March 14, 1945. 318th FS Pilots McDaniel and Burns destroy 6 x Fw-190. Any idea which Axis Unit they fought, please?

[Mysticpuma]

Sorry to be very brief in the Title, but I was going to run out of space!

Mission Report No. 246 14 March 1945:

12 P-51's of the 317FS, 15 P-51's of the 318FS and 15 P-51's of the 319FS took off Rimini A/D at 1020 hours to provide escort on PTW for B-24's of the 55th Wing attacking Novo Zamky M/Y, Hungary. 1 non-effective sortie, due to mechanical difficulties. 41 P-51's R/V with B-24's and escorted over target from 1305 to 1315 hours. P-51's furnished withdrawal support for B-24's to various points on return route, some leaving bombers to engage enemy from 1325 to 1405 hours.
Total claims for all encounters are 20-1-2. Victories are credited to the following;

(Now there was a long list) but I'm looking at the victories of 1st Lt. Gordon H. McDaniel and his wingman 2nd Lt. Roy C Burns.

McDaniel scored 5 FW-190's Destroyed
Burns (his wingman) scored 1 FW-190 Destroyed.


The information I am trying to find out at the moment is which Unit were or could they have been engaging in battle that day. I am not sure whether they would have been Hungarian 190's or German 190's?

In a Radio Interview McDaniel said "The guy directly ahead of me had a big white "3" and a black cross on the side of his plane.
Well that-was enough for me. Over the radio... I told the rest of the men to drop their gas tanks and get ready to hit 'em."

Now I'm guessing they were German aircraft, but I wonder if anyone has details regarding which unit was engaged with the 325th FG that day and may have suffered over 20-losses?

Thanks in advance for any help, cheers, MP

[John Beaman]

From what records are available, the date might be March 15th. SG 4 lost 1 machine to enemy fighters and SG 1 lost a gelbe 3 to "flak". Other losses in the area for SG 4 were accidents, not enemy action. March 14th has no losses to enemy action in the areas. However, records for this time period are very incomplete.

[Mysticpuma]

Hi John, thanks for the reply. Over in the Axis/Luftwaffe section I got this reply:

First, 325FG spotted a couple of Me 109s attacking Russian bombers. US pilots attacked and the result was one Me 109 shot down.
Second one was reported as damaged. As to the unit, it is hard to say, but JG 53 was active in the area of the front those days.
Fw 190 which later attacked and McDaniel became ace in a day belonged to Hungarian 102/I. Schlachtgroup, which lost in fact only 4 planes. Three diue to enemy fire, fourth was collision with telephone cables.
Luftwaffe lost that day in the area 6 Fw 190s of SG 2 as well.
Hope this helps a bit.
As to the casualties on US side... Adamson fell victim to guns of Hungarian pilot Lajos Varga. Second lost pilot Murphy landed on the Russian side of the front and made it to Russian units and home.
Hope these bits and pieces helps..."

Cheers, MP

[HGabor]

The four lost Hungarian Fw 190 F-8 pilots were: Majoros István hdgy. (2Lt.), Dobó Elek hdgy., Gyűjtő László hdgy. and Hargitai Károly fhdgy. (1Lt.), all KIA. Also, near Tótvázsony (Lake Balaton-N) two 2/SG.10 Fw 190F-8s were lost: Fw. Willibald Hofmeier (WNr. 586863, black „1“), Maj. Klaus-Ulrich von Stein-Lausnitz (+) (WNr. 586869, black „2“). This was a very busy and tragic day in Hungary: at least 14 more Soviet IL-2, 4 A-20 Bostons, 1 B-25 Mitchell, 2 La-5s and a Yak fighter was lost too. The 325th FG also lost 2 Mustangs this time beside a B-17G and a B-24L in the same area.

Gábor

[Monguse]

HGabor,

Thanks for the information. I'm wondering if there are any records as to which (FW-190 F8) aircraft numbers alongside white 3 were lost. Reason I'm asking is because we would like to have this scene as accurate as possible.

Thanks

[HGabor]

Well, it is true that especially towards the end of the war more Hungarian Fw 190s kept the original, or part of the original German camouflage and markings, ie. black cross, - but: The white numbers were painted on the engine (both sides), not behind the cockpit! Like this.

Gabor

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hi Gabor,

Do you have the crashplaces af the above lost pilots ?

Thanks in advance

Laurent

[HGabor]

Hi Laurent,

here is a quick list of the identified pilots and approximate crash areas / sites for March 14, 1945 in Hungary, however some still need more research and confirmation. Cheers,

Gabor

[Monguse]

Thanks!

[Csaba B. Stenge]

István Majoross (not Majoros) crashed south of Lázi with Fw 190 "white 25" after collided with some whires. (He was chased by the Mustangs.) He was the only Hungarian pilot, who crashed behind the Hungarian lines, so he was buried properly by his comrades (his grave now is in Budapest). As for the other three lost pilots, neither the exact crashing places or the markings of their kites are known. (All of them crashed behind the Soviet lines.)

The Hungarian pilot, who shot down a Mustang was Lajos Vargha, (not Varga)

The contemporary documents of this units arwe 100% lost. I spent many years to restore treir activity and published a detailed study about them in 2000/2001 in Hungary. In the last 10 years I managed to fill some another gaps and in the close future there will be something in English about them, but you should not wait any woned. Again: 100% of the genuine documents are lost.

In the '90's I sent some details to the McDaniel family about this dogfight.