Mysterious 127 Sqn loss on 2 October 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Alex, this is what I have about the morning battles in the Arnhem-Nijmegen area:

In the late morning, overlapping Spitfire sweeps by 421 and 401 Sqn RCAF engaged German fighters in a running battle between Nijmegen and Arnhem.
Forty-two fighters of the three Gruppen of JG 26 flied a combined Jabojagd mission to the Nijmegen-Arnhem area around noon. The II./JG 26 sprang a successful trap on 401 Sqn RCAF. When a section of Spitfires bounced a seemingly unwary flight of Fw190s north of Nijmegen, the rest of the Gruppe fell on them from above. Three Spitfires were claimed by Oblt Aldof Glunz (67th victory, 12h15, at 3000 m above Oss/Grave) and Ofhr Siegfried Benz (5th victory, 12h16, at 2700 m above Nijmegen) of 6./JG 26 and by Lt Wilhelm Hofmann (40th victory, 12h10, at 4500 m above Kleve-Nijmegen) of 8./JG 26.
Just south of this battle, the I./JG 26 encountered a larger force of Spitfires, as many as fifty. Two victories were claimed by Lt Joachim Günther (7th victory, 12h18, at 4000 m above Wageningen/Arnhem) of 2./JG 26 and Ogfr Josef Leder (1st victory, 12h05, at 4000 m above Ede N. Arnhem) of 1./JG 26 but their opponents have not been identified and suffered no losses. The III./JG 26 did not contact the enemy during this mission.
Other German units claiming victories in this area were 2./JG 76 (Lt Fick claimed a Spitfire at 4500m over Ede at 11h12) and 6./JG 77 (Fw Dieckhoff claimed a Spitfire in Nijmegen-Arnhem area at 900m at 11h17 for his second victory).
Two Spitfire IX of 401 Sqn RCAF were lost in a battle against FW190s in Nijmegen area. Flt Lt Russel Reginald Bouskill, a five victory ace, was killed aboard MJ300 while Wt Off M Thomas baled out from MJ726 over Allied lines and was unhurt. The Spitfire IX MK365 of 421 Sqn RCAF was damaged over Nijmegen. It was later struck of charge due to the damage but the pilot, Flg Off J M Calvert, was unhurt.
421 Sqn RCAF pilots claimed 2 German planes shot down, 1 probable and 5 damaged (one by Flying Officer William Francis Cook), while 401 Sqn claimed one damaged. The only know Luftwaffe losses were two two Bfl09s of 9./JG 53. Uffz Kuno Piecknick disappeared aboard the Bf109G-6 WNr 166016 Yellow 21+I while Uffz Ingo-Rolf Ebel was wounded when he crash-landed his Bf109G-14 WNr 460414 Yellow 4+I.

Sources:
“The JG 26 War Diary. Volume Two 1943-1945”, by Donald Caldwell. ISBN 1-898697-86-8
http://www.luftboard.ndo.co.uk/reichwestsudaugdec.pdf
"Fighter Command losses of the Second World War, vol 3. Operational losses : Aircraft and Crews 1944-1945", by Norman L R Franks, ISBN 1-85780-093-1
"Aces high: a tribute to the most notable fighter pilots of the British and Commonwealth forces in WWII", by Christopher Shores and CliveWilliams, ISBN 1-898697-00-0
http://stonebooks.com/archives/040620.shtml
Chriss Goss on TOCH forum: http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/viewtopic.php?t=322
http://www.airforce.ca/wwii/ALPHA-CO.2.html

For one reason or the other, I haven't noticed the 229 Sqn loss (that is not in FCL tome 3). I had noticed that the 308 Sqn loss was not reported by Foreman, probably becasue the plane was scrapped some times later (or may be a wrong date).

Chris, thanks for the reply. I wait for your next post.

Regards

Laurent