Allied pilot shot on the ground by Luftwaffe pilot after being shot down in aerial combat

[sidney]

Bronc,

Please note the wording used in my post ... might have been the execution ... I have also checked the relevant excerpt from John Weal's book:

"... It was on 7 August that a Schwarm from 5./JG 27, led by Oberfeldwebel Emil Clade, chanced upon another of the occasional Bombay transports of No 216 Sqn. But this machine was not carrying SAS troops (who had long since taken to using jeeps for their forays behind Axis lines). It was instead on the daily flight from Heliopolis to pick up wounded from the front for transport back to hospital in Cairo.

At one forward landing ground, however, the Bombays 18-year-old pilot, Sgt H E James, was ordered to wait for a special passenger. This turned out to be Lt Gen Gott, who, only hours previously, had been appointed Commander of the 8th Army, and who now needed to get back to Cairo for an urgent meeting.

Rather than fly at the stipulated 50 ft (15 m) to escape the attentions of Axis fighters, the pilot elected to climb to 500 ft (150 m) on account of an overheating engine. It was his undoing. Clade's first pass forced the lumbering Bombay to crash-land in the desert to the south-east of Alexandria. Some of the crew and passengers attempted to escape from the still moving machine. All but one of those remaining inside, including Gott, were killed when Unteroffizier Bernd Schneider carried out a strafing run to finish off the stricken machine. Lt Gen Gott was the highest ranked British soldier to be killed by enemy fire in World War 2. His death led to the hurried appointment ofa replacement Commander for the 8th Army -a relative unknown named Bernard Law Montgomery..."

So, no, there apparently is no evidence that the Germans knew about gen. Gott's flight.

However, the above is I believe a good illustrations that the strafing of downed airmen was far from one-sided affair.

Regards,
Sinisa