Mishaps 3 Bf 109's 3./JG52 29 May 1941

[Hans Nauta]

Dear all,

According to the Kriegstagebuch Flughafenbereich Amsterdam (Schiphol) in Holland 3 Bf 109's of 3./JG52 sustained 35% damage while attempting to land in the fog near the dummy airfield of Wieringermeer.

The pilots involved were Oblt Helmut Benneman, Lt Rudolf Miethig and Ofw Karl Rüttger.

At least 2 Bf 109's turned over, one of these being + Schwarze 1 (photo evidence).

I would expect these Bf 109's were amongst the losses and damaged aircraft in the GQM returns, but I can't find these in the lists.

Does anyone perhaps have more additional info on file like concerned Werknummern or even fuselage codes?

Thank in advance for your effort,

Hans

[Leo Etgen]

Hello Hans

I looked through the Fast and Prien JG 52 loss lists but did not see anything related to the incident that you described. It appears that there is nothing included in the usual loss sources regarding this event. Can anyone else add to this incident which involved two future Ritterkreuzträgern and one future Deutscheskreuzträger?

Horrido!

Leo

[Don Pearson]

These losses are shown in Barbas' volume, but with little more to say than they were all F-2 aircraft, and the crashes occurred at 22.25h.

Curious, would "Black 1+" be 3 Staffel, or 2?

Don

[Jim P.]

It wouldn't be unusual for a pilot to be flying a machine from a different Staffel for any number of reasons. 'Black 1' should be 2.Sta. machine.

[Don Pearson]

Understood Jim. I ask only because Barbas indicates the loss within a month of this incident of 2 other aircraft marked as black 1. Could the photo evidence mentioned in the original post mistakenly be of these other losses?

Don