Mosquito Hunters

[krichter33]

I was wondering if anyone had any info on the top Mosquito hunters in the Luftwaffe. (Not including Welter, unless you have info on how many kills he actually had) Thank you.

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by krichter33

I was wondering if anyone had any info on the top Mosquito hunters in the Luftwaffe.

err...there weren't any.

And 'hunting' is a big word for an aircraft the Luftwaffe couldn't shoot down...let's call it 'chasing' as per the chapter heading in the JG 300 history. Aside from the odd claim from the 'regular' Jagdgeschwader (JG1 JG26 etc..) the following units on the German side were primarily devoted to Mosquito and/or fast twin 'chasing'. (PR Lightnings..)

JGr25 & JGr50..four months over the summer of 1943.. so unsuccessful, their initial anti- Mosquito role was modified..brought together some of the Jagdwaffe's leading aces, flew GM boosted 109s..

NJGr 10 from Jan 1944..flew Neptun radar equipped 190s. 1./NJGr 10 was to test new a/c as well as radar/radio systems and 1. Staffel was equipped with and without radar Fw 190's. Little success was acheived in the Fw 190 against the Mossie so by summers end the Bf 109G-6/AS was incorporated into the unit and the Fw 190A-8 was phased out totally. The unit went on to hunt RAF 4-mots as well as Mosquitos. 4./NJGr 10 on the coast with Fw 190's couldn't score at all..

III./JG 300 and then the enlarged 10./JG 300 during late summer & autumn of 1944..10.(N)/JG 300 had 18 a/c on strength (not 25 as per Holms's site). Two Staffelkapitäne. It was established as a specialist Moskito-jagd unit only although the unit was ordered on a number of day sorties against US heavy bombers. Became II./NJG 11 late November 44. Incorporated into NJGr 10..boosted 109s. Full story of 10. (N)/JG 300 in the JG 300 history by Lorant/Goyat...

the He 219 equipped I./NJG1...Mossie 'chasing' was not their main task but they were pretty much the only unit claiming Mosquitos through the summer of 1944. See Hinchcliffe's 'The other Battle'; claims in the year between April 43 & May 44 by German Nachtjagd pilots amounted to just SEVEN Mosquitoes shot down..which includes two Mossie claims by Fw Rauer of 1./NJG 1 on the night of 24/25 May 44, the only occasion, Hinchcliffe says, a German fighter pilot claimed more than one Mosquito in a single night..(that were presumably credited..) although Mitterdorfer in 10.(N)/JG 300 'claimed' two in one night September 44 in his Bf 109G-6/AS .

not forgetting the jets of 10./NJG 11 from February 45, the single-engine fighters of the Ergänzungs Nachtjagdgruppe from April 44..and EJG 2 from November 44...

www.ww2.dk/air/njagd/enjgr.html

[Graham Boak]

Given that the initial Mosquito day bombers squadrons suffered heavier losses than when they were flying Blenheims, somebody must have been shooting them down. (They were, of course, flying deeper missions.) And not just the flak.

I presume the question is more specifically directed at the PR and night bomber Mossies.

[FalkeEins]

yes Graham, I wasn't thinking of day bomber losses (nor was the original poster I doubt - given the reference to Welter; not half as 'sexy' ) , although even these weren't that heavy, 105 Sq lost about 15 during 1942 for example. We did cover the subject in some detail over at the LEMB...here's Henning's post on Mosquito CLAIMS from Woods....

claims in the West, day and night:

Year Claims
1941 1
1942 23
1943 43
1944 90
1945 52

Of these 209 supposed kills, 87 were claimed by NJG units. 8 were claimed by jet units. The Flak shot down far more Mosquitos than any Jagdgeschwader pilot of course...

[Peter D Evans]

...and here is a link to the LEMB thread in question...

Cheers
Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

[Leo Etgen]

Hello guys

If the information by Boiten is correct it would appear that Oberleutnant Kurt Welter (63 victories, RK-EL) was indeed the top scoring anti-Mosquito ace. He does appear to have definitely shot down five RAF Mosquito twin-engined aircraft and possibly/probably seven others. Here is what I have on this fellow. Any comments or corrections will be welcome.

http://rapidshare.com/files/339866077/Welter.rar.html

Horrido!

Leo

[mhuxt]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

Given that the initial Mosquito day bombers squadrons suffered heavier losses than when they were flying Blenheims, somebody must have been shooting them down. (They were, of course, flying deeper missions.) And not just the flak.

I presume the question is more specifically directed at the PR and night bomber Mossies.

The losses of day bombers in 1942 were evenly split between flak and aircraft, mostly 190s.

[RodM]

Originally Posted by Leo Etgen

Hello guys

If the information by Boiten is correct it would appear that Oberleutnant Kurt Welter (63 victories, RK-EL) was indeed the top scoring anti-Mosquito ace. He does appear to have definitely shot down five RAF Mosquito twin-engined aircraft and possibly/probably seven others. Here is what I have on this fellow. Any comments or corrections will be welcome.

http://rapidshare.com/files/339866077/Welter.rar.html

Horrido!

Leo

Hi Leo,

some comments on the Welter claims, since you appear to have updated your website based upon information published in 'The Nachtjagd War Diaries Vol 2'.

On pages 351-352 of that publication you will see a list of Kdo Welter-10./NJG11 claims along with a summary narrative. In the listing, I have included provence of the claims information where known. You will notice that a lot of the claims attributed to Welter have VERY weak and unreliable provenance, specifically:

1. five claims up to 16/1/45 are based solely on the Nonnenmacher/Ring listing with regard to the dates, and a written statement prepared by Welter for the British that simply stated he shot down three Mossies and two Lancs before the end of Jan 1945. As became apparant during research and has subsequently been confirmed independently, Nonnenmacher/Ring invented a lot of Bullsh*t to include in their listings as a 'security' measure - and various fictitious Welter claims were a part of this deception. I have yet to see a reliable listing for Welter's initial five claims on the Me262, specially with regard to the dates of these claims (reliable meaning that it is backed up by verifiable documentary evidence).

2. of the post-Jan 1945 Welter claims, only the three on the night of 21/22 Feb 1945 have direct documentary provenance linking Welter to the claims by name. For the rest, although documentary evidence exists that claims were made by 10./NJG11, no provenance other than the Nonnenmacher/Ring listing (see 1. above) links any of them to Welter. Note that some of the BS claims invented for Welter by Nonnenmacher/Ring were weeded out and disgarded prior to the publication of 'The Nachtjagd War Diaries'.

Cheers

Rod

[krichter33]

Thank you guys for all the information...

[Leo Etgen]

Hello Rod

Many thanks for the clarification regarding Welter's claims. Too bad that the two researchers you mentioned invented information as this no doubt has been a rather unnecessary source of confusion for years.

Horrido!

Leo