crash on 27 March 1944 between Pau and Lourdes

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Bonjour Gilles,
Superbe histoire! Fantastic indeed...Have you tried to write to Bundesarchiv and obtain his military file? You can find where he was born and his previous postings, etc..With that you perhaps could try to locate the family.
By the way: any recorded fighter claims ( by American side ) matches this loss on the 27th March 1944? Or was he shot down by defensive fire from the bombers?
Amicalement,
Adriano

[gilles collaveri]

Hi Adriano,

good questions & excellent ideas.

I would love to have more info about this event (USAF reports ?) and about the FW190 pilot (files, family), but to be honnest to you, I do not know how to proceed.

If anybody in the assistance knows how to do that and is willing to take a few minuts of his time to do that, I would be delighted.

Cheers to all.

Gilles

[Jim P.]

Khorat is correct. In my db I list last name, first name for Flieger/pilot so that names sort in an easily searchable order. (Peter) Rodeike is the author of the FW 190 book and 'F' means Feindflug - combat sortie/sortie against the enemy, though it can be somewhat ambiguous because Feindflug doesn't necessarily mean that one met the enemy.

[Charles Bavarois]

Gilles,

Hans-Udo Schönrock, 3./JGr West, was born 10.12.1915 at Rastatt/Baden.

He was killed when crashing at La Coix d. Hins (?) near Bordeaux,
27.3.1944, 20:00 hrs. Cause was dogfight with anglo-american fighters.

His comrade Udo Wohlfeld was KIA at Blanenetfort the same day at 15:15 hrs, also fighting against fighterplanes.

Schönrocks wife Margret lived at Neuhaus/Elbe in 1944.

HTH

Carl

[gilles collaveri]

Hi Guys,

thanks for your efforts which are really appreciated. However, desapointment is there..

This FW is not the one;

Thanks to Carl's precision, I did find "La Croix d'hins": as Carl mentions, it is close to Bordeaux, therefore far away from Benejacq/Tarbes.


So, I go back to square one: has anybody the record of a German fighter crashing in Benejacq forest (between Tarbes and Pau) on 27 March 1944.

I shall try to go locally and find more clues on field. I shall keep you posted.

Thanks again, and have a good day.

GC

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Gilles,
I do have all USAAF claims for that date, however they do not link the type of aircraft shot down, neither the place and hour of combats.
May I suggest you to contact Frank Olynik, who do have a vast knowledge about USAAF WW2 claims ( he published books about all claims and American Fighter Aces ). He is a member of the Forum and maybe he can help you ( us ) to match this one...
I can send you ( tonight ) the american pilots who claimed at ETO on the 27th March 1944 ( Gabreski amongst them ).
Amicalement
Adriano

[gilles collaveri]

Thanks for your advice Adriano,

I shall try alternate information sources in parallel and I shall also go on the crash site in the next days, in order to gather more info. After that, I shall contact Franck Olnick.

In the meantime, I look forward to your communication concerning the USAF kills (by PM ?).

I shall post tomorrow pictures of the burnt german coins that we found on site.

I shall indeed keep you posted of what I learn (or not !) .

Best regards

Gilles

[ClinA-78]

Hello Gilles,

I hope it works. Nice finds.

Best regards

[gilles collaveri]

Thanks Clin, it did work very well.

But I can't find my bird: so, I'll go back on the place, try to check the date and try to gather more info.

All the best.

Gilles

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Gilles,
Clin A-78 was quick and more precise than I....his information do have the type, local and hour of each combat recorded on the ETO, on the 27th March 1944. My small list only have the names and number of victories. So...I do hope you will be able to find out now who shot down who...on the puzzle.
Very kind of yours A-78 to share that.
All the best and keep us informed...nice thread indeed...
Adriano