3 Night fighter Ramms on Eastern Front

[Evgeny Velichko]

Hi all!

Interesting thing - 3 aces of same NachJagdStaffel were involved in ramm's/collisions with soviet a/c's.

14.06.1943
Oblt. Hans Janke attacked IL-4 over Kertch, Crimea. Soviet bomber pilot successfully avoided 5 attacks, but on 6th pass german pilot collided with his victim. Janke and his gunner Uffz. Pfeffers bailed out their Bf110G-2 (№6257) and were rescued from water at 5:00 am by Do-24. Another person who was picked up by Dornier was pilot of IL-4, k-n Vasili Andreev, pilot od 5 Guards BAP VVS ChF. He was imprisoned, by managed to escape and went to partisans. He later returned to his unit in april 1944. Other crew members, bombardier L-t S.Gudz, gunners S-t P.Khomenko and S-t I.Zybka were killed.

I wasnt able to find corresponding loss of 10.(Nachjagd)/ZG1 on 14.06.1943. Also, could someone tell me a fate of Oblt. Jancke?
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27.09.1943
Ramm of Ofw. Kociok with IL-4 of VVS ChF is well described.

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03.11.1943

3 IL-2 of 47 ShAP strafed german positions at Eltigen, near Kertch. Crimea. After they completed their mission and turned to base, leader - L-t B.N.Volovodov - spotted a group of Ju88's with escort of Me110's, who was preparing to bomb soviet positions.

Ardering his wingmen to return to base, L-t Volovodov attacked head-on german formation, ramming one of Me-110's. Both a/c exploded to pieces.

Could somebody confirm that Bf110G-2 (№5200) crew consisted of Oblt Hubert Reichelt and Uffz. Schreiber of 5./NJG200?

[Matti Salonen]

I have the following:
1943-06-13, 10./ZG 1, Bf 110G-2, 6257, 2N+CU, Kertsch, Absturz in See um 21.10 Uhr nach Luftkampf. Bruch 100 %.
F Olt Janke, Hans-Jochen, verletzt
Bf Uffz Pfeffer, Kurt, verletzt
1943-10-31, 5./NJG 200, Bf 110G-2, 6384, Bei Kertsch, Flakbeschuß. Bruch 30 %.
F Olt Janke, Hans-Jochen, verletzt
1943-11-03, 5./NJG 200, Bf 110G-2, 5200, 2N+RU, Bei Kertsch, Zusammenstoß um 15.08 Uhr im Luftkampf mit Il-2. Bruch 100 %.
F Olt Reichelt, Hubert, tot
Bf Uffz Schreiber, Reinhard, tot

Matti

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello, Evgeny!

Originally Posted by Evgeny Velichko

03.11.1943

3 IL-2 of 47 ShAP strafed german positions at Eltigen, near Kertch. Crimea. After they completed their mission and turned to base, leader - L-t B.N.Volovodov - spotted a group of Ju88's with escort of Me110's, who was preparing to bomb soviet positions.

Ardering his wingmen to return to base, L-t Volovodov attacked head-on german formation, ramming one of Me-110's. Both a/c exploded to pieces.

According to 47.ShaP documents, both returned crews had said that Volovodov's Il-2 exploded in the air after AA hit or even after mortar shell hit. Nothing about his order to return or about ramming. Only 4.Nov 11.ShAD's staff told to 47.ShAP's staff: your pilot made a ram. No doubt the initial info was from many ground witnesses. Apparently two a/c collided due to very bad visibility.
From several Il-2 groups only Volovodov's group could find an ordered target - "tanks" (Stugs really) in very bad weather conditions. Germans used that day in Eltigen area a few Bf110 only (in solo flights) - for the same reason. Not "groups of Ju88". Some ground witnesses also said that German a/c was "Me-110", not Ju88.
Volovodov was an experiensed pilot and made his job well, but ram story appeared due to concurrence of circumstances.

Best regards,
Andrey

[kaki3152]

What I enjoyed is the story about one of the rammings where the crew was picked up by a Do 24. On June 14,1943 Do24 VH+SL rescued some survivors:

"The officer on the plane was a national socialist and after opening the door, cried to the man [in the water] 'Kamerad, du bist gerettet,Heil Hitler'. He was very surprised when he heard "Ni Pou ni Mai" [I do not understand]. The man was a Soviet flyer! He was taken on board and we pursued the search. Finally, we met found another exhausted survivor. He was the wireless operator of the lost night fighter. When he embarked, Uffz. Pfefers saw the Soviet and very angry, wanted to punch him. He said the Soviet plane collided voluntarily with his aircraft.'

The Soviet survivor was Sgt Nikolai Schinitzen, air gunner in the 27th Soviet Recce squadron. His pilot was not rescued.

[Evgeny Velichko]

Matti - thanks a lot for that info! Seems, that 5./NJG200 retained their old code 2N+_U from 10.(NachtJagd)/ZG1. Do You have a list of losses for that two Staffeln?

kaki3152 - thanks a lot! Was VH+SL the obly Do-24 on that area and day? What about german pilot - who resqued him?

Andrey - spasibo!

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello, Matti

Originally Posted by Matti Salonen

I have the following:
1943-06-13, 10./ZG 1, Bf 110G-2, 6257, 2N+CU, Kertsch, Absturz in See um 21.10 Uhr nach Luftkampf. Bruch 100 %.
F Olt Janke, Hans-Jochen, verletzt
Bf Uffz Pfeffer, Kurt, verletzt

1943-11-03, 5./NJG 200, Bf 110G-2, 5200, 2N+RU, Bei Kertsch, Zusammenstoß um 15.08 Uhr im Luftkampf mit Il-2. Bruch 100 %.
F Olt Reichelt, Hubert, tot
Bf Uffz Schreiber, Reinhard, tot

Matti

What is the source of exact time of losses (21:10 13.6.43 and 15:08 3.11.43)?
By the way, time of the loss of 2N+RU is really correspond with the Volovodov's strike (take off 16:35 msc, the strike against German "tanks" began at 17:00 msc = 15:00 CET). So, "bei Kertsch" is really "bei Eltigen" (~15 km south of Kerch).

Best regards,
Andrey

[Matti Salonen]

NVM.

Matti

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Originally Posted by Matti Salonen

NVM.

Thank you, Matti!

Andrey

[kaki3152]

The passage I quoted was from "Seaplanes over the Black Sea" by J.L. Roba and C. Craciunoiu. The pilot was rescued by the same Do-24 a few minutes after Uffz Pfeffers was picked up.

BTW, if you're at all interested in Seaplanes, this is a nice magazine/book with a lot of Do-24 pictures along with other seaplanes and a nice history of German/Rumanian ASR from 1941-1944.