Loss of KG 355 Heinkel He 11 During the Anschluss

[Tim O.]

Hi all

I have read that KG 355 sent 23 Heinkel He 111Es to join the victory display over Vienna on 13th March 1938. They were caught in a snow storm while trying to return to Germany and one aircraft crashed, killing the crew of four.

I have recently acquired these photos, which show the funerals of the crew, named as Uffz. Steiner, Uffz. Kopek and Uffz. Stemmler. There are three crew named and three coffins shown. Does anyone know the names of the full crew and what became of the fourth man?

Any help appreciated

(Apologies for the typo in the heading!)

[Merlin]

The aircraft was the He 111J WNr. 5010 55+H38 from 8./KG 355. It hit during a low level flight the cable of the Danube ferry near Tanova (may be written wrong), four crew members became killed and one injured. I do not have the missing names.

[Tim O.]

Originally Posted by Merlin

The aircraft was the He 111J WNr. 5010 55+H38 from 8./KG 355. It hit during a low level flight the cable of the Danube ferry near Tanova (may be written wrong), four crew members became killed and one injured. I do not have the missing names.

Thank you Gerhard. This is very helpful information.

[Thomas H]

Hi Tim,

Sterbebild of Steiner was offered on eBay.de 6 weeks ago. When you want I forward you the link. The SB did not sell, so maybe the seller still has it.

Plane could have been 8.Staffel, but SB clearly states 9.Staffel.

Regards, Thomas

[Tim O.]

Thanks Thomas. I will PM you.

[red-star25]

A report from a file held at Freiburg gives the loss location as near Haibach, not far from Linz in Austria.
The crew is given as Uffz. Steine, Uffz. Koppe and Uffz. Stemmler all killed and Fw. Dohnhauser badly injured.
A detailed report about the accident can be found in L-Inspektion fuer Flugsicherheit und Geraet Bericht Nr. 8 III.Teil: Fliegerschaft.

Regards

Dirk

[Tim O.]

Originally Posted by red-star25

A report from a file held at Freiburg gives the loss location as near Haibach, not far from Linz in Austria.
The crew is given as Uffz. Steine, Uffz. Koppe and Uffz. Stemmler all killed and Fw. Dohnhauser badly injured.
A detailed report about the accident can be found in L-Inspektion fuer Flugsicherheit und Geraet Bericht Nr. 8 III.Teil: Fliegerschaft.

Regards

Dirk

Thank you very much Dirk.

Spell-check automatically changed Koppe to Kopek in my original post (and I missed it). That is the first time I have heard of Fw. Dohnhauser and his being injured so that explains why there are three coffins.