Air combat Italy April '44

[veltro]

Very interesting story.

From the account we can tell that:

1) "Chief Wahoo" was hit over the target by flak;

2) the plane was forced to slow down and it became a straggler, slowly keeping behind of the main formation on the way home;

3) when Mr. Landwehr writes: "...A few minutes later, four ME 109s of the German Luftwaffe engaged us..." it is clearly a subjective memory, since time is always relative to each one of us, especially in high tension situations. So the event may have happened somewhat far from Milan, also considering that the bomber had started the return route, that it developed enough distance from the others to be a viable target and that the attacks certainly lasted for several minutes;

4) there is unfortunately no reference at all to the place where the pilot landed after bailing out (names or something like that). However, the fact that the crewman thought to make its way walking to reach the Adriatic coast should place the area at least on the southern border of the Padana Plain;

5) According to the place where the plane crashed and the hour of the crash, it should be easier to determine which one of the three German claim reports is referring to "Chief Wahoo". Last but not least, each is fortunately separate in time or location, which should ease things a bit.

5) it seems that you only have to try to get in touch with Mr. Landwehr (and obtain at the same time the MACR n.4612 of course) at his address!

Best of luck.