Cant Z 506 Mystery

[enrico]

Hi all,

First I would like to congrat you on this forum.
The amount of info here is just awesome.
As a newcomer I will try to contribute as much as I can.

At the moment I am quite busy with a bit of research of the great uncle of my wife.
He was in the Italian Regia Aeronautica piloting various sea planes but mostly a Cant Z 506 Airone.
We always have been told he was shot down in Greece during WO2 by the British without further details.
So I decided to try and find out if I could get more details.
So far this has been quite a surprising little quest. Below you will find the details I have so far.

First I started googling for the name Domenico Sancristoforo in combination with Cant Z 506 and ended up your great site.

I found the following forum posts:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=26852
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...t=28390&page=3

1943-12-14, 2./SAGr. 125, Cant Z 506
FF. Christoffer Domeniko (+), Cant Z 506 100% m. BF. Uffz. Werner Schmidt aus 2./126 (+), 1. Wart Uffz. Fritz Sardemann (+), 1. Wart Ogfr. Johann Wulf (+), 1. Wart Ogfr. Erich Buschke (+), Uffz. Schuh der RV-Kp. z.b.V. 6 (+), Beschuss von 4 Beaufighter Sqn. 47, 14.12.43 zw. Insel Kassos und Kreta,


As I know knew the British squadron (Sqn. 47) who shot down Domenico I tried looking for a RAF operations record book at the national archives.
I found the document and the details of the event are quite fascinating. However it states that the plane shot down is a HE 115.
Which is obviously weird as the HE 115 is a twin engined floating plane and the Cant Z 506 a 3 engined one.

Then I started googling for the British pilot names who took part in the raid.
One name hit a jackpot Sgt. G.R. Willis. It turned out he wrote a book about his WO2 memories.

No Hero, Just a Survivor with Beaufighters and Mosquitos of 47 Squadron RAF 1943-1945
Willis, G R T (Bob)
Published by Robert Willis Associates, 1999
ISBN 10: 0953717801 / ISBN 13: 9780953717804

it is an autobiography wrapped up in an account of the squadron’s history.
I bought the book and the event is described even in more detail.
But it clearly states that he saw and shot a twin engined heavy sea transport plane.

I tried looking for more details but there I cannot seem to get further.
A couple of questions remain by us, I hope you guys can help.

• The Cant Z 506 or HE 115 was escorted by 4 Arado’s 196.
  I was wondering if there any detailed mission reports on the event by the Arado’s like the RAF operations record book?

• What location was he stationed? Scarpanthos? before and after the armistice of 8 september.
  One of his letter states the code P.M.121 another one Z.O. The one after the armistice is censored.

• what happened to the remains? I looked up the entire crew on http://www.volksbund.de/graebersuche.html.
  They all received seamen funeral except: Uffz. Schuh der RV-Kp. z.b.V. 6
  his remains are at Dionyssos-Rapendoza (GR) and Domeniko’s, on the website http://www.dodecaneso.org/caduti.htm it says he has grave #900, but where??
  So there was some sort of recovery of the plane?

The question why was he piloting the plane with all these germans on board after the Italian surrender is also a mystery as he clearly wasn't a fascist. ( none of his war letters is indicating this.)

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

[Seaplanes]

Following Italys surrender, the Luftwaffe (Sonderkommando Hptm. Gaul) tried to collect as many as possible of former Italian seaplanes that could be used by various Luftwaffe services. This included the Cant Z.506 which was intended for use by the Seenotdienst. The aircraft in question was on a transit flight when shot down by Beaufighters. The aircraft was said to be completely unmarked. It had an Italian pilot and a Luftwaffe Bordfunker from 2./S.A.Gr.125. The other four on board were ground crew.

It is no chance that this aircraft was a He 115. The Luftwaffe did not operate any aircraft of this type in the Med, with one exception. For a period a He 115 was used for torpedo-trials from Grosseto in Italy, but this aircraft is known to have returned safely to Germany. There were no He 115's east of Sicily at any time during the war.

Aircraft identification was a problem throughout the war and mistaking a Z.506 for a He 115 is far from the worst case seen.

[Chris Goss]

I was in touch with Bob and put him in contact with an Ar 196 pilot he shot down. Sadly Bob is no longer with us

[enrico]

@Seaplanes

"The aircraft was said to be completely unmarked" that seems rather strange but would make sense as Domenico was writing in one of his latters that he was awaiting repairs for his plane.

@Chris

That was indeed a great story.
RIP Bob