9 December 1943 - YAK 1 loss (Lipfert's 74th victory)

[HGabor]

Nick, I agree. Here is the famous, and well decorated 17 VA, 244 BAD, 449 BAP, 3rd Squadron A-20B Boston S/N: 41-2937 still in 1944 in Bulgaria, as well as her graphic. Nickname: "Za Pobedu!" or: "For Victory!" Tactical number on rudder is unknown, but probably white ~ 9. (1st Squadron numbers were red.) This particular plane was Lipfert's 173rd victory over the Börgönd airfield on January 8, 1945 in Hungary at Székesfehérvár-S. (In German: Stuhlweißenburg) This was the leading plane of their formation and by waving the wings they tried to pick up the soviet Yak fighter escort from Börgönd, when Lipfert caught her. Their group took off from Madocsa airfield. The killed crew:

л-т Ветлов Виктор Михайлович pilot (№104164, +)
л-т Ионов Виктор Матвеевич navigator/bombardier (№104174, +)
с-а Толмацкий Иосиф Исаевич radioman (+)
с-т Бурцев Василий Федорович gunner (+)

Gabor