FW 190 April 9, 1944

[KM1957]

In reading the combat report of Lt. Robert L. Shoup (356th Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group) for April 9, 1944, he mentioned seeing a "serial number" on the vertical stabilizer on his second destroyed claim. The last three digits were 422 and the modified FW 190 (his words) crashed south south-east of Roddy on Laaland at around 1505 hours. Just for of my own curiosity, would anyone know who the pilot of this FW 190 would have been and what unit he was with? Based on the report, I would assume the pilot was killed as he cart-wheeled into the ground from an altitude of roughly 50 feet. This is the first time I have come across a report of a pilot seeing the werk number on a German plane.Shoup stated he was about 10 feet away when he saw this.

Kent

[Laurent Rizzotti]

From what said Shoup, this Fw 190 crashed on the Danish island of Laaland (also called Lolland).

According to the website "Airwar over Denmark", 3 Fw 190s and 2 Bf 109s were lost over Denmark this day.
http://www.flensted.eu.com/g1944046.shtml is OK for general location and close for time, but is a Bf 109 G-6.
http://www.flensted.eu.com/g1944045.shtml is a Fw 190 with a 4 in the WNr but crashed into the sea.

I should admit that I think that even with exceptional sight being able to read a WNr seems a hard act during an air battle. Seeing the Staffel code would be easier, as it was written far more bigger.

[Jim P.]

Looking at losses for that day, the machine was certainly from JG 1 or JG 11, though to be able to match up an exact location as reported by Shoup vs where reported by the LW is somewhat problematic given my limited knowledge of Danish geography. The one loss specifically mentioning Laaland was a Bf 109G-5/U2 from 7./JG 1 at Söllested/Laaland.