Shot down Fw 189 on 16.5.1940

[Marius]

Hello,
does anybody know more details of 2 Fw 189 losses 9.(H)/LG 2 on the 16.5.1940 in the Wavre area ? According to some books 3 were shot down at one time by 79 Sqd RAF Hurricanes. Can somebody confirm that?
What was the hour of the losses ?
Marius

[Chris Goss]

Marius: All is covered in Peter Cornwell's book. There were 2 lost and I have photos of Seehase's crashed ac. I wrote an article on this for Aero Editions some time ago and this has been used in the recent book on the FW 189

[ClinA-78]

Hello,

Very rare birds indeed! I went on the crashsite of Seehase's FW 189 which is situated near Ramillies (5 km north of Eghezée) and found little pieces of the smashed aircraft. By the way, thank you Chris for the article and the Uhu crash picture (published in Aérojournal) which has saved many hours of field detection ;-)

Best regards

ClinA-78

[Chris Goss]

Pleasure!

[Marius]

Chris,
what was the hour of the losses for both Fw 189`s accodring to German documents ??
Marius
P.S.I have Peter`s book, but cannot read what is English & what is German info. Sorry.

[Chris Goss]

I have no German documents and the time is 0830 hrs

[Marius]

So the documented time is 8.30 p.m. according to English documents, right ?
I cannot believe the 79 Sqd spoted 3 Fw 189 and 1 Do 215 ? Maybe 1 Fw 189 and 3 Me 110 ?

Could it be that 79 Sqd shot down this 1 Fw 189 - Lt. Seehase`s aircraft. And the Staka`s aircraft was shot down earlier the day ?

I would like to know what German documents are telling us about these losses?

Marius

[Chris Goss]

Oops-being military, 8:30 should be 0830 but checking Peter's book it was 2030 hrs which matches with 79 Sqn's 3 claims by Parker, Clift & Cartwright as being 'PM'. I contacted Clift who remembers the combat clearly. Admitedly, 2 recce ac flying together is unusual so if anyone can disprove, so be it

[Marius]

Indeed it is more complicated than I thought at the beginning. In this case any researching is not possible without knowing more German details. And you must add French fighters too, like the GC III/1 (Marche,Chciuk,Gnys). They shot down a "Do 17" in Gembloux area at 14.10 hours.

[Peter Cornwell]

Marius,

You can make it complicated if that is your wish. For my part, I note claims for Fw189s filed by No.79 Squadron in the right area - these being, as far as I am aware, the only claims for such a type filed by any Allied pilot on the day in question but please correct me on this if I am wrong. As the Fw189 was an unusual type to meet on operations at the time, I see no reason to question the validity of these claims.