't (have a chance to) use his 'chute.
The sad fact is that they were only 100 metres from shore but didn't know it. Had they known which direction to head, the rest of the crew might have survived.

I can't answer specifically about the rank, but errors can easily be made. It is possible (but not likely) that he was in line for a promotion which came through later. A Flight Sergeant could have been appointed as "Acting" or "Temporary" to a rank higher, again confirmation only coming through after he had been lost.

[Ardmoreal]

Icare-Thanks for that,I did not know about the location of the pilot's chute.but it does make sense. We see pictures of aircrew getting into the a/c carrying their chutes and presumably the pilots chute would already be in his seat, as was the case during my short service with the RAF .

We can only wonder that it was,nt there when he boarded, but it would have been very uncomfortable without it.

We will never know.

Thank you all for your help.