II./JG 51 on 11 September 1944

[Jochen Prien]

According to the GQM summary loss returns II./JG51 on 11 September 1944 suffered a number of losses in a bomb attack on their airfield - 1 Bf109 was destroyed, 5 more suffered damage. I cannot find any other source that would support these losses. Can anyone enlighten me and tell me whether this attack did actually happen and if so, which airfield was hit and who were the attackers ? BTW - the Bewegungsmeldungen for II./JG51 in September 1944 show only 2 losses due to enemy action during the month, which are accounted for by two other incidents that have been ascertained by a number of reliable original sources.

KR

Jochen Prien

[Russell]

Jochen

It was not the 15th Air Force, as their sole operation -due to weather -was a supply drop to southern France. I do not believe it was the Balkan Air Force, or it may be Russians if the weather was better in the Romania Hungary area? The weather over the Balkans was fairly bad as only a few fighter sweeps were carried out, but none reported attacking Bf 109s, - one squadron 213 did claim a Hs 126, a Ju 88 and a Fi 156 in the Dolovo Uzdin areas by 0730 hours. No American fighters made any claims at all.

Is it possibly a late book-keeping entry for August for the detachment on Crete, which was bombed regularly during August??

Regards

Russell

[Jochen Prien]

Russel,

many thanks for your response. You have made a good point hinting at the Balkans as 5./JG51 still had a number of Bf109s in Greece by mid-September 1944 so I will try to find out if anything happened to them. However, we still have the Bewegungsmeldung for September which does not reflect the losses discussed here.

KR

Jochen

[Dan History]

Jochen,

Could it theoretically be the case that the aircraft were on hand with II./JG 51 when they were lost, but were recorded on the Bewegungsmeldung of another unit, as part of a larger transfer of both serviceable and damaged aircraft to that unit which may have occurred during September? I believe this could sometimes be a phenomenon in Luftwaffe record-keeping, though I am certainly not qualified to comment how often this may have happened or whether it explains this specific case.

Kind regards,

Dan

[Boris Ciglic]

Hello Jochen,


What is certain is that these losses were not inflicted either in Yugoslavia nor Greece, as Allied as well as German sources (Lw.Kdo. Sudost Luftlage reports) do not mention any raids on airfields and similar claims / losses. The only place in the Balkans where this could have happened is Roumania and the attackers could have been either Soviet or Roumanian.

The closest match to such a loss that I'm aware of is the bombing of Niš / Nisch aerodrome by B-17s on 17 August (one Bf 109 destroyed and four damaged).



Mfg,
Boris