5 October 1944 - claim for a P_38/F-5 C

[Jochen Prien]

To John Manrho:

John,

many thanks for your message which was sent to an old account; please contact me through my current e-mail address: jochen@kjprien.de

Looking forward to Hearing from you.

KR

Jochen

[Nick Beale]

Looking at the MACR, it gives two positions for the loss of 2/Lt. Murray: "AAF 234" (on the report form) and "somewhere very near Arnheim" (in the witness statement). In that statement, 2/Lt. Hall says "suddenly I was jumped by an enemy fighter about 500 feet distant." No mention of a jet, nor did he see Murray attacked.

He called out over the radio: "… 'Murray, boogies, boogies' but did not have time to say more. I heard him say 'Where?'. In about five minutes I called him again and told him I was going home. He said 'OK'. That was the last I head of him. We were flying at 27,500 ft in clear but slightly hazy weather. The time was approximately 1410 hours."

(Presumably this was British Summer Time, GMT+1).

The II. Jagdkorps report for the day in ULTRA does not include any claim for a Lightning.

Attached is an ULTRA which looks like it is I./KG 51's report for 6 October (number of aircraft operating, bombs dropped on Allied airfields). As corroboration, an Allied report confirms that two Me 262 dropped canisters (=AB containers) in the Nijmegen area. Again, no mention of a Lightning.