Halifax JP247 shot down over Yugoslavia

[Peter Zambori]

chris,

according to a Hungarian police report dated July 04, 1944 your uncle's plane - misidentified as I.P. 247 - was downed in flames at 22:32 near to Obzirszállás (today Obziri - Vojvodina/Serbia). This report also contains it was shot down by a german nightfighter. The closest claims are Oblt. Krause's victories at 22:26 and 22:52. This latter does match with Halifax JP292 / FS-W crash time at 23:00 in the area of Pacsér (today Pačir).

According to Hungarian gendarmerie reports Halifax JP197 / FS-P crashed at 02:15 near to Szond (today Sonta) also in this region.

Best regards
Péter

[chrisjay]

Peter,
Thankyou for your information. Was this part of Serbia under Hungarian control in this period?
Regards,
Chris

[Peter Zambori]

Chris,this was part of Hungary between April 1941 and 1945 (and before 1919), with Hungarian citizenship, authirities etc. This is the explanation for these crashes were reported by the Hungarian police and gendarmerie units in this area.best regardsPéter

[Aidan]

Hi Péter,

Do the police reports say any more about the crashes on 3-4 July 1944? Do they include photos?

In addition, is there a police report for the loss of JP286? Piloted by S/L Bird, this Halifax – also from No. 148 Squadron - is probably the one that crashed near Kaposvár, Hungary on the same night.

Best wishes,

Aidan

[Peter Zambori]

Dear Aidan,

I received your Private Message. I'm busy now, but I will check my copies for further details about the six 148Sq. losses (JD172, JP179, JP286, JP247, JP292, BB422) over Hungarian territory. (2 for today Hungary)

I have no police report for JP286, but it certainly crashed near to Mezőcsokonya. (It's pilot was identified - as Philp Victor - after the crash, while the other seven airman were buried in common grave as unidentified on July 5, 1944)

My copies are mainly the daily events summaries from the police communication center at Budapest reported by phone. I can say in the last 16years there were no a single published photo noted as from police reports. The RKI (Flying research Institute) surely done examinations and photos on british and american planes crashed in Hungary until Autumn 1944, but It was lost.

I will send you a detailed mail next week.

Best wishes,
Peter

[Aidan]

Dear Peter,

Thanks for that. I really look forward to hearing from you when your time allows.

Best wishes,

Aidan