21/4/45 Banff Wing

[ruxpin35]

On this date Mosquitos of the Banff Wing and their Mustang escort encountered a force of Ju88s shooting down nine. I was hoping someone could provide me with the names of the successful crews?

Thanks in advance

[Jim Oxley]

The Mosquito's were from 42 Banff Wing, consisting of 16 from 143 Squadron, 11 from 235, 11 from 248 and 4 from 333, escorted by 24 Mustangs. Leader of the strike force was Wing Commander Foxley-North.

They had just completed an unsuccessful sweep of the Kattegut due to bad weather and had turned for home. The Mustangs at 1950 hours obtained permission from Wing Commander Foxley-North to go on ahead as they were having a party at base that night.

In bad weather, with rain, a cloud base at 600ft and poor visibility limited to 200 feet, the Mosquito pilots suddenly saw a large force of aircraft emerge out of the cloud and rain on a reciprocal couse at 2030 hours. There were 18 aircraft in six Vics of three in line astern, 150 miles off the Scottish coast. Seconds later there were shouts of Junkers over the RT.

The two KG26 staffels involved were deployed from Bardufoss in northern Norway to Stavanger-Sola, which was the German airfield in Norway closest to Scotland.Around 1800 hours 6/KG26 of II Gruppe with nine Ju88A-17's led by Staffelkapitan Oberleutnant Friedrich Ebert took off, followed by the 7/KG26 III Gruppe, with nine Ju188A-3's led by Staffelkapitan Hauptmann Fritz Gehring. The mission was to conduct a reconnaissance sweep of the north east Scottish coast.

In the ensuring one sided fight 28 men lost their lives. Nine Ju88's were shot down. No Ju188's were destroyed, although several were damaged. Claims were lodged by Wing Commander Foxley-North x 2, Flight Lt. Keohane x 1, Squadron Leader Alec Gunnis x 2, Squadron Leader John Barry x 1, Warrant Officer Coggie Cogswell x 1, Flight Lt. Ron Haskins x 1 and Flying Officer David Clark x 1. Several other claims were made by various pilots for probables.

The above is a very abridged version of events from a fantastic book titled "A Seperate Little War, The Banff Coastal Command Strike Wing Versus The Kreigsmarine And The Luftwaffe 1944-45", by Andrew Bird. A very good read.

[ruxpin35]

Thanks very much, exactly what I was looking for! Will get hold of a copy of the book. Does it mention who claimed probables and damaged?

[Jim Oxley]

No it doesn't.

[Laurent Rizzotti]

According to the loss lists available on this site (http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html), KG 26 losses were 6 Ju88s and 1 Ju188 lost (and 28 KIA) and 4 Ju88 damaged

[mhuxt]

Hi:

The Luftwaffe Archives Group website once had a post quoting a book titled Torpedo Los! by Rudi Schmitt regarding this action. It stated:

Lost from II./ K.G. 26 were 6 Ju.88s and the following crews:
1.Oblt. Karl-Heinz Küchenmeister, Uffz. Siegfried Berndt, Georg Bollwinkel, Fw. Heinz Schaller
2. Lt. Gerhard Schäfer, Uffz. Otto Bauer, Fw. Hubert Hoppe, Ogefr. Richard Gattner
3. Uffz. Kurt Langendorf, Uffz. Stephan Schmädicke, Ogefr. Hans Holländer, Fw. Werner Jorden
4. Fw. Hubert Traub, Uffz. Karl Walldorf, Ewald Wolkenhoff, Heinz Reale
5. Oblt. Fritz Dombrowkski, Fähnr. Alfons Pallek, Fw. Johannes Stumpf, Gefr. Koglin
6. Oblt. Friedrich Ebert, Ofw. Helmut von der Höh, Uffz. Willi Flesch, Ogefr. Harald Reimer
All 24 men never showed up again, MIA.
III./ K.G. 26 lost one Ju.188 and one crew:
Ofw. Zimmermann, Ofw. Herbert Kunze, Fw. Behrend, Ofw. Weyhrauch all MIA.


I also have also seen a claim on http://www.luftwaffe.no/RAFClaims.html for a Ju 88 on this day by Ltn. Thorlief Eriksen RNoAF and his navigator Fnr. Johan Hansen-Just RNoAF of 333 Squadron. However, I can't be sure if this claim was part of the melee above or a separate action - would welcome input on this.

Cheers,

Mark


PS Laurent, thanks for the link. That's a great site.

[Jim Oxley]

Very nice link Laurent, thanks. It provides confirmation again that claims are almost always much higher than real losses.

[ruxpin35]

This has all helped me a lot, thanks everyone!!

[Knut Larsson]

Hey Mark

Yes, Ltn. Eriksen from 333 SQN as an fighter escorte was also allowed 1 Ju 88 destroyed in this air combat

Spring greetings from Norway

Knut

http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info

[mhuxt]

Thank you Knut

You have a very informative site there, by the way.

How is spring in Norway? Was in Tokyo a few days ago - the cherry blossoms were just coming out. Time for some sake!

Cheers,

Mark