An He 111 belly landed in Italy 1945

[Giorgio Pietrobon]

I have some aluminium ' plates which were beloging to an He 111 bomber belly landed in the Ladinian Dolomiti ' area , Italia, in the Pralongià / Pralongè , an highland between Livinallongo del Col di Lana and St. Kassian / S.Cassiano.
Spring 1945 . Luftwaffe sure. Dismantled in the Summer and Autumn.
After a long use over a barn , a friend of mine GIUSEPPE GABRIELLI gave me the covers by now useless.
Some pieces have in the internal side many inscriptions,the code or probably the serial : WAREN -- 3116.5 .
I am interested to know the war ' story of this one plane , the Unit , the start airport and overall the Crew of the last flight.
Thanks to anybody will help my search.

Giorgio Pietrobon . Retired Teacher . Treviso . Italia

giorgiopietrobon@libero.it

[David Ransome]

Hi Giorgio,

Unfortunately I believe that the 3116.5 refers to a part number or group of parts around the rear engine firewalls / on the wings. These parts were used on He111s from early to late production and can't be tied down to particular models let alone individual aircraft.

Do you have any other numbers printed or stamped in anywhere? These may be of use even to identify a particular model of He111. This may in turn help to identify the particular aircraft, if the actual crash date isn't known.

Regards,

David

[Giorgio Pietrobon]

David : your explanations are very kind and clear.

Meanwhile , thanks to the help of Dr. GIANLUIGI PERINO , director of the Ancient Books Sector in the Public Library of Treviso, I could see this one plane.

"Le Vie d' Italia", magazine of the Touring Club Italiano in his first issue after the war, March 1946 , published a long article of an Italian journalist : LINO PELLEGRINI who took also a picture of " A German plane shot down in Alta Valparola, not far from the historical Col di Lana".
No other info in the text about the wreck. In the poor paper of those times the Heinkel 111 ' remains are well shown. The scrap activity is by now in progress.

A boy of the war ' end time, UGO DE BATTISTA who lives in Arabba but had then the family ' Hotel in Pieve di Livinallongo, near the crash ground , remembers clearly : in the cockpit there was a single Pilot ' seat with only one control-column.

The search continues in Alta Badia Valley too.

[Giorgio Pietrobon]

FINALLY I FOUND HIM !!!

After a long surf in the net I found the Author of the Article and the pictures remembered in my post of 1st January 2008.
Dott. LINO PELLEGRINI is an active and ironic gentleman 93 years old .
He lives alternate times in Milano and in Crespano del Grappa ( TV , Italia ) .
Very glad to make acquaintance with me interested to his works.
During his long life he was war ‘ reporter in the WWII , famous diver explorer and author of many Books about his adventures around the world and under a lot of seas and oceans.
Also the son DANIELE is an estimated photo reporter for important international Magazines.
Lino now willingly remembers : the pictures , a stack of snaps , were taken during a hike with the cousin GIORGIO PELLEGRINI , subsequently a known juge in Bozen/Bolzano , who was together with his fiancée ORIETTA , alive in Venezia.
The “meeting” with the He 111 ‘ wreck happened at all casually after the war ‘ end , exactly during the month of August 1945.

No other info at moment but I am always in hunting.


Giorgio

[veltro]

According to the very small photo attached, the conditions of the He 111 and its apparent absence of camouflage indicates a far more longer exposition to elements than only a few months' time.

I would thus tend to exclude that the plane crash-landed in the spring of 1945, but rather during 1944 at the best.

This further complicates any search for data, because most of the Luftwaffe losses for 1944 and a noticeable part of 1945 are missing from the main archives and studies are on the way to try to retrace the pieces of informations still available.

My only theory at the moment is that the He 111 was most probably a support or transport aircraft of one of the very few Luftwaffe units based in Italy in the latter part of the war.

In fact, most of the Kampfgeschwader units based in Italy had left by mid-1944 and none was equipped with the He 111.

Should further images of the plane turn up through Dott. Pellegrini (two very big and clear prints are visible on his desk in the photo you kindly attached), it would be very interesting to be able to look at them for further clues.

[David Ransome]

Hi Giorgio,

Excellent work! As Ferdinando says, it would be interesting and informative to see any other photos that may be available.

Kind regards,

David

[ChrisMAg2]

Originally Posted by Giorgio Pietrobon

...
Some pieces have in the internal side many inscriptions,the code or probably the serial : WAREN -- 3116.5 .
...

Unfortunealy this is not a part serial number. As you said, it repeatedly appears on the inner side of the sheets. This number indicates the material the sheets are made of: in this case aero-aluminum, "Dural".

[David Ransome]

Hi Christian,

I must confess to having realised this after making my initial post in this thread when I read an article on the different grades etc of Duralumin! It was in an issue of Flugzeugbau but I can't recall which one.

Obviosly it follows that it may not be possible to know what part of the aircraft the pieces came from unless they have recognisable features.

Regards,

David

[Giorgio Pietrobon]

2 interesting optical tubes

Some years ago a friend : RENATO CREPAZ , fine Mechanician who lives and works in the Ladinian Valley of Livinallongo del Col di Lana , hamlet Renaz / Bosco Verde , near the Sella Group in the Dolomiti mountains and just nearest to the high plain called Pralongè, gave to me a pair of old optical instruments. He knew at time my interest for WWII planes shot-down or lost in the area.
A question for every former Technical Member of the Luftwaffe ' groundcrews : can they come from the He 111 bomber landed a few of km North of his machine-shop ?
In case of positive answer what was their function inboard the twin-engined Bomber ?
Every help will be remembered as credit in an eventual publish of the story.
Thanks.
Giorgio Pietrobon



Dr. Giorgio Pietrobon . 1943 . Treviso . Italia .
Retired Teacher and volunteer WWII Researcher about a Day of war without story.
giorgiopietrobon@libero.it

[F19Gladiator]

I have this on my HD. I'm not sure it is the same a/c though. xx+AA.
Br
Goran