Robert Spreckels

[harryurz]

I have not found any NVMs for Robert Spreckels.If he was shot down or made emergency landings four times, he obviously was never wounded, because no NVM was made.
In 1 Jan 1945 there were several aircraft of III./JG 11 lost without pilot's name. So, Spreckels could have been on one of them, but I have no means to confirm that.

Hi matti,

In "Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope : the Attack on Allied Airfields New Year's Day, 1945; John Manrho, Ron Putz. (Hikoki Publications, 2004) on page 164 it records "Ofw. Robert Spreckels of 11. Staffel managed to belly-land near Aachen and survived with minor injuries."

Reference lists "Scramble" page 12 for this information, where Spreckels himself says "I was shot down four times and if the last crash near Aachen on January 1 1945 had not kept me in hospital for a long time , I doubt if I should ever have seen Bob Braham again"

[Matti Salonen]

What I tried to say is that no NVM was ever made of his crashes, which means no or very minor injuries.

If his injuries on 1 Jan 1945 were minor, why he was kept in hospital for a long time?

Matti

[Franek Grabowski]

Could it be the NVM is missing or was never produced due to a mess?

[Peter]

With the pressure pilots were under, non combat related, gastric ulcer or something else?

Peter

[harryurz]

One thing that does occur to me as he force-landed 'near Aachen';

The city was behind Allied lines by January 1945, so could he have conceivably been taken prisoner?

[Johannes]

Hi Guys

If Spreckles claims he was shot-down four times during the war, and we can find details of none, perhaps his statements should be considered unreliable, though it is quite likely that if he wasn't wounded or injured then the loss recorded only the aircraft loss/damage and the pilots details were not deemed important.

Kind Regards

Johannes

[harryurz]

Further to the search for Spreckles' career detials I came across this publication in Danish(?) which mentions our man Spreckels a few times.

It appears to be the wartime memoirs of Uffz.Siegfried "Napp" Rudschinat, who appears to be a close contemporay of Spreckels.
Anyone with the necessary translation skills throw some light on his early career?
It looks an interesting account from Rudschinat himself as well.

https://issuu.com/commentumforlag/do...krig_leseprove