Bf 109 massacre of 24 March 1945 (359th FG)

[John Manrho]

OK guys, a follow up....

1) In Prien's book on I./JG 27 an eyewitness is quoted who was at Störmede. It was a member of III./NJG 1 which was based at Störmede too. He said it was a combat between 18 Mustangs and 12 Bf 109's from I./JG 27 of which 6 where shot down. He also said there was one P-51 loss. The numbers match the number of 359th FG Mustangs very well.

2) RT, Stabsintendant is indeed ground crew. In fact he is in charge of administrative and personnel duties. Rank can be compared with Hauptmann.

3) Skyraider, The airfield was due south of Störmede. If you look at the picture, pinpoint Störmede and you go directly south you end up with a little square formed forest. This was the barracks area. The airfield was just north of it. Aircraft were in hiding along the forest edge going southwest from the little square. In Dierich's book you can find a map of the airfield. Perhaps somebody can make a scan and put it here?

4) III./JG 27 was stationed at Gütersloh and lost at least 8 KIA:

Lt.Nikolaus Bauer, born 25.3.24, Buried Gütersloh, Gr. 218
Lt. Horst Kizina, born 8.10.23, Gr. 221
Oblt. Dietrich Sponnagel, born 27.4.20, Gr. 220
Fj.Fw. Werner Geserich, born 7.9.22, Gr. 222
Uffz. Karl Jehle, born 16.2.21, Gr. 219
Uffz. Werner Piesker, born 4.11.19, Gr. 225
Uffz. Heinz Rösch, born ??? (couldn't find him most likely in Gr.224....)
Fw. Heinz Schettler, born 18.1.22, Gr. 223.

Please note that all were buried at Gütersloh, strong indication that they were killed in that area. 357th FG claims their Bf 109's as "West of Gütersloh". I would say 99,9% sure that this was III./JG 27.

No losses for the 357th FG, only Otto Jenkins killed when he was killed at Leiston doing aerobatics at low level to celebrate his last mission.

In general I would say you have to compare all losses of the Lw and claims of the 8th, 9th and 2nd TAF to draw conclusions, but this seems to me very straightforward....

OK, enjoyed this, but now back to my own research...

cheers,

John.

[George Hopp]

The guncam still shows a clear tailwheel.

That means nothing. The 109K had problems in retracting its tailwheel, so in many cases they were just locked down.

[Skyraider3D]

Many thanks John!

I've made a close-up of the airfield area, using Google Eart:

>snip!<

Also using Google Earth I tried to find out what the guncam still is showing. It's extremely hard to tell, but it could well be showing the town of Störmede in the bottom-right corner, with the P-51 heading south/south-west.

[Skyraider3D]

Originally Posted by George Hopp

That means nothing. The 109K had problems in retracting its tailwheel, so in many cases they were just locked down.

Interesting, I didn't know.
Wouldn't we see wheeldoors then I wonder now? Or I guess at this resolution it's impossible to tell. It still appears a bit like a short G-10 tailwheel though. Perhaps this plane wasn't shot down (JG 27 used the G-10 too, I believe, though in very limited numbers).

[John Manrho]

Skyraider, you picked the wrong square forest......move 2 as much further south where there is a bigger square forest.....and if somebody could scan it from Dierich's book...... the area is still the same. Barracks are, ammo depot, perimeter and railway course can stil be clearly seen when magnified in Google Earth....

cheers,

John.

P.s. Gütersloh of course is still a UK Base (or was...)

[Skyraider3D]

Originally Posted by John Manrho

Skyraider, you picked the wrong square forest...

Whoops my bad Yes that makes more sense now - at least... I hope I got it right this time!!!

[George Hopp]

Interesting, I didn't know.
Wouldn't we see wheeldoors then I wonder now?

I hope these drawings will show you how the tailwheel actuation works. So, you can manually close the tailwheel doors if you have locked the tailwheel down. The drawings are from "Messerschmitt Bf 109K" by Janda and Poruba.

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks George!

[John Manrho]

Ok, some artwork of mine......

First, green area is landing ground. Red square is barracks area. Blue line is aircraft dispersal. North of airfield in orange is ammunition storage and railway line is in purple.

[odybvig]

great teamwork guys

A good proof of the value of this board

Best from Norway
Olve Dybvig
www.luftwaffe.no