ME-110 Claims on 16 Mar 44 by 354FG ETO

[Khorat]

Hi Tripp,
will send you a listing next 2 days, where you will find the places off the german losses.
I did the same for several other days - and I learn that the american pilots mostly not realy known where they are - the places they reported are sometimes 70 - 80 km away from the place where the combat took place - no wonder if fly over a strange country and you´r more in buisiness to be aware of enemy planes and AAA...
khorat
Michael Balss

[aaatripp]

Thanks, Michael. Looking forward to the navig. assist.
Cheers,
Tripp

[aaatripp]

To Members of this Forum:

My questions to you and your prompt and detailed expert responses were all generated by contact via email to me from someone in Germany claiming to be Rudolf Hermanns, son of an aerial gunner Hermanns of a ME-110 piloted by Lt. Reich, Luftwaffe, which was in the area of ops for the 353FS on 16 Mar 1944.

He allegedly claimed that his father's a/c was downed by Capt. Wallace N. Emmer, USAAF. This cannot be proven without reasonable records/details/etc which I have tried to collect from him, albeit unsuccessfully.

Due to the lack of a reasonable response and reply to normal questions it now is clear that this was a complete hoax. Please be advised to regard contact from this Rudolf Hermanns as being suspicious.

Thanks fellow Forum members for your support and desire to help out....I'm sorry that you wasted your time on this false claim.
Regards to all,
Tripp

[Stig Jarlevik]

All

Would it be possible to have the ZG 76 losses listed for this day please?
Michael listed 19 lost and 6 damaged which must have been a true disaster at the time.

Best Regards
Stig

[aaatripp]

At one point in my research I believe that I had a complete & detailed list for the losses of several ZGs in that region on that day. I will try to find them and provide you with an answer.

Tripp

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi Tripp,

I was looking for something completely different when I stumbled across a mention in Jägerblatt (the magazine of the German Fighter Pilots' Association) of an Adolf Hermanns from Düren joining the Association. This man was a wartime member of Z.G. 76. Adolf Hermanns is still listed in the German telephone book at the same address, so perhaps he is still alive. If you have any contacts in Germany, perhaps they could give him a call.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share this bit of informaiton, which indicates that Rudolf Hermanns was perhaps not a complete hoax.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.facebook.com/airwarpublications

[aaatripp]

Thanks, Andrew. The father Hermanns was the rear gunner of the ME-110. Would he have been a member of the Fighter Pilots Assn. even though he was not a pilot? Perhaps this Adolf Hermanns is a different man?

Tripp

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi Tripp,

Yes, gunners joined the Fighter Pilots' Association. I think it is very likely that this is the same man - Hermanns is not a particularly common name (2,000 people with that surname in Germany today), so the chances of there being two men named Hermanns who both served with Z.G. 76 and were both alive 70 years after the war are pretty slim. Definitely worth sending him a letter or having a German speaker give him a call, I would think, just in case it is your man.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

[aaatripp]

I've never gotten an ID on the Zg of the gunner in question. I was awaiting even the simplest info to piece together his name, pilot name, Zg, date, action and result. Unfortunately the basic info never surfaced even though the claimant promised to do so.........