A ?? RE: March 1945 LW battles with Coastal Command;

[NickM]

Guys:

I was reading 'A Separate Little War', Andrew Bird's book on the Coastal Command Strike Wings stationed in Banff; I ran across mention of a letter that was sent to Sholto-Douglas & Max Aiken on March 27, 1945 that made mention of the need to assign additional RAF Mustang squadrons for escort duty due to some vigorous interceptions by LW Fighters, including some units equipped with the FW-190-D9; Now I have never run across anything from my JG26 & III/JG54 material about any late war encounters with Coastal Command...might anybody be able to suggest any reading material or provide 'anecdotal stories' on these battles, from either side?

Thanks, ahead of time.

[Nick Beale]

There were several combats with JG 5 off Norway but these involved Fw 190 A models and Bf 109 Gs.

[NickM]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

There were several combats with JG 5 off Norway but these involved Fw 190 A models and Bf 109 Gs.

Yes that's exactly the encounters the aforementioned book discussed; I figured CC ran afoul of of these Dora equipped units either around Hamburg, Denmark or the Baltic sea but I have no idea which ones they were. From my readings I got the impression that the jagdwaffe didn't have the resources to consistently challenge Coastal Command missions.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by NickM

I figured CC ran afoul of of these Dora equipped units either around Hamburg, Denmark or the Baltic sea

I think faulty identification is the most likely explanation. They wouldn't be the first Allied pilots to report Doras where there were none. Inline-engined FW 190s were being reported in the summer of 1944, before any were in service.

[ClinA-78]

even at the beginning of 1944...

[NickM]

Thanks for your replies; I presume that there a no reports from JG2 or JG6 encountering Beaufighters & Mosquitoes. In fact, I get the impression that fighter interceptions were a sort of rare event.

[andy bird]

Hi Nick,

I'll dig out the report next week when I'm back at RAFM London.
Enjoy the book, ASLW started out as 200,000 words was then cut down to 90,000 !!

Just mailed the next one to Grub Street to night "Coastal Dawn" changed my writing style for this one. Due out August.

Yours Faithfully,

Andy Bird

[NickM]

Thanks; I await your next book.

[Delmenhorst]

Congratulations Andy, I am looking forward to your next book

I am also working on a book about shipping attacks.

The book will deal with attack on ships in March to May, 1945. I have just finished March 1945 for 8th AAF and BC and are right now writing about CC's attack on shipping off Denmark and Norway. The book is so far about 350 pages.

A lot more were going on than most people imagine. More vessels were sunk within the last couple of months of the war than in 1939-42.