Knoke's claim, Nov 6 1942

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hi All

Without checking where each individual claim took place on a map, I just want to make some additional comments and present an additional view to what Hans has already written.

1) The weather that day was, if we are to believe Knoke, VERY lousy with very bad visibillity

2) The action took place at a very low altitude

Point 1 leads to the conclusion that
a) German AAA must have had at least a certain difficulty to confirm their claims unless their claimed victim exploded on the spot.
b) Knoke must also have had some difficulty to place his exact whereabouts

Point 2 does not lend credence to the aeroplane being a Mosquito. Neither a bomber or recce version were of much use at low altitude coming back from Berlin. To escape, the Mossie was far better off at high altitude, especially if it was one of the unarmed versions. Neither does it explain why Knoke was at that low altitude. Maybe his diary wasn't all that good and that he was after all sent out to chase attacking Venturas but his memory attached that days action with a totally different day when a Mosquito chase took place.

We have to remember that in all there were 10 Venturas sent out that day to attack two different targets in Holland. Knoke might even have run into one of the others and thought he had shot one down. Bad visibillity is not good for exact recording of combat claims....

Cheers
Stig