An Impossible Task?

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

There is a farm near where I live that I buy my eggs from and the old girl in there in her late 80s (still working, bless her) told me about a downed German night fighter that landed in the neighbours field (she promptly marched me over to the neighbour for a full intro and description), the pilot survived and was taken to a military hospital (Celle) with a broken leg. There is nothing left of the crash site as a cow shed was built over it. Sadly the generation that knew about it in any detail have passed, my enquiry is what is the minimum amount of info I need to find to try and trace this crash? I am going back to try and find dates and any pictures if they were taken but I don't want to be rude either as not everyone shares our passion for history, particularly over here. She also informed me of a downed US 4 engine bomber nearby and one of the two survivers landed on her doorstep but he was taken to Belsen which was the nearest KGL/KZ. I would like to chase him up as well but one at a time I think, it is a few Ks further and I haver yet to meet with the landowners as such I have no idea if they would be helpful in this regard.

Cheers for any direction.

Jock

[ChristianK]

Hi Jock,

first of all, the exact locations of these crashes would help (and if you're lucky, are already sufficient) Without this info, you won't get many results though ...

Cheers,
Christian

[Horst Weber]

Originally Posted by Jock Auld

Guys,

There is a farm near where I live that I buy my eggs from and the old girl in there in her late 80s (still working, bless her) told me about a downed German night fighter that landed in the neighbours field (she promptly marched me over to the neighbour for a full intro and description), the pilot survived and was taken to a military hospital (Celle) with a broken leg. There is nothing left of the crash site as a cow shed was built over it. Sadly the generation that knew about it in any detail have passed, my enquiry is what is the minimum amount of info I need to find to try and trace this crash? I am going back to try and find dates and any pictures if they were taken but I don't want to be rude either as not everyone shares our passion for history, particularly over here. She also informed me of a downed US 4 engine bomber nearby and one of the two survivers landed on her doorstep but he was taken to Belsen which was the nearest KGL/KZ. I would like to chase him up as well but one at a time I think, it is a few Ks further and I haver yet to meet with the landowners as such I have no idea if they would be helpful in this regard.

Cheers for any direction.

Jock

Hi Jock !

It's not impossible, but dates of the events and daytimes would help. In case of 4-engined bomber (obviously U.S.) I don't think , that the surviving crew was very long hold at Belsen, since the Luftwaffe was responsible for everything which came from the sky. I'm very sure that the crew was transported to the Luftwaffe Interrogation Center Oberursel for interrogation tasks.

Find out the dates of the events, and everything will be cleared pretty soon.

borsto

[Delmenhorst]

It is not impossible. Location and date will help. If you have no date - year and time of the year (Winter/summer).

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

I have been back to the farm that is in Hagen, just North of Bergen by Celle. The people are very nice and have been as helpful as possible. Sadly the people that would have had the detail have sinced passed away and the eyewitneses that are left were only young kids. All I could get was 1942 or 43, 2 engine night fighter that crash landed in the dark only the pilot in the plane with either a broken leg or broken arm. About 4 m2 of the site remains and it was all above the ground so I presume being early in the war the wreck was recovered and recycled. I will try the local archives in the Stadt Bergen, maybe something in the newspapers at the time but then again maybe not since it is not an enemy aircraft. None of the family took any pictures or souvineres so I think lost to the ages!

Jock

[Matti Salonen]

This is the only possible, which I can find:
1943-08-31, 8./NJG 3, Bf 110 G-4, 6276, D5+GS, 2 km nördlich Bergen, 22 km nordwestlich Celle, Bauchlandung um 05.56 Uhr infolge Brennstoffmangel. Bruch 100 %.
Flugzeugführer Fw Drobeck, Werner, verletzt
Bordschütze Uffz Richter, Wilhelm, verletzt

Matti

[Delmenhorst]

05.56 o'clock on the night between the 30th and 31st of August, 1943, Bf 110G-4 Werk Nr 6276 coded D5+GS crashlanded due to lack of petrol 2 km North of Bergen near Celle. The aircraft was on a Feindflug (operational sortie).
Feldwebel Werner Drobeck and Uffz Wilhelm Richter were wounded.

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

Thankyou for that information, I will go back with that and see if it jogs their memories. How were you able to find this so quickly, is there some sort of database some where. Would a picture of the site be of any interest if I tied it up with a map for for the record?

Thanks Again!

Jock

[Delmenhorst]

Do you have any idea about what time of the year that the US bomber crashed ? And time of the year - Winter or summer ?

[Jock Auld]

Originally Posted by Delmenhorst

Do you have any idea about what time of the year that the US bomber crashed ? And time of the year - Winter or summer ?

I have yet to visit that family although I will have an introduction from this family I hope. They are all farmers and are a close knit community. I shall let you know anything as soon as I have any detail. All I do know is somewhere in the Dagerford moores just North East of Bleckmar, which itself is about 2.5 Km North of Bergen on the B3 if that is any good!

Thanks again.

Jock