Crew of Ju 88 A-5 WNr 760 of 1.(F)/124, lost on 17 May 1941

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Hello,

On 17 May 1941 Ofw Emil Schneider and his crew of 1.(F)/124 took off from Aalborg West for a reconnaissance flight to Aberdeen with the Ju 88 A-5 WNr 760 G2+JH. During this mission the crew radioed "Return impossible. Landing in England', but disappeared without a trace. It is presumed they were lost in the North Sea due to technical trouble.

Sources:
http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html
"1941 the turning point. Part 2", by John Foreman, ISBN 978-1-871187-25-0
"The Blitz Then and Now, volume 3. May 1941 – March 1945", collective work, ISBN 0-900913-58-4

I would like to have the names of the other crew.

Thanks in advance

Laurent

[JoMe]

Hi

The Crew was:

FF Ofw Emil Schneider vm
BO Oblt Fritz v.Brandt vm
BF Uffz Fritz Schlosser vm
BS Gefr Josef Sommer vm.

Are you sure, that the plane started in Aalborg-West. The loss report was from Luftflotte 5 and I assume, that the plane started in Kirkenes ?

best wishes
JoMe

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks JoMe

My source for the starting location is the loss list available at http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html.

It is not error-proof, but in this case as both other sources point that the Ju 88 was lost off Scotland, Aalborg seems a far more probable starting location that Kirkenes.

I know that 1.(F)/124 moved to Kirkenes in February 1941 according to Holm's website and flew recon over Murmansk area before 22 June 1941, but during the spring of 1941 several crews were lost during recons off/over Scotland from Danish and South Norwegian bases. I guess detachments remained in the south to fly these missions.

The loss on 17 May 1941 is not in the loss list for Luftwaffe in Norway, while those of 31 March and 24 April, both too off Scotalnd, were. The source listed above says the two latter started from Norway, and the former from Denmark, so it is coherent.

[Harri Honkanen]

According to Werner Fehse's Die Chronik der 1.Staffel (F) Aufklärungsgruppe 124 the Staffel stayed at Aalborg til the end of May 1941 and then started to move North.

The first plane of the Staffel landed at Kirkenes on 9th of June(Ju-88,G2+EH)
The first photo reconnaissance mission was flown on 13th of June.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

Thanks Harri for this confirmation.

[ju55dk]

The confusion arises because 1/124 and parts of I/KG 26 who was stationed at Aalborg-West spring 41, was under Luftflotte 5. All flying units in Denmark at that time was under different commands, and all ground units belonged to LGK XI.

Junker