Fw-200 destroyed by air raid

[von miguel]

Dear fellows: The author, Jerry Scutts, in the page 245 of this book; ¨The FW-200 CONDOR¨, wrote that the 5 of January 1944, an air raid against III/KG 40, in Merignac destroyed 8 FW200C and damaged 3 FW200C. I am looking for the codes or W.Nr. of this looses. Can somebody knows this?. Many thanks for listening to me.

[Chris Goss]

Unfortunately, as there were no crew casualties and the QMG's Returns are missing for 1944, it has not been possible, as far as I am aware, to ascertain the identities with any degree of certainty. Likewise a number of other aircraft destroyed in strafing missions in 1944

[von miguel]

Dear Chriss: thanks for your replay, what a pity the not know of this W.Nr and codes!!!!! And I wait anxiously your news books of KG 40. with greetings for you.

[Denniss]

http://www.ww2.dk/oob/bestand/kampf/biiikg40.html

Lists 2x C-4 and 3x C-5/8 as lost through enemy action in 1/44.
Were there other units stationed in Merignac with Fw 200 which may have lost some in this raid?

[Chris Goss]

Just KG 40

[Denniss]

Other KG 40 units lost two more Fw 200 (one C-4 and C-5 each) and 14x He 177 in this month to enemy action. As the number of destroyed Fw 200 does not match (plus some that may have been lost in the air) those strafings may have caused He 177 losses which were counted as Fw 200.

[Merlin]

The statistical daily loss returns of the Luftwaffe for that day at Merignac by KG 40 were:

III./KG 40 two Fw 200 destroyed
II./KG 40 one He 177 destroyed, two He 177 damaged
Stab/KG 40 two unspecified aircraft destroyed, one damaged - the Stab has had no combat aircraft in January 1944.

So it remains a mystery from which source Jerry Scutts picked up his information.

[Larry deZeng]

Yes, his source is something of a mystery. I used both German reports found in P/W interrogations, written German reports (probably from ULTRA, but I'm not sure), Allied aerial post-raid photo interpretations and from other intelligence sources (probably from French Resistance cells in the area), and this was all I could come up with:

5 Jan 44: bombed by 112 B-17 Fortresses – NE/SW runway cratered at the N end; both ends of the landing area hit; the 3 large hangers on the NW boundary took a number of direct hits along with the paved aprons in front of them; ammo stores at the NW corner hit; concentrated hits in the main airfield buildings group behind the hangars on the S boundary and a number of aircraft destroyed or damaged on the ground during the attack. Airfield unserviceable for some days after the attack.
28 Jan 44: most of the craters from the 5 January raid had been filled in and Merignac was mostly serviceable again.

Notice that no numbers are given for destroyed and damaged aircraft, so where did Scutts get his numbers from? He certainly did not use Merlin's sources or my sources.

L.

[Chris Goss]

I think he relied heavily on the Nowarra book and he passed away before the book was published hence the mistakes.

It would be interesting to know from your sources if any Condors were damaged on the 31 Dec 43 Cognac attack (which resulted in the death of two aircrew who had to turn back due to engine trouble, landed at Cognac before the attack and were it a slit trench hit by a bomb))

[Larry deZeng]

I have nothing in sufficient detail and zip on aircraft losses, Chris...............

Cognac
- - - - - - - -
31 Dec 43: bombed by c. 192 B-17 Fortresses and B-24 Liberators – E/W runway knocked out, landing area cratered at the northern end and numerous bursts observed on the hangars at the NW corner that destroyed 8 of them and severely damaged the remaining one, on the admin buildings, on the refueling loop on the N boundary and in the Southeast dispersal.
4 Jan 44: bombed – 1 x Ju 290 from 1.(F)/FAGr. 5 destroyed or badly damaged on the ground.
- - - - - - - - -

L.