Did Adolf Galland down B-17 "Struggle Buggy" on April 21, 1945

[SMF144]

kaki3152,

According to period intell reports the following is noted under the heading of "Enemy Air Activity" for the 3rd.

...Five or six possible jet a/c were seen west of Kiel but no contact was made and one, of three Me.262s sighted over Flensburg was destroyed...
This loss is not mentioned in volume IV of Me.262 by Classics. So, who knows.

Apparently the 8th Air Force made the claim at 1630 hrs. The jets sighted west of Kiel were opperating at 27,000 ft and this was noted at 1700 hrs.

Stephen

[Don Pearson]

I am still having difficulty accepting that the loss of "Struggle Bunny" can be attributed to Galland. What is the evidence beyond here-say? The MACR places the crash more than 200 km NW of Munich. The witness reports indicate no contact with fighter aircraft.

Forsyth in his "JV 44" indicates that a single 12-minute training was flown on the 21st, and not by Galland.
Galland was summoned to the Obersalzberg on the 21st to meet with Goring.

Convince me otherwise

Don

[blythsco]

Hello Don

This is definitely hear-say evidence. My father was a photo recon pilot with the 14th squadron of the 7th group based at Mount Farm, Oxfordshire, UK. He brought back a lot of photos which he took from F-5s (P-38s) and Spitfire MK XIs. One of the photos was taken from an F-5 and was not taken by him. It was a B-17 in flight and tracing the serial number I was able to verify that it was "Slienthe Je Vahr" of the 452nd BG. Out of curiosity I was able to determine that "Slienthe Je Vahr" was lost on the 250th and last mission of the Group. This was the 1st and last mission for this crew and there was only one survivor. According to various sources there was one claim of a B-17 that day and it was by Adolf Galland with JV 44 flying an ME-262. The only other B-17 lost that day in the ETO was "Struggle Buggy" of the 94th BG. Assuming that AG downed a B-17 that day it was most likely "Struggle Buggy." The crash site has apparently been excavated and the German expert has determined that "Struggle Buggy" was downed by a German fighter and not by prop wash.

All the best
Scott Blyth

[Flavio]

Originally Posted by Johannes

Hi Flavio

Actually I found three:-

9th October 1943 B-17 Marienburg area(without witness)
8th March 1944 B-17 x2(don't know why these were unconfirmed, but probably to do this his combat ban!?

Regards

Johannes

Thank you Johannes,

please, which sources do you use to find these datas?

Regards
Flavio

[blythsco]

Here is a Luftwaffe claims list from April 21, 1945. Please note that Galland is the only pilot claiming a B-17 that day:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24554019@N06/4718830050/

Once again I don't know how reliable this list is. What I do know is that records can be wrong and that things that were believed to be true in previously published historical works can subsequently be shown to be wrong or at least open to question. Here is a case in point involving one of my father's fellow pilots from the 7th Photo Group:
On 26 November 1944, Hermann Buchner, in his first operational sortie in an Me262, 'Yellow 8', claims to have shot down Irvin Rickey flying an F-5E (P-38). The official reason for the loss at the time was flak rather than enemy aircraft. The well researched semiofficial history of the 7th PRG "Eyes of the Eighth" by Pat Keen and published in 1996 with a forward by Roger Freeman still lists the reason for the loss as flak.

Here is the source for the above claims list:

http://www.luftwaffe.cz/1945.html

Cheers
Scott Blyth