Ofw. Karl Hiller

[Sirkmicky]

Ofw. Karl Hiller was made POW during Operation Bodenplatte. Does anybody has more info about what happened with him and his plane? He was burned and his plane crashed near Y-29, although some documents state it was in Holland. I read the book by Ron Pütz and John Manrho.

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Maybe if you could find his POW report, it would be great to know if he crashed near Y-29 or at Maastricht. Since he was wounded, he may have been sent to an Allied Hospital as well...so registers may have survived. And, if he survived, what happened to him AFTER WW2?

Good thread.

[Brian Bines]

There is only brief details on AD(I)K report 149/1945 along with brief details of some other Pilots :-

Eindhoven area 1st. Jan 1945 about 0900 hrs

F.W,190

UNIT : ?...?...?

1. This aircraft was shot down by a Spitfire . The pilot sustained severe facial burns and interrogation has not been possible.

PILOT: Oberfeldwebel Karl HILLER......25 (7) ....EK I ... severely injured

The Kracker file has his loss on Bodenenplatte in Fw 190 A8 960258 blue 11 + 1 and shows him as claiming 8 victories on the Eastern Front in 1944 and two claims in the West in December 1944.

[Sirkmicky]

Thank you for the replies. In the book "Bodenplatte The Luftwaffe's Last Hope" it is written that Karl Hiller was able to crash-land after he was hit by a P-47 and P-51. P-47's and P-51's were indeed in the air above Y-29 at that moment. It is also assumed that the information about Ofw. Karl Hiller being shot down by a Spitfire in the Eindhoven area is not likely to be true. In my opinion it is most possible that his crash happened in the Y-29 area. Furthermore it is written in the Crashed Enemy Report No. 264 that there was a crash at M.R. K/490688 (Holland). I don't know what "M.R." stands for. But when we convert this coordinate its location is in As, Belgium (not Holland) near Y-29. Maybe there is a link to the crashsite of Ofw. Karl Hiller? And that Karl Hiller crashed at As instead of Eindhoven?

[Chris Goss]

MR=Map Reference?

[John Manrho]

Location K.490688 is just south of As. We simply do not know which Fw 190 this was. As you know the crash locations around As are difficult to match with individual losses, let alone to specific burial locations of unknown plots. It is simply too complicated. Imho there is no indication why this should be Ofw. Hiller's a/c. As CEA No. 264 says "burnt out" this could be a crash too. Ofw. Hiller stated that he crash landed. ADI(K) No. 149, which lists some details of 10 different crashes, is simply too vague on the loss of Hiller to draw conclusions.

[Sirkmicky]

John, did you had any contact with relatives of Ofw. Karl Hiller during your research? What happened with him after he had crashed? In your book is written that Ofw. Karl Hiller was shot down by a P-47 and a P-51. Can you tell us where this information comes from?

[John Manrho]

No, I did not. But there are memories of Ofw. Hiller recorded in Aero Journal No. 28. That is where I took some information from. He describes his attack (most likely Ophoven), the combat and his crashlanding. As Eindhoven is listed in ADI(K) No. 149/1945 it might be logical to assume he was in hospital there where he was found. He could not be interrogated. My best guess is that he somewhere crashlanded east of the line between Ophoven and Eindhoven.

[Sirkmicky]

Thanks for this. A new lead to explore, but first transelate the french text. Personally I think he was in hospital in Eindhoven or there was a mistake about the writting of the location EindHOVEN-OpHOVEN?

[Sirkmicky]

After I have read the story of Ofw. Karl Hiller in Aérojournal N°28 (2003), I do think that his crashsite has to be located somewhere in the triangle Budel-Venlo-Sittard (Netherlands). The coordinate K490688 (CER 264) is in my opinion the location where he was intercepted by American P-47-P-51’s. As there are witnesses who state there was no crashsite at this location in As. At some 500m to the northeast from K490688 there is the crashsite of Uffz. Kurt Nüssle. Furthermore I have a story from an eye-witness who tells that a German plane was chased by an American plane and both overflew the village of Dorne in the direction of Neeroeteren. An eye-witness in Neeroeteren in turn states that a German fighter went down at or near Stamproy (Netherlands). Does anybody has some leads to do further research on this? Anybody knows about people who do crashsite-research in the triangle Budel-Venlo-Sittard?