JG 5 collision on 27 August 1944

[Laurent Rizzotti]

On 27 August 1944 Oblt Gerhard Beyer went missing after his Bf 109 G-2 WNr 14610 collided in the air over Saltenfjorden, Norway, with another Bf 109 of the same unit flown by an Uffz Fuchs.

Source:
“Jagdgeschwader 5 Eismeerjäger: Eine Chronik aus Dokumenten U. Berichten: 1941-1945“, by Werner Girbig. ISBN 3-87943-365-8
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap44.html
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/Losses/tap43.html

The last source indicates that Fuchs was flying the Bf 109 G-2 WNr 14090, that was a total loss (100%) and that Fuchs went missing too.

Girbig's books on the other hand identified (via the index) Uffz Fuchs as the same man as the Uffz Karl-Heinz Fuchs that was posted missing three months later, on 17 October 1944, then with 9./JG 5.

I would like to know what happened to the second aircraft and pilot (besides Beyer) in this collision. Was the pilot another man named Fuchs, who was killed, or did he survive, and in this case was the aircraft lost or not ?

The summary of Luftwaffe losses show two losses for JG 5 on 27 August 1944:
III./JG 5: one damaged without enemy action on non-operational flight
IV./JG 5: one destroyed without enemy action on non-operational flight

JG reorganized from the three-Staffel-per-Gruppe to four-Staffel-per-Gruppe in August 1944, but in this document 12./JG 5 was probably still part of IV./JG 5, and not of III./JG 5

By the way the text in Girbig's book indicates that Beyer was lost on the 28th, but all other sources gave the date as the 27th, and there was no loss for JG 5 on the 28th.

From the above, I would say that Fuchs probably survived (and his aircraft was only damaged) and was the same man that went missing in October the same year, but I would like to have confirmation of this.

Thanks in advance

PS: I checked the Volksbund database, and neither Beyer, nor any Fuchs killed on this day