Crash B26 on 11.April 1945 near Cologne

[manniw]

Rolland,
I had planned to go there a fortnight ago. But the weather was too bad, we had a violent storm. I planned to go there in early March. But before that I will contact the Margraten Foundation by mail....

The map with the flight routes is very informative, thank you for that.
There were other flak positions, they were below Uckendorf at the level of Kriegsdorf 540 450 and above Uckendorf 531 486 ( Lt. G2 report 505 PIR from the beginning of April 45). But since the reports always speak of "light flak", your assumption that the flak got Hopkins in madness 518 514 is partly correct.
In the school chronicle of Lülsdorf it is only written that " an American large fighter plane has to make an emergency landing between Lülsdorf and Langel and goes up in flames "... Nothing is noted in it about an approach direction.
Also Martha Gellhorn describes only the crash, not the direction of approach.

In 1997, in the context of a school exhibition on the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, a contemporary witness is quoted literally. He speaks of "a group of three American aircraft flying west from Porz, one crashes near Lülsdorf and goes up in flames". This is the only place where an approach direction is described.
I am also more willing to see the black approach route with the arc over Uckendorf than the actual route. We will probably never be able to clarify it exactly, and those we could ask are unfortunately no longer among us.
In the meantime I have looked at the school chronicle of Uckendorf, the records end on April 9th and will only be continued on April 15th. There is no mention of the bomb dropping on 11.04. in the chronicle.
But I will contact an older gentleman who might be able to tell me something.....
Concerning the arrest of Samar: There was an SS-unit in Zündorf, which guarded foreign workers and prisoners, dug the trenches and mined the banks of the Rhine....so I will now investigate if there is any information.

The son of Koker wanted to check some boxes again, maybe he'll contact you and send you a photo of the crew


The best
Manni