Ju 88 Losses 30 Jan 44

[Chris Goss]

Fg Off Charles Detal of 609 Sqn destroyed a Ju 88 on the ground this day presumably at Montdidier-can anyone match this loss to a unit?

[Merlin]

Chris,

that was either a Ju 88S from I./KG 66 or a Ju 188E from I./KG 6 or I./KG 66. Both units were present at Montdidier during January 1944.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Merlin. I had I/KG 66 at Montdidier. The trouble is Detal's mission was Montdidier-Melun-Bretigny and this airfield was "some miles south of Amiens".

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Chris,

I do have the loss of Junkers Ju 88 S-1, Z6+EL, W.Nr. 140598, 3./KG66 of Uffz. Karl-Ludwig Hoffmann on 30 January 1944. However, according to the NVM, this was during a Feindflug/Angriff auf London and the aircraft crashed in the Eastern Scheldt, which is way off..

However, on the same day my losses list reports 2 men of 1.FBK KG66 being killed and 5 wounded at 12:00 hrs due to being strafed by English fighters while working on an aircraft...Maybe this is your case? (PS: nothing is mentioned on the aircraft in question in the losses list..)

HTH,

Marcel

[Chris Goss]

Marcel
Sounds very likely-thanks
Chris

[Marcel van Heijkop]

Chris,

You're welcome. For my own bookkeeping:

• Was Fg Off Detal acting alone or was he part of a group of aircraft? (My losses lists mentions multiple English fighters.)
• Does his time frame indeed match the German time of the event (12:00 hrs)?

TIA,

Marcel

[Chris Goss]

Marcel

Detal was one of a number of Typhoons and got airborne at 1205 hrs I believe

Chris