RCAF No. 418 Sqn's claim for night of 4 to 5 July 1944

[Henofred]

Hello/Bonjour,

During a night mission (4-5 July 1944) over Avord airfield (France) a No.418 Squadron's crew - F/L Kerr - F/O Clark – state: "At 02:02 hours, saw intense tracer from Avord airfield. An aircraft caught fire and crashed". I wondered if it would be possible to know the ID of the aircraft which could have been either badly damaged or destroyed that night. At that time, the airfield was occasionally used by bombers from K.G. 26 and 77 (…as transit airfield) and some aircrafts from K.G. 66 were still stationed there.

Frederic

[martin75]

Hello Frédéric,

to my knowledge, III/KG26 and I and III/KG77 operate this night from their base in southern France. They all use Cognac airport for intermediate landing.
It seems I/KG77 engaged 5 planes and III/KG77 7 planes and all returned to base (message ULTRA XL1161) ; III/KG26 probably engaged 8 planes (see messages ULTRA XL 824, 986 and 991) with one plane lost over Channel area.
II/KG26 does not seem to have been engaged during night 4 to 5 july 1944, but operates next night with III/KG77.
So it seems the plane you are looking for is not from KG26 or KG77. For KG66, I don't know.

Regards

Claude

[Henofred]

Hi Claude,

Thank you for all these information about the K.G. 26 and 77 for that night. The sentence written by the crew is not very explicit. The airplane could also have been hit and shot down by anti-aircraft fire if we refer to: "[...] intense tracer from Avord [...]". The mystery remains...

Best regards,
Frederic

[Chris Goss]

Not KG 6

[Henofred]

Thank you Chris. For lack of German plane, I had thought to the Mossie which was hit and lost at Avord during the same night. Mosquito FB.VI NT131/D from No.487 SQN (RNZAF) - Crewed by F/O Beazer and F/O Munro. With a response of the Flak over the airfield, it can only be him.

Best regards,
Frederic

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Bonsoir Frederic,

No known I./KG66 losses for this date either.

Best regards,

Marcel

[Henofred]

I definitely think that it was the Mossie belonging to the No.487 Squadron. Thanks a lot Marcel.

Greetings from Brittany,
Frederic