2.JG26 12.mai 40

[RT]

On 12.mai 40 we hv a Bf109E that made a forcedlanding in Waalhaven/Barendrecht the usual returns nd Prien give no casualties , really no casualties ??

Remi

There is a nice match in Peter Cornwell's recent, enormous and excellent book "The Battle (sic) of France Then and Now" :

Page 25, 1st column, 4th aircraft mentioned (the only one from JG 26 mentioned on this day) : "Engine damaged by ground-fire and wrecked" (destroyed) "in forced-landing at Waalhaven. Pilot believed unhurt."
" (..) may have been May 11 (...)"

Just for your information : If I got it right casualties are human (wounded, killed) but losses can be both human or material only. So if a German aicraft was destroyed but the crew unhurt (safe and with no wounds) this was a loss (one aircraft loss) but there were no casualties.

I remember an exciting "Tintin"-story... in English (original French title : L'affaire Tournesol) : the bad guys had managed to blow up a house, which was entirely destroyed. Then they mixed among the onlookers (les badauds, les curieux) and asked :

"Are there any casualties?"

The house was destroyed, which was a big loss, but this didn't mean that any person had been hurt or even killed (casualty or casualties).

I just hope I wasn't talking nonsense.

Back to the Luftwaffe : So if there was no casualty you'll find nothing in the casualty lists but possibly in the aircraft loss lists.

[robert]

Hi,

I wonder if it could be black 5 widely pictured and captioned as: overturned by landing somewhere in Holland?

Regards

Robert