LW losses night 19/20th September 1944 - attack to Eindhoven?

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Good morning for all.

Am just reading "The Road to Arnhem" by Donald R. Burgett, who mentions that on the night of 19th/20th September 1944, the LW launched an attack on Eindhoven with some 100+ machines, which the author mentions as being JKu 87 and Ju 88.

Between pgs.82-83, the author do mention that a FLARE stuck to the bomb-bay of one of the bombers, who was pursued by Allied anti-aircraft fire and searchlights, but the bomber managed to escape.

I am aware of the units invovled thanks to this previous post at Toch down here:

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...ndhoven&page=2

My question, therefore is to know IF, there is the record for a DAMAGED machine that matches this report or remembrance of Donald R. Burgett?

It may have been a "Pathfinder" unit, so probably KG 66.

Is there the record of a damaged Ju 88 S or T that returned back with the ignited Flare on the belly or whose crew had to bail out due to the fire on their belly? This surely would be the machine described by the Parachute (Screaming Eagle) veteran on his memories.

According to Burgett, the LW achieved a real victory that night, bombing several British vehicles on the town.

Adriano

[Adriano Baumgartner]

This is the book:
https://books.google.com.br/books/ab...cC&redir_esc=y

[Adriano Baumgartner]

OBS: typpo of my part on Jku 87 > Stuka (Ju 87) as mentioned on pg.87 of the above quoted biography.

According to writer and veteran, the bombing lasted for more than 1 hour.

[Nick Beale]

Quoting the British translation of the Luftflotte 3 diary (TNA AIR 20/7704):

"78 aircraft of Fliegerkorps IX (no longer under Luftflotte 3 command) set out to make a concentrated attack on Eindhoven. A Do 217 crashed soon after take-off, the crew were killed. 75 aircraft carried out the attack, 1 aircraft attacked a secondary target, and another broke off."

The Do 217 was the only loss apart from a reconnaissance Me 410 (probably of 1.(F)/121).

The Ju 87s of NSGr. 2 were operating against the Maastricht area, as were III./KG 51's Fw 190s.

[Chris Goss]

...and if damaged with no crew casualties, very little chance of this being recorded

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Chris, but as far as I have seen on this Board, some of the DAMAGED machines (more than 40%, do not remember the % by hear now) were recorded on the NVM or General Quarter List, weren't they?

I thought, maybe wrongly, that a DAMAGE report would have survived, with the % informed. Have read some of those down here, but maybe the % of the mentioned machine was less than 40%, so, not recorded....

NICK: The information about NSGr.2 and KG 51's Fw 190 are most welcomed. Thank you very much indeed.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

OBS: by heart.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

I do quote some PARTS from the mentioned literature:

"A flare stuck in the bomb-bay door of one of the German bombers. The brightly lit bomber moved accross the night sky. We could see it very clearly from the ground."..."We watched in awe as the plane kept flying through a sky filled with tracers and bursting Flak."..."We watched disappointedly until it was out of sight. It never did fall."

Maybe the crew managed to release the Flare which lit on the bomb-bay, at least....and survived the hail of AA and trip back home....

A.

[Chris Goss]

NVMs are for crew casualties and do usually list aircraft details. Quartermaster General's Returns for 1944 were apparently lost in an air raid

[Adriano Baumgartner]

That settles the matter and my doubts/querry, sadly.
I was just curious to match what the 101st Airborne Veteran had seen...