29 may 1944, 15 AF raid to Austria - need help.

[CENTURION]

Hi Evgeny,

134 P 51s were involved in Weiner Neustadt mission.

Regarding the 31 FG:

the 307th FS claimed 4 Me-109 and 2 Me-110 @ 9:45 W of Wallersdorf airfield for the loss of 2/Lt. Thomas Howell last seen in combat with Me-109s and the P 51 of Capt. Samuel Brown who was shot up and was forced to bail out near his base;

the 308th FS claimed 6 Me-109 and 1 Me-110 @ 9:45 W of Wallersdorf airfield for no loss;

the 309th FS claimed 3 Me-110 @ 10:15 10 m N of Wallersdorf airfield for the loss of 2/Lt. Ralph Mansberger last seen in combat with Me-110s;

another Me-110 was claimed by Lt. Col. Yancey Tarrant @ 9:45 10 m N of Weiner Neustadt.

Regarding the 52 FG:

the 4th FS claimed 3 Me-109 and 6 Me-110 @ 10:05-10:20 35 m W of Weiner Neustadt for the loss of 1/Lt. Charles Gross shot down by Me-110s;

the 5th FS claimed 4 Me-109 and 1 He-111 @ 10:05-10:10 W of Weiner Neustadt for the loss of 2/Lt. Henry Woods who died wen his P 51 collided with the He-111.


Other 2 Me 110 were claimed in Austria by P 38s of 94th FS - 1 FG @ 11:10 at Atzgersdorf but I dont know if they were involved in the same mission of P 51s.


Best regards
Marco

[Evgeny Velichko]

Thank You very much for reply!

1. Uffz. Heinz Robatowski, bortfunker of Uffz. Christian Böhme from 5./ZG 1, claimed P-51 at 10.05 in EM 5: 6.500 m. [Rohr i. Gebirge]. Theyr Bf110G-2 2N+TN W.Nr. 5512 was engaged by P-51, and following fight pilot Uffz. Böhme killed, Uffz. Robatowski wounded and bailed out.

2. Uffz. Urban from 6./ZG1 claimed P-51 at 10.14 in DM-8: 6.000 m. [S.E. St. Pölten]

3. Obfhr. Hartmann claimed from 4./ZG1 claimed B-24 at 10.13 and then P-51 at 10.25 in DM-6: 5.000 m. [30 km. W. Wien];

As for me, I suppose 1/Lt. Charles Gross was damaged/shot up following an attack on 3rd Bf110, wich was 2N+TN. And Robatowski was that who bring Gros down (as Robatowski was expirienced gunner, shot up P-40 close to Sevastopol on 6 may 1944).

Was Capt. Samuel Brown damaged by Bf110? If yes, together with 2/Lt. Ralph Mansberger they were victims of Uffz. Urban and Obfhr. Hartmann ...

Anyway, this fight cost much for II./ZG1:
10 pilots were killed, more 2 were injured...
7 bortfunkers were killed, more 5 - injured...

[Evgeny Velichko]

Found a list of bomber Groups of 15 AF.

5th Bomb Wing (B-17 "Flying Fortress"), Foggia
2nd Bomb Group; Amendola
97th Bomb Group; Amendola lost 1 B-17
99th Bomb Group; Tortorella Airfield
301st Bomb Group; Lucera lost 2 B-17
463rd Bomb Group; Celone Airfield
483rd Bomb Group; Sterparone Airfield

47th Bomb Wing (B-24 "Liberator"), Manduria
98th Bomb Group; Lecce, Italien lost 2 B-24
376th Bomb Group; San Pancrazio lost 2 B-24
449th Bomb Group; Grottaglie lost 2 B-24
450th Bomb Group; Manduria

49th Bomb Wing (B-24 "Liberator"), Incornata
451tst Bomb Group; Castellucio Airfield
461st Bomb Group; Torretto Airfield
484th Bomb Group; Torretto Airfield lost 2 B-24

55th Bomb Wing (B-24 "Liberator"), Spinazzola
460th Bomb Group; Spinazzola
464th Bomb Group; Pantanella Airfield lost 5 B-24
465th Bomb Group; Pantanella Airfield lost 1 B-24
485th Bomb Group; Venosa lost 2 B-24

304th Bomb Wing (B-24 "Liberator"), Cerignola
454th Bomb Group; San Giovanni
455th Bomb Group; San Giovanni
456th Bomb Group; Stornara
459th Bomb Group; Giulia Airfield

Ok, this gives us final losses of bombers of 15 AF in this raid:
16 B-24 lost (German fighters claimed 21 B-24 + 6 B-24 HSS), together with 2 lost P-51 it gives us final score to 18 USAAF a/c lost, as was noted in one of posts above.

3 B-17 lost, but it seems they were in other raid.

[CENTURION]

Hi Evgeny,

sorry, I don't know who damaged the P 51 of Capt. Samuel Brown. I can only say that he claimed 2 Me-110 and 1 Me-109, so he was in combat with both.

Do you know if the 3 Me-110 damaged of II./ZG1 crash-landed somewhere or retured to base and the degree of their damage?

Thanks.

Best regards
Marco

[Evgeny Velichko]

Hi Marco!

Over Kleinzell 2 Bf110 from 6./ZG1 were shot down and one more damaged:
29-05-44, Bf 110 G-2, 2N+SP, 210094, Crew wounded. Casualties as a result of combat mission. No damage state.

Two more Bf110 damaged Bf110's:

29-05-44, Bf 110 G-2, 2N+GN, 5133, Bortfunker wounded on combat mission. Laxenburg. Also no damage state.
29-05-44, Bf 110 G-2, 2N+RN, 5262, Crew wounded. Casualties as a result of combat mission. No damage state. Schwarzau.

[CENTURION]

Hi Evgeny,

thank you for reply.

Apparently only 9 B24 were shot down by german fighters.
Bombers losses:

B17G 42-31857 97BG (340BS) target Wollersdorf - shot down 10:01 off the target by Flak
B17G 42-97580 301BG (353BS) target Wollersdorf - en route to target engine caught fire and crashed @ 8:49 NE Lubjana
B17F 42-30347 301BG (419BS) target Wollersdorf - before reaching the target flame appared from 1engine. Left formation @ 9:25 S Lunz
B24H 41-28797 485BG (829BS) target Atzgersdorf - damaged by Flak @ 10:40 off the target, crashed @ 12:30 near Zara
B24H 42-52676 485BG (831BS) target Atzgersdorf - a minute after dropped bombs was struck by Flak @ 10:48 N Nageck
B24H 42-52677 484BG (827BS) target Wiener Neustadt - hit by Flak just after bombs away over the target @ 10:33, left the formation
B24H 41-28780 484BG (824BS) target Wiener Neustadt - hit by Flak over the target @ 10:30
B24D 42-41176 376BG (513BS) target Wiener Neustadt - shot down a few minutes before the target by Me-109s @ 10:05 Altenmarkt
B24H 42-95338 376BG (515BS) target Wiener Neustadt - shot down by Flak @ 10:04 N Wiener Neustadt
B24J 42-73416 98BG (344BS) target Wiener Neustadt - shot down @ 10:05 over the target area by Fighters
B24H 41-28825 98BG (415BS) target Wiener Neustadt - shot down @ 10:05 NW Wiener Neustadt by a rocket fired by JU88s
B24H 42-52117 449BG (719BS) target Wiener Neustadt - attacked by Fighters just before reaching the IP @ 9:57
B24H 42-52396 449BG (717BS) target Wiener Neustadt - attacked by 3/5 Me 110s before bombing run @ 10:08 NW Wiener Neustadt
B24H 42-52589 465BG (783BS) target Liesing - hit by Flak @ 10:31 Liesing. left the formation
B24H 42-95336 464BG (779BS) target Atzgersdorf - shot down by Flak @ 10:30 over the target. Last seen near Baden
B24H 41-28969 464BG (776BS) target Atzgersdorf - damaged by Flak, shot down by Fighters @ 12:00 S Graas
B24H 41-28748 464BG (777BS) target Atzgersdorf - shot down by Fighters near Sopron
B24G 42-78257 464BG (777BS) target Atzgersdorf - shot down by Me-109s @ 11:45 near Sopron
B24H 42-52540 464BG (776BS) target Atzgersdorf - crippled by Flak, shot down by Fighters @ 11:52 Jelasinovci

I think that the JG3 claims were against the Eighth Air Force.
But II./JG77 claimed 11 B24 & 1 B24 e.V. @ 11:42-12:20 over the Balkans, probably against the 464BG.

Hope this helps.
Best regards

Marco

[Gizmo]

IMHO some of bombers with were described as shot down by Flak, were also atacked and claimed by fighter pilots, even after all on board balling out. Of course I'm not saying that it happen in this particular air battle.

[Nokose]

Which unit would be flying the Ju 88s that were using rockets this day? I know that experiments with cannon on Ju 88s were done. Maybe the rockets fired were from Bf 110s.

[Evgeny Velichko]

THX for replyes, gents!

Nokose - as far as I know, all Bf110G-2's of II./ZG1 were armed with W.Gr.21. And a main task was to split the formation. Only after that fighters and zerstorers could start theyr attack with board weapons.

Expiriments with Ju88 and high caliber cannons were on Ostfront, as a panzerjager aircraft.

[Gizmo]

These "Ju 88" could be Me 410, which were armed with W.Gr 21 launchers.