Werknummer + Squadron He 111 Moelders died on

[hihotte]

Holá Leo and all the other participants of this thread,

according to Fritz von Forell, the author of the book "Mölders und seine Männer" and the post war book "Werner Mölders, die Geschichte des großen Jagdfliegers", the radio operator OFw Artur Tenz was only slightly wounded. So we have two survivers of the crash - it is astonishing to me that so less is published about it. I attach a very faded photo of the crashed He 111 H-6 near Breslau, which I scanned from the above mentioned book. The fuselage lies upside down and the cockpit is broken away.

Cheers
hihotte

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hihotte,
Thank you a lot for giving us the final piece of information: the name of the radio-operator! Yes, it is indeed a piece of History that nobody take in account. Was it because it was a pilot error or simply fatality?
I think that being a former Condor Legion pilot, Oblt Kolle would not made great mistakes. The sole one I consider on this last flight was that Moelders insisted on the take off, even knowing that the pilot of the Heinkel was against it for weather reasons! Foolish...We heard a lot of that nowadays: people tha die because of pressure and because do not want to loose time....Statistics in Brazil say about 40,000 killed a year in car accidents!
Well, thank you again for the name of the radio operator!
Bye
A. Baumgartner

[Leo Etgen]

Hello guys

Many thanks Hilotte for the photograph of the crashed He 111 H-6. This thread has been most helpful to me. I am including a scan of a photograph included in Weal's JG 51 book by Osprey. I hope that I am not violating any copyrights by doing this. It shows Mölders preparing to leave Kherson for Berlin on 21 November 1941. From left to right: Hauptmann Hans-Henning Freiherr von Beust, Gruppenkommandeur of III./KG 27, Mölders and Oberfeldwebel Arthur Tenz. The caption states that Tenz did indeed survive the accident along with Major Wenzel. I assume that the He 111 is the one that later crashed. This may be one of the last photographs of Mölders while alive.

Horrido!

Leo

[VtwinVince]

I have an orignal photo taken by former Oberfeldwebel Karl-Heinz Bartsch of KG 27 showing Moelders and Beust just prior to Moelders leaving the airfield. It must also be one of the last of Moelders. I sent a copy to his brother Viktor.

[hihotte]

@VtwinVince: Is there any chance to attract you to scan your photo and post it here? I fear that the copy to Viktor will vanish as time goes by and we "members" of this thread are surely keen to have a look on it.
@Leo and Adriano: would it help you to scan the few pages of the accident report out of the book? It is written in german but maybe you could find an interpretor.
@ all: just as a sidestep - in the post war years the rumours about a possible sabotage on the He 111 carried out by the NSDAP never stopped.
Mölders was known as a Defender of the Catholic Church against the NSDAP.
cheers
hihotte