The Eagles Over Europe Project

[Larry Hickey]

Franz,

I have those same two Bf109 losses on 20.04.40. However, I don't know if these crash locations are in the Ardennes, or if the handwriting really says 20 or 30 April.

Can anyone help clarify this?

[Nordpol54]

@ Larry,

for my eyes it reads as 30.

Best Regards
Norbert

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Including direct emails I agree that this reads 30 April 1940. But if this is the case, how do we explain the lack of available candidates for German losses on that date? Could this be the Bloch 174 that crashed on that 30.04.40? Nothing else fits.

[Pieter H]

Larry,
the text on the first and last pictures of the series clearly refer to "avion ennemie" and "avion boche", which - assuming thewriter was correct - indicate a German aircraft.

Regards, Pieter

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Thanx for your comments. The captions do clearly indicate the crash of a German plane, but there are really no suitable candidates around that time. Anybody got any ideas of what this could be? Obviously it must have been sometime earlier than April 30th.

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I'm trying to determine when Ofw Leo Schuhmacher first joined 2./ZG76. I know that he was the senior non-com pilot in the unit by the Norwegian Campaign (4/40), but did his service with the unit extend back to 09/39 and the beginning of the war ? When did he first join the unit?

Thanx,

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Am trying to ID this crashed Bf110C:

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-2xZ...-2xZ876S-L.jpg

This is very likely one of the two losses below:

April 22, 1940

15.(Z)/LG1Messerschmitt Bf110C-1. Crashed into houses near Mannheim-Sandhofen, Germany, and burnt out following engine failure on maintenance test flight. (Ff) Oberlt Walter Clausen (Staffelkapitän) and mechanic killed. Aircraft 100% write-off.
Note: "Merlin" has this as L1+AL.


May 12, 1940

13.(Z)/LG1 Messerschmitt Bf110C. Lost control in vertical dive avoiding attacks from, S/Lt Boitelet and Sgt Tallent of GC I/5, also Sgt Guillaume of GC III/7, over Vouziers and hit trees at ‘Nugimont’, south of Blagny, France, at 7.15 a.m. FF Lt Hans Gaffal thrown from aircraft and captured with fractured skull, admitted to hospital in Ste-Menehould, BF Uffz Aloysius Dierkes also captured wounded – both later released. Aircraft L1+AH 100% write-off.


This a/c appears to have a white or yellow "A" on the top of the wing. The vegetation and markings clearly date this to the spring of 1940.


Does anyone have other photos of this crash that might help ID this photo? From this angle, there is no evidence of the houses that the 22.04.40 crash reportedly hit. However, it is hard to see how the pilot and BG of this a/c survived the crash, although both were injured. This photo was kindly provided by Chris Ehrengardt, who may know what the source of it was. If it was a French source, then it is probably the May 12 incident. If a German source, it could be either one.


Thanx for any assistance.

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

One of our EoE members has acquired two photos L1+HK, a 14.(Z)/LG1 Bf110C that was being salvaged apparently after FL on a French beach during the Battle of Britain. This may possibly be around mid-August, 1940. It appears to have been dragged up on to a stone causeway to get it off the beach ahead of an advancing tide.

I want to do a color profile of this a/c for the EoE project if we can get other photos of this incident, and information that will help us firmly date it, hopefully with a crew.

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-nrT...-nrT34GK-L.jpg

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-zR4...-zR4DD72-L.jpg

Who can help?

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Still no resolution on this one, but a careful study of unit loss/damage reports for the Battle of Britain make this almost certainly an incident in July or probably no later than 13 August, during which time there were several possible incidents that could be this a/c. There is a very distinctive church in the background of the second photo, which may not have survived the war and the building of the Atlantic wall, but may provide the key clue to this location, perhaps from a contemporary postcard.

Any French church experts out there?

[Bertrand H]

Hi,

Note this a/c is NOT in Northern France but certainly in Normandy between Calvados and Cotentin. Any expert of Normandy coast ?

Bertrand