JG 301 on 17 December 1944

[Jochen Prien]

Frank, Rainer,

I'm awfully sorry for creating some confusion - you are of course right, there were no P-38s involved in this case, just the B-24s as well as P-47s and P-51s as escorts.

A 15th USAAF raid can be ruled out then both because of the presence of P-47s and of course of the combat area which was too far north for a 15th USAAF raid.

On LRG it has been suggested that this may have been a small formation of B-24s en route from England to Italy in daylight on December 17th, the unit being transferred to the 15th USAAF and heading for Brindisi; apparently they suffered no losses and it is not known whether they had a fighter escort.

So I'll have to dig further.

Joerg - Reschke's mentioning of many names that vanished for good from the ranks in those days has no direct relation to the events taking place on the 17th but seems more a general observation. But thanks anyway.

KR

Jochen Prien

[Rainer]

Originally Posted by Jochen Prien

Frank, Rainer,
On LRG it has been suggested that this may have been a small formation of B-24s en route from England to Italy in daylight on December 17th, the unit being transferred to the 15th USAAF and heading for Brindisi; apparently they suffered no losses and it is not known whether they had a fighter escort.

It is correct that a Squadron of B-24s moved from Harrington to Brindisi on 17 December 1944, this was 859th BS of the 801st BG/492nd BG. However, they were "Carpetbaggers" - aircraft used to drop supplies and agents on special operations at night, which are well documented on the website http://www.801492.org

In my opinion it is very unlikely that the transfer route of such specialized crews and aircraft took them over Germany in daylight.

[MW Giles]

Thought I would drop this in and see what you think

On the 16th December 3 Group sent 108 Lancasters to Siegen.

II/JG2 definitely made contact as there are two claims by Uffz Bollwerk and Lt Marsfelde

Before you dismiss this out of hand on that mission the formation was escorted by 36 P-38s of 367th FG - this was unusual

115 Sqn ORB records seeing engagement between Me109s and P-38s. A Lanc of theirs was lost to fighters LL944 19km E of Bonn

Just a day out, make of it what you will

Regards

Martin