Lt William H. Allen and 5 Heinkel He 111

[George 118]

Hello,
On September 5, 1944, Lieutenant William H. Allen (343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group) became an Ace in one day when he shot down five Heinkel He 111 as they took off from an airfield north of Göppingen, Germany.
I would like to request information about the Heinkel He 111, including the units they served in and the names of their pilots.

[Buckeye30]

Bill wrote about this incident in a report later. They were escorting B-17s to Stuttgart (Mission 605) he was leading a Flight; 16 Ar.96 trainers were seen taking off from Gottingen, they all bellied-in (fast) none believed shot down but all strafed and destroyed (5 to Bill). LKS 8 was at Goppingen but I'm sure Nick Beale will know more.
Regards
Nick

[Leendert]

Göppingen (east of Stuttgart) or Göttingen (northeast of Kassel)? Former more likely.

Most strafing losses on 5 Sep 1944 for the Luftwaffe were at Gelnhausen (mainly mix of Glider School aircraft and Fw-190s of I./JG 11) and Ettingshausen (Do-17s of I/L.L.G. 1).
Latter reportedly by P-38s, like 55th FG had.

Leendert

[Buckeye30]

Thanks Lee. Yes it was Goppingen (sorry no Umlauts here). 56FG (P-47s) attacked Gelnhausen and 479FG (P-38s) at Ettinghausen, then equipped with P-51s from 27 Sept. 44.
The 55FG received P-51s in July, I believe the last P-38 mission was 21st.
For some reason the Ar.96s strafed by 55FG on the 5th. are included in Study 85-- the official list, ie. as air-to-air; 15 awarded in total for the 343FS.......
Allen 5, Lewis 5, Hoffman 4, Perez 1. Lt. Allen is sometimes credited wit 5 He.111s but he recorded them as Ar.96 trainers, no chance of mis-identification.
Regards
Nick