Mosquito shot down 14 April 1945

[Roundway]

On 14 April 1945 a Mosquito, NT494 of 85 Squadron, was attacked and shot down near Armstorf at about 0123 hours UK time. Unfortunately there is some conflicting evidence as to when the attack took place and it is just possible it was shortly before midnight on the 13th. Is there, by any chance, a Luftwaffe claim for this aircraft?

[Chris Goss]

Theo Boiten I believe says this was night of 13-14 April and the result of friendly fire?

[Roundway]

Thank you Chris. The 2008 thread on RAFCommands concerning this loss was very brief (https://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sh...T494-13-4-1945 ) and not conclusive. In brief it said that from Bomber Command Losses 1945 (Chorley) there had been indications that earlier while over Denmark the aircraft had been fired at by a Lancaster. However that was prior to the actual loss. My hope was that in the intervening 15 years since the original thread a Luftwaffe combat report might have surfaced which would help resolve the uncertainty.

Brian

[Roundway]

Chris,

Of the Mosquito's two crew the navigator, F/O Hamilton, died. I'm in touch with Hamilton's great-nephew and he advises that the pilot subsequently told his family the aircraft was attacked twice. The first was probably the friendly fire incident but the second could well have been a Luftwaffe fighter as the target that night was Kiel and there should not have been any bombers in the Armstorf area.

Brian

[Roundway]

According to Martin Bowman's book German Night Fighters versus Bomber Command 1943-1945 NT494 fell to Kurt Welter. Would anyone like to comment?

Brian

[Chris Goss]

Welter's claim for a Mossie according to Theo was 10-11 April? Perhaps with his recent updates he will comment?

[Roundway]

My thanks as ever, Chris. I've written to Theo.

Brian

[RodM]

I am sad to say it wasn't a German night fighter (a German Navy air situation report states five German night fighters operated that night without success or loss).

I strongly suspect NT494/N was shot down in error by another 85 Squadron Mosquito.

NT494/N, piloted by F/L Hugh Thomas DFC and his navigator F/O Charles Hamilton, was engaged in a high-level escort of the bomber stream in the target area at Kiel, with a patrol line running from Kiel to Bad Segeberg further south. At some point this crew had the misfortune to fly their Mosquito too close to one of the Lancasters in the area around Kiel and they received gunfire from the friendly aircraft. The Mosquito was, by all accounts, badly damaged and set on fire. It is not exactly known where or when this incident occurred, but is presumed to have been in the area between Bordesholm-Hohenwestedt-Pellworm and sometime between 23.35-23.53 hrs. At midnight, F/L Thomas radioed an emergency airfield in Brussels, stating that he was in distress, but the call went unanswered. Around 30 minutes later F/L Thomas radioed Woodbridge airfield in the United Kingdom, but once again received no reply.

F/L Kenneth Vaughan and his navigator F/Sgt Robert McKinnon in another 85 Squadron Mosquito were flying in the general Neumünster area, nearing the end of an uneventful patrol, when a contact was picked up on AI radar at a range of 5 miles. The crew had earlier crossed the German coast near Westerhever and proceeded to the Hohenwestedt area, south-west of Kiel, where they commenced their patrol as the bombers exited the target area.

F/L Vaughan, guided by F/Sgt McKinnon operating the Mark X radar, closed in on the contact, which was flying on a southerly course and losing height at a low airspeed, while continually weaving. A blue light was visible on the contact from astern as they closed in, and occasionally the bright exhausts could be seen. The Mosquito crew had difficulty getting behind their contact because of the evasive action it was taking, but they did manage to observe that their target as a twin-engined aircraft. On three occasions they closed to a range of 1,000 feet behind their target, but each time their adversary peeled away. F/L Vaughan wrote in his combat report: "On the third occasion that we closed range to 1,000 ft, the target, to me anyway, appeared to catch fire underneath the fuselage. I got my navigator’s head out of the box to confirm this, and very quickly and brightly he yelled "That’s his jet", which jolted me out of my fire theory very quickly".

With the target identified as an "He219" on account of the apparent jet propulsion unit attached to the fuselage, F/L Vaughan managed to fire a burst of cannon fire at what he thought was the jet engine from a range of 900 feet, just as the target began to peel off again, but this produced no strikes. He then manoeuvred the Mosquito directly astern of his adversary. F/L Vaughan continues: [i]"... fired another burst, which caused a large explosion and strikes on his starboard side. I gave him another burst for luck and another explosion appeared on the port side and the E/A burned from wing tip to wing tip, going down in a spin to starboard and hit the deck at 0031 hours in the approximate position 5350N 1000E. From its general appearance and behaviour, particularly the use of a jet we consider this A/C was an He 219, and we claim it as destroyed".

F/L Vaughan initially attacked the "He219" at a height of 10,000 feet and it was estimated to have crashed in an area some 31 kilometres due north of Hamburg.

At some point after midnight, the damaged and burning Mosquito flown by F/L Thomas and F/O Hamilton was attacked by a 'German night fighter' that, according to F/L Thomas, had been attracted by the fire that illuminated the Mosquito. F/L Thomas managed to bale out of the stricken aircraft, but F/O Hamilton was killed when the Mosquito crashed near Armstorf, 26 kilometres west of Stade.

PS - ignore the Welter rubbish. It's pure fantasy and has no basis of fact.