Hans Philipp 1943

[Nokose]

As of late I have started noticing a pattern involving Hptm. Hans Philipp of Stab I/JG 54 and Uffz. Hans-Günther Reinhardt of 3./JG 54 in their claiming for 1943. Can anyone advise anything on their describing their "Kills"? There was a wartime book that alledgedly was written by Hans Philipp but I have never seen any of the contents from it.

[Frank Olynyk]

Do you have any further information on the Philipp book? Title, publisher, publication date, page count? I would like to put it on my list of ace bios to look for.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Johannes]

Hi Guys

Reinhardt was Philipp's wingman who followed him to JG 1, and they were both shot down on the same day, Philipp killed. Not sure they were the most honest of claimers........rather liker the Rudorffer/Tangermann partnership.

Regards

Johannes

[Teresa Maria]

This is very sad and it's a pity that poor Hans was killed.

Originally Posted by Johannes

Hi Guys

Reinhardt was Philipp's wingman who followed him to JG 1, and they were both shot down on the same day, Philipp killed. Not sure they were the most honest of claimers........rather liker the Rudorffer/Tangermann partnership.

Regards

Johannes

[Nokose]

Frank, I posted the name of the book before, its one of Goebbels publications during the war which listed Philipp's as the author. The book was "Philipp - Der Jagdflieger Hans Philipp sein Leben seine Erfolge 1943". I also saw that there was an article in a German wartime paper "Der Adler" 20 Apr 1943. I found this also but have little info on this book so it might be just a "picture" book, Ritterkreuzträger Profile 11: Hans Philipp.

Johannes it seems that your right. So far I can't say that he is not an ace but is no were as good as his PR info. The western front put them in the real world from what I found so far.

[Frank Olynyk]

Nokose,
Thanks for the title and information on the wartime publication of Der Jagdflieger Hans Philipp . I have added it to my never ending list of biographies to look for.

The other book you mention, Ritterkreuzträger Profile 11: Hans Philipp is part of a series, now up to #15 on individual Ritterkreuzträgern; not all Luftwaffe. They are 48 pages long. Heavy on the photographs, but still with a decent amount of text. Usually with a victory list. A few color profiles. The price of the early ones is 11.20 Euros, then 11.50, and now 11.80 for the latest ones. In German.

Schiffer has been collecting them together, four issues per volume, in English, as Knight's Cross Profiles.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Johannes]

I would put Philipp in the opportunist category. He would be a perfect example of being able to make fraudulent claims i.e high ranking within a staff Staffel in Russia. In Russia most claims were made over enemy territory, in the West the majority would be over German held territory, and the Luftwaffe would investigate the crash-sites, so not so much opportunity to have fraudulent claims invisible, unless over water, and even then it would only be certain units i.e JG 2. I suspect that Philipp's claims in the west both pre Russia and 1943 were honest. Strange thing is I believe he was a popular pilot.

Kind Regards

Johannes

[Nick Hector]

Johannes,

You suspect his claims prior to Russia were honest? Well kind of, but not brilliantly...

5.9.39/1415 PZL P.11 (claimed as "PZL P.24"), 7km S of Radomsko. Report said that the pilot was seen to jump without a shot being fired. Not confirmed by Polish records, however.

18.5.40/1625, Curtiss Hawk, W of Rethel No. 189 of GC 3/4, Capt. R Guieu forcelanded safely and No. 89 of GC II/4, Adj Paulhan safe, aircraft only damaged (overclaiming, there were at least 5 claims for these two aircraft...)

3.6.40/1520-1525 2 x Hurricanes claimed as Curtiss Hawks, W of Epernay, 73 sqn. Severe overclaiming, only one loss: Serial unknown of P/O I D Hawken KIA (...against 5 German claims)


7 or 8.6.40/2050 Spitfire S of Dieppe @ 4000m, Your guess is as good as mine... I need to confirm the true correct date.

30.8.40 Unconfirmed Hurricane (benefit of the doubt....)

1.9.40 Unconfirmed Hurricane (benefit of the doubt...)

5.9.40/1620 Spitfire over Thames Estuary @ 6000m, Possibly 41 sqn or 602 sqn. 41 sqn lost R6885 of F/O A D J Lovell baled out safely and N3162 of P/O Eric S Lock WIA. 602 lost Serial unknown, pilot unknown damaged over Beachy Head at this time plus K9955 of pilot unknown (at least 4 claims that match these losses. So again, likely an overclaim)

27.9.40/1020 Hurricane W of London. Could this have been one of 303 sqn's losses over Horsham at 0930 British Time? He claimed 2 others victories this date, the timings are not known

13.10.40/1340-1402-1403, 3 x Hurricanes, Dungeness - Tunbridge Wells area. One source at least has said these were Spitfires of 66 sqn, but the time of their losses does not match. Was this actually serial unknown of 46 sqn? Sgt. L H B Pearce forcelanded at Biggin Hill following combat with Bf109s over Dungeness

20.10.40/1105, 2 Hurricanes, 605 sqn. 2 aircraft damaged: V6844 of P/O P D Thompson and V6755 of P/O J H Rothwell, both pilots unhurt (Hrabak claimed a third over Ashford, which makes the whole 3 claims into overclaiming somewhat)

30.10.40/1702, Spitfire over Dungeness, 602 "City of Glasgow" sqn. 2 complete losses. Sgt. W B Smith WIA in X4542 and P/O D H Gage in X4269, plus P/O A McL Lyall's P9515 damaged (versus 3 claims in total by the Germans in this engagement - a fair match)

2.11.40 Spitfire NW of Dungeness, Likely overclaiming, as day's only casualty was L1842 of 310 sqn, Sgt. J Kominek baled out after machine caught fire over Sheppey, Kent. Attributed to return fire from a bordschuetze in a larger aircraft.

11.11.40/1230, Hurricane over Canterbury. 229 sqn. Two Hurricanes only damaged, both pilots safe

So as you can see, not an outright liar. But not brilliantly spot on either.

Sources: Tony Wood lists plus Peter Cornwell's books on the Battles of France and Britain, then and now plus the Norman Franks' Fighter Command Losses relevant volume.

[Johannes]

Hi Guys

An in depth scrutiny. I would certainly say that certain units seemed lax in there confirmation, JG 54 being one, though often it is restricted to certain Gruppe or even Staffel. JG 2 was the worst in the west, JG 5 the worst in the east. JG 26,27,53,77 and most of JG 52 and 51 were the honest guys generally. Yet even within JG 2 there were honest claimers!

Kind Regards

Johannes

[alessandro bray]

Hi,

to complete Hans Philipp's claims in the West plus Balkan

7.4.41 2 Bf109. II/JG54 claimed 5 Bf109 and 1 Hurricane in a combat with 32. Grupa at around 18,00 over Prnjavor. Yugoslavian losses were 6 Bf109 shot down and 2 severely damaged, even with some claims by ZG26 the accuracy is pretty well.

2.5.43 1 Spitfire. JG1 clashed with 331. and 332. Sqn 7 claims for 4 Spit IX shot down.

16.5.43 1 thunderbolt. 2 claimed by JG1 and at least one more by Priller of JG26. 78FG lost 1 P-47

8.10.43 1 B-17 very big combat with many claims and losses

regards