Question about KG 4 loss on 12.2.1943

[T.A.S.]

Hello all!
I have a question about a loss of KG 4 on 12.02.1943 southwest of OREL.

Maybe someone have informations about the type of plane and the Stammkenzeichen?
I may be a Heinkel 177, because i have photos and a lot of fieldpost letters of a crewmember who died in this crash.

The Crew was:
Pilot: Uffz Karl Heinz Fedrowitz ID Nr.: 214651/42
Radio Operator: Obergefreiter Leonhardt Koppold (survived ! ) 55538/112
Gunner1 : Uffz Rudolf Dröttboom 214651/28
Gunner2 : Gefreiter Willi Holzhauser 214651/59
Observer : Uffz Hans Wilhelm Schneidewind 214651/100

In the attachment you will find the official letter from the squadron leader to the father and a letter of the radio operator from 1948 after his return from Russian POW Camp. So in this fact the letter of the squadron leader is wrong, the radio operator has survived!

[Brian Bines]

Luft Qm's returns show He111H-6 5J+CM w.n. 7435 of 4/KG4 fell to Flak,

Regards

Brian Bines

[T.A.S.]

Thanks for this quick answer!
The things that are confusing me are the pictures of the He 177 i received with this estate and the fieldpost letters he wrote the conversion of his wing to the "new large and nice bomber"......

[Brian Bines]

Is Koppold included in the photo. of the He177 crewmen? As far as I know I/KG4 converted to the He177 at Fassberg from Feb 1943 losing their first crew in a training accident in June 1943. I thought II/KG4 continued to fly the He111,
.

[T.A.S.]

The picture is from W. Schneidewind. He is the man in the "front right". I have a lot of pictures from him. I received the whole estate from a relative of him.
In this estate is also a picture with a He177 "in flight" that was made by him....

[Brian Bines]

My German is not too good but if I understand the letter from the St.Kap. correctly I believe he is saying that W. Schneidewind had only been with the 4/KG4 for a half a month. It looks like he had recently joined 4/KG4 from a unit flying the He177 (I/KG4?) thats all I could think of. I see the crew photo. of him has him wearing the large B-Uhr Observers watch, and that is a great photo of the He177 that you posted.

[T.A.S.]

First.. Thank you very much!
The Staffelkapitäns sais that he was 1 1/2 month in his unit and have flown 40 combat sorties.
In the fieldpost letters i own he wrote about his "stations"
1941- August Eastern front (most letters seems to be written from "Bug"
2. August 1942 he would send to a "Kampfgeschwader in France"
6. september 1942 "We will step back to the east very soon"
18. december 1942 (his last letter) he tell about Brjansk
Unfortunately most of the feldpost letters are without the envelope and so i have not all FP-numbers.
The only three i own are:
L 32945
L 31685B
L 33623

I will tomorrow receive a Soldbuch. Hopefully it is from Hans Schneidewind.
He had 3 Brothers who were also in the army and ALL FOUR died. (2 in Stalingrad, 1 in Italy and Hans himself at Orel) A real tragedy for this family.....