He 177 shot down over eastern Poland - next part

[Peter Mikolajski]

Two months ago remains of He 177 were found in Skiwa village (near Siemiatycze), eastern part of Poland. More details on Luftwaffe Archives Group.

I wrote that according to villagers claims this plane was shot down by Russian plane on June 8th, 1944, together with another German plane, but yesterday I've got an e-mail with new details.

According to memories of one of villagers:
- Accident took plane a week later, on June 15th, 1944;
- There were three planes, not two;
- There were two pilots in each plane;

All German pilots were able to jump out and survived except one. One of pilots told that their planes were coming from east and they were told that there should be no enemy in the air. But suddenly English planes attacked their planes and shot all three down.
Wrecks were later found by Germans and the most valuable parts were dismantled by special unit. Villagers were told that each plane costed one million Reichsmark.

Any comments?

[marsyao]

Peter, I do not think "English fighter" could reach East Poland in Jun 1944

[George Hopp]

Western allies, as opposed to the Soviets. Although it would probably have been P-51 Mustangs guarding a two-way bombing trip; it might just have been Mosquito intruders who also had very good range.
George

[Peter Mikolajski]

I thought about two explanations:

1. Russian pilots in Lend-lease planes, i.e. P-39 or Spitfire VB.

Good explanation but AFAIK almost all Spitfires were transferred to PVO regiments and were rarely seen over frontline. I think also that German pilots were aware that P-39 is US fighter, not English.

2. USAAF planes used during shuttle missions.

Seems OK, but I'm not sure how far escort fighters could fly on "seek and destry" missions and were then any US planes in area.


Other question is that all three planes had two members of crew only. I'm not sure but during ferry flight He 177 should have full crew, shouldn't it? It seems that it can be few wrecks more in the area.

[David Ransome]

Hi,

I would have thought more crew than two also, especially on this type of aircraft, particularly in this region at this stage of the war.

I would imagine that the crew may have been involved in the battles on other fronts previously, therefore with some experience behind them and presumably able to identify aircraft profiles. Could it be that the aircraft were Russian flown Hurricanes? Whilst an aircraft type might be recognised it isn't always possible to make out markings as we all know.

All conjecture, and depending on accuracy of memories after such a long time - it could be interesting to examine any bullet holes found in an effort to establish calibre, and possibly type of ammunition.

Regards,

David

[Peter Mikolajski]

It seems that here is next part of this story. I've got three photos of "part from German downed plane" claimed as element from He 177. Can anyone confirm or deny that?