Ju 88 at Havelte airfield in April 1945.

[Jaap Woortman]

Dear friends,

At the end of the war three Ju 88 machines, all burnt out, were found by British A.I.2 personnel at Havelte airfield in the Netherlands.
Of one of them we have a picture. See attachement. The tail shows the W.Nr. 620501.
So we assume it must have been a Ju 88G-6 of one of the NJG's.
As far as we know it was not one of the Ju 88's which has made an emergency landing after Operation Gisela at Havelte.
Does someone knows of which unit this plane has been a part of?

Jaap Woortman

[RodM]

Hi Jap,

'silly question: any chance the second '0' is an 8 (620581)? I presume that you have a higher quality copy of the image.

I've databased all the WN from the 1945 period HW 5 ULTRA and there is no mention of a 620501, but 620581 was with III./NJG2 at Marx in mid-Jan 1945.

Cheers

Rod

[Jaap Woortman]

Hi Rod,

Not as far as I can see.
See for your self.

Jaap

[edNorth]

Rod. There was indeed Ju 88 W.Nr. 620501, first flight at Bernburg 23.09.44 (ref. in Walter Zimmermann logbook). Many of them before and after this number are known as G-6 version. This seems no different. I have no info on unit assigned, but possibly this is mentioned in Sep to Dec 44 messages.

[RodM]

Hi Jap & Ed,

620501 it is!! 'can only say that there appears to be nothing to be gleaned from HW 5 ULTRA about the aircraft in the 1945 period

Cheers

Rod

[SES]

but we can add a location to the LEMB Ju88G-6 DB:
http://www.gyges.dk/LEMBju88g6database%20100407.xls
bregds
SES

[Jaap Woortman]

SES,

I don't want to change the subject of this thread, but who is in charge of that list?
Nr. 375 is the same as nr. 135.
According to our files the information of W.Nr. 622699 is correct.

Jaap

[SES]

Hi Jaap,
Thanks for the pointer.
A friend of mine does the up-dates and I host it on www.gyges.dk on behalf of LEMB.
And I was hoping through my post to give it a bit more visibility.
bregds
SES

[Jaap Woortman]

Ok SES,

I will post this and other remarks about the list at LEMB.
Now hopefully back to the Ju 88G-6 with W.Nr. 620501.

Jaap

[RodM]

Hi Jaap,

I suspect, but don't have much in the way of evidence, that after mid-March 1945, NJG2 maintained detachments of Ju88s at Steenwijk-Havelte and Leeuwarden, obstensibly for Fernnachtjagd, and, certainly, Ju88s of 8./NJG2 did fly Nachtschlacht operations from Leeuwarden in late March 1945. Four Ju88s were supposed to take off from Steenwijk-Havelte for Fernnachtjagd on the night of 17th-18th March 1945, according to a warning message broadcast for the benefit of Flak units, and intercepted by the British "Y" organisation. By this date, only NJG2 was tasked with Fernnachtjagd.

II./NJG4 had a detachment of 7 aircraft at Steenwijk-Havelte in March 1945, but all but one of these aircraft had been transferred back to Germany by the 13th March. The remaining unserviceable aircraft was not 501, but a G1. This G1 - 714517 of 6./NJG4 - went off strength with II./NJG4 on 20th March due to enemy action, but it is not clear if the aircraft was still at Steenwijk-Havelte at that time.

While not directly answering your question concerning 501, I hope it may offer potential pointers in the right direction

Cheers

rod