Meteor 19 March 1945 616 Sqn

[Luc Vervoort]

Hi !

On 19 March 1945 one of the 616 Squadron Meteors, based at Melsbroek, got damaged by a bomb dropped by an Ar234.
Which were the Meteor and Ar234 in question ?

Best regards

Luc

[robert_schulte]

If Melsbroek is near Brussels, the Arado in question should be from 6./KG 76.
In the book "Strahlflugzeug Arado Ar 234" of Manfred Griehl, it is mentioned, that on 19 March 1945 4 Arado B-2 led by Hauptmann Mörich of 6./KG 76 should attack the marshalling yards of Brussels, but due to Allied fighters two pilots diverted to other targets. One did attack an ammunition train near Charleroi and the other one (Leutnant Croissant) attacked an airport in direct vicinity to Brussels. So this last pilot could be the one, you are looking for.
Hope this helps
Robert

[Luc Vervoort]

Robert,

Many thanks for your info - great help in my research.

Melsbroek was one of the airfields at Brussel. It is still in use as the military part of Brussels international airport. The civil part of this airport is located at Zaventem.

Best regards

Luc

[Alex Smart]

Hello,

Meteor was from the first detachment sent to Melsbroek, a week later they moved to B-77 (Gilze-Rijen) where they were joined on 1st April by the rest of the Squadron.

One flight (possibly 4 a/c of F3's crossed the channel on the 20th January.
While there they were re-sprayed in overall white. EE239 had the "EE" over-sprayed, other a/c did too. No fuselage codes, A/c letter on nose u/c door.

So possible a/c would have been -
EE231,232,233,234 (YQ-O),235(YQ-H),236,237,239,240,241,242,243(YQ-F),244,245 (YQ-C),250,252.

EE234 was returned to Glosters after a wheels up landing in March.
EE244 crashed on take off on 29th March

EE246 (YQ-A)and 254 were replacement a/c.


Alex

[Alex Smart]

See other "Allied" posting on the Meteor.

3 Mk 3 and 1 Mk 1 to Melsbroek (B-58).

EE225-YQ-P
EE239-YQ-Q
EE240-YQ-R
EE241-YQ-S

Contributer has code as "YP" but as far as I know 616 never used that code.

night

Alex