Was a German aircraft shot down near Lutsk, in Ukraine, on 11 May 1944?

[Paul Thompson]

Various Russian-language sources, including Mikhail Zhirokhov's (Михаил Жирохов) book "Fighters - take-off!" (Истребители - на взлёт!) report that a He 177 was claimed shot down by Soviet fighters on 11 May 1944 over western Ukraine. The details given are as follows:

A pair of Soviet Yak-9 fighters of the mixed male-female 586 IAP, flown by Regiment commander Major A.V. Gridnev (А.В. Гриднев) and Lieutenant R.N. Surnachevskaya (Р.Н. Сурначевская), took off to intercept an unidentified aircraft. They located the enemy aircraft over Berdychiv (Ukrainian: Берди́чів, Russian: Берди́чев; 49°54′N 28°34′E) at a height of 9,000 metres. The Soviet fighters carried out seven attacks, following which the enemy aircraft, later identified as a He 177, crashed. The crash site was some 8 kilometres to the south-west of Lutsk (Ukrainian: Лу́цьк, Russian: Лу́цк; 50°45′N 25°20′E).

There were no Heinkel He 177s on the Eastern front at this time. Is it possible to determine whether a German aircraft was lost in this incident and if so, what aircraft type was involved?

This is the only presently known incident in which the Soviets claimed to have shot down a He 177, which is why it is of some interest.

Regards,

Paul