Beisswenger 07 Apr 1941

[Nokose]

Can anyone describe the circumstances of Hans "Beisser" Beisswenger's (6/JG 54) first victory on the 07 Apr 1941 at 17:50 in which he shot down a Hurricane to the south of Neusatz. I know it was the Hurricane I from the Ind. Fighter Esk. JKRV flown by Kapt. Danilo Gribic (MWIA) who bailed out by parachute and later bleed to death. Interested in the circumstances that took place before he shot it down.

[vvkj41]

Nokose,

Cpt Danilo Grbic was shot down day before (6 April 1941) close to Mostar in combat with two ZG 26 pilots. Details about his death that you mentioned are correct.

Best
Aleks

[Boris Ciglic]

... and Beisswenger actually misidentified his opponent as he fought against the Bf 109Es of 32. fighter group which lost six Emils to 4. and 6./JG 54, which claimed five Bf 109s and the sole Hurricane.

Cheers,
Boris

[Nokose]

Thanks Aleks and Boris. So now that I found that the information listed for him on www.luftwaffe.cz is incorrect, I went to Tony Woods list for details of of the people involved from 4. and 6./JG 54 and none of them are listed. It was his first victory and I would like to get details on the the pilots involved from both sides of the fight. Boris, thanks again for stating that it was six Bf 109E that were lost with comparison to five Bf 109s and a Hurricane which leaves out the "overclaiming" factor. Hans seems to be one of the most honest and deadly aces of JG 54. He wasn't always perfect with his identification but his victories claims so far seem to have gone down. His "claims" for the 06 Mar 1943 were filed by his staffel and thus I don't hold that against him as so far there appears to be no matching Soviet losses during that last battle.

[Boris Ciglic]

Hi Nokose,

The wrong data comes from the old book 'Air war for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete' by Shores et al.

The fight is described in detail in the book 'Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Yugoslav Story (Vol.I) which I co-authored.

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=44718

Still, due to the short span of the battle and many claims, it was impossible to determine exactly who shot down which Yugoslav plane (except for Sattig and Fi 156 - which escaped unscratched).

Cheers,
Boris

[Nokose]

Hello Boris, it looks like a very interesting book but sadly its not showing on Amazon here in the States but hopefully it will drift across the pond to here before long.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Nokose

The book by Boris is much more than interesting It is excellent!!
Not sure about his (or the publishers) possibillities across the pond, but you can order the book directly from him. You can trust him 110%, I have bought all his books that way and at least to Sweden it works like clockwork.

Just send him a private e-mail
Cheers
Stig

[Orwell1984]

Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik

Nokose

The book by Boris is much more than interesting It is excellent!!
Not sure about his (or the publishers) possibillities across the pond, but you can order the book directly from him. You can trust him 110%, I have bought all his books that way and at least to Sweden it works like clockwork.

Just send him a private e-mail
Cheers
Stig

I would echo Stig's assessment. I purchased a copy directly from Boris as well, paid with Paypal and had it shipped to me in Canada. Shipping costs were fair and the book arrived quickly and well packed. If you are at all interested in the book, I would recommend using this method rather than waiting for a copy to show up on Amazon.com as I can almost guarantee the mark up on such a rare title will exceed anything you may pay to Boris. At least that has been my experience of books of this type.