Night Fighter units around Dortmund 1943

[Martin Alford]

Hi all,
Im new here and was wondering if any one can help.I am currently researching one of my uncles that was shot down whilst on a bombing raid over dortmund on the night of 23/24 th may 1943.Does anyone have any info or know where i could find the info on night fighter units that were operating in the dortmund area at that time.

Cheers

[Stig Jarlevik]

Martin

A good start would be to check Chorley's Bomber Command losses of the 2nd WW, 1943 and Luftwaffe Night fighter combat claims 1939-45

23-24 May 1943 was a "big" night with many losses.

If you cannot access the two books, please be more specific and I have a look for you.

Most probably there are others on this site who has much further details than these two books provide as well

Cheers
Stig

[Martin Alford]

Hi Stig
The chances of me locating the books are pretty slim,so here are more details.
He was in stirling MZ261 with 214 squadron flying from chedburgh to dortmund.The aircraft came down 15 km east north east of dortmund in a town called unna.Not sure whether it was flak or a night fighter hence my question.

Cheers

[Stig Jarlevik]

Hallo again Martin

This was a Sterling III coded BU-T belonging to 214Sq. The crew was
Sgt J J Egan RAAF
Sgt F J North
P/O P H Liddle
Sgt D E Alford
Sgt L Martin
Sgt V H Archer
Sgt J Dodd
Take off was at 23.15H from Chedburgh and the crash occured at Unna, 15km ENE of Dortmund. They were all buried on June 2nd in the Hauptfriedhof (Am Gottesacker) and later moved to Reichswald Forest War Cemetary.

17 pilots from various sub-units of NJG 1 claimed in all 23 victories that night. It is difficult to be exact as to who of them that claimed this kill.
To be able to determine that I guess we have to know at what time the loss occured (Chorley does not give that), and also try to determine the
crash site in relation to all the claims submitted. But one should be aware that exact position was NOT foremost in the mind of the Hunters and in many instances the victim tried to escape by twisting and turning, and the crash may not have taken place in the normal inbound/outbound route
chosen that night.

Not much perhaps, but perhaps someone else knows more?

Cheers
STig

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Martin Alford

Hi Stig
The chances of me locating the books are pretty slim,so here are more details.

If you're in East Sussex, the public library ought to be able to help you. Try the inter-library loans system if they don't have their own copies.

[Martin Alford]

Hi Stig
Many thanks for getting back to me so quickly.Some of the info i already have but the date and place of the initial burial are very usefull.At least i now have a start as to which fighter unit was involved.The jigsaw is slowly coming together.

Cheers
Martin

[Martin Alford]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

If you're in East Sussex, the public library ought to be able to help you. Try the inter-library loans system if they don't have their own copies.

Cheers Nick i will do that.

Martin

[RossGmann]

The following RAF Aircraft were lost on 23/24th May 1943

Halifax x 19
Lancaster x 9
Stirling x 6
Wellington x 6

If you go to the following Website http://lostbombers.co.uk
Fill in as follows
Bomber Type Select “Any Type”
Search Text Enter “Uncle’s Surname”
From Date: Enter “23rd May 1943”
To Date Enter “24th May 1943”

To check all losses for Dortmund on that night leave everything the same except change Search Text to Dortmund

On the following Websites just scroll down to 24.5.1943 it gives the names of the Luftwaffe Pilots making the claims

http://math.fce.vutbr.cz/safarik/ACE...ms-halifax.pdf Claims 8 Halifaxs
http://math.fce.vutbr.cz/safarik/ACE...wellington.pdf Claims 6 Wellingtion
http://math.fce.vutbr.cz/safarik/ACE...-lancaster.pdf Claims 8 Lancaster
http://math.fce.vutbr.cz/safarik/ACE...s-stirling.pdf Claims 1 Sterling

Hope the following may be of help

Kind regards
Ross

[mhuxt]

Tony Woods' lists for Luftwaffe claims in 1943 may be more complete:

http://www.lesbutler.ip3.co.uk/tony/...4_1943_doc.zip

(right-click, "save as ... ")