Location of Ju 88 remains vicinity of St Lo, Normandy

[RudiS]

Please find hereby a link to the website of the A.N.S.A. Although they seem to specialise in Allied Air Force losses in the Normandy area, maybe they can help you with your query.

http://ansa.ornemaine.free.fr/pages/0.html

Kind regards,
Rudi.

[Brian Bines]

Ernst, from the KG54 book it shows you and your crew were injured following an engine failure on take off from Marx on 18/19th April 1944, for raid on London. Had you recently returned to operations prior to the crash on 31st July ?

Regards

Brian Bines

[philip turland]

Originally Posted by Woodpecker

I was flying from Eindhoven (in a Ju 88, KG54), to Normandy. On the night of July 30/31st 1944 in the vicinity of St. Lo I was shot down by flak.

The remains of the aircraft engines were discovered in 1983-84, I believe, by a French local historian. What I would like to know is where they were found. Also, whether any remains were found with it. The rest of my crew went down with the plane I beleive.

Can anyone help?

I have just read this thread with great interest.

it is nice to hear from a true veteran.

I am involved with Sywell Aviation Museum in Northampton and I have been asked to arrange evening talks to our members and the public.

I see you are located here in the Uk and i was wondering if you might like to do an evening talk for us on your experiences. It would be very interesting to listen to your flying experiences and all about what happened.

my email is philip.studfast@btconnect.com

kind regards

philip

[Joe Potter]

Hi All,
If the crash site was in an American area of operations, any burials were most likely by them, the problem is the US Army burial tag numbering system, the VDK have several unnamed graves in France that were re-examined in the 1950's only to find American tag numbers, for some reason the documents relevant to the tag numbers were not made available to the VDK, post war, so the dates and original places of death, and any personal info could still be in the American Archives, access to these records could possibly resolve several cases.
Joe.

[philip turland]

I had the pleasure of meeting Ernst on saturday. He told me that he buried his parachute in a hedge and marched off. He went through a town/village full of sleeping American soldiers with tanks and jeeps and nobody stopped him, not until that is he got to the other side when he was taken prisioner.

Really interesting chap to talk with.

years later he went back to try to find his parachute............but no luck. He says a french lady must have made a silk dress from it.

Ernst has agreed to do a talk for us at the sywell museum. It should be fascinating.

philip

[philip turland]

Just an update.

Ernst and his Wife came along to Sywell last night and Ernst gave a very interesting talk of his like and experiences in the Luftwaffe to a very appreciative crowd of about 100.

Later he was asked to sign several books and prints people had brought along.

They were very kind and would not accept any expenses or any charity donation. They also gave us all of the photographs they had scanned. These included Ernst with the crew he was with on the night they were lost, portraits and a super shot of Ernst in front of his JU88.

Ernst's story is one which should be heard. It is hoped he will do another talk at some point down in london.

At Sywell Aviation Museum we have American displays, British Displays but at present only a very small Luftwaffe display. We strive for balance and would like to expand our Luftwaffe display within our soon to be started extension. Ernst's life story will be presented within the new exhibition area and i would urge people to come along and see it.

A large display centred around the crash of a dornier will be incorporated also.

I would just like to thank Ernst and His Wife Carolynne once again for coming to see us.

If the research carried out on this site had not revealed "Woodpecker" as the survivor of the crash of this JU88 then we would not have met Ernst and his story would have never been revealed.

To Ernst, a veteran & a true gentleman

philip

[philip turland]

I am sad to advise that Ernst Specht passed away on the 5th April. He was 91

I propose to dedicate a special place at Sywell Aviation Museum to the memory of Ernst who was a really nice chap.

There will be some special items included in the display......this might not be incorporated in the 2015 open season but hopefully will be fully integrated for the 2016 season.