Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum  

Go Back   Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum > Discussion > Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces

Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the German Luftwaffe and the Air Forces of its Allies.

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
  #1  
Old 9th January 2012, 19:35
deltafox's Avatar
deltafox deltafox is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Berlin Germany
Posts: 3
deltafox is on a distinguished road
Question Shot down of Melitta Schenk countess von Stauffenberg - 8 April 1945

Melitta started working for the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL), an experimental institute for aviation, in Berlin-Adlershof 1928. She also took flying lessons. Because of her Jewish ancestry she was released from the German Luftwaffe in 1936. Working for Askania in Berlin, she developed navigation and steering systems for seaplanes such as the Blohm + Voss Ha 139 and the Dornier Do 18 . She married the historian Alexander Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in 1937.

On 28 October 1937, she qualified as a aircraft captain, a rank reserved for test pilots in Germany at the time, and became only the second woman in Germany, after Hanna Reitsch , to achieve this. She eventually gained licences for all classes of powered aircraft, the acrobatic flying licence and the glider licence.

From 1942, Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg continued her test-flights at the Luftwaffe's technical academy in Berlin-Gatow. She was was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 22 January 1943 an made her dissertation for her Masters qualification in 1944, and received an A grade. She then became technical chief of the Versuchsstelle für Flugsondergeräte , another test institute, in the same year.

Her brother-in-law, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg , frequently asked Melitta in May and June 1944, to fly him from Berlin to Hitler's Wolfschanze headquarters and back. He confessed to her his plans to assassinate Hitler, and in spite of the danger she agreed to help him. She had no suitable plane to fly on 20 July 1944, and that is why the assassination attempt took place without her

On 8 April 1945, while transferring a small Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann Southern Germany, Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg was shot down by a US fighter near Irlbach/Strasskirchen, Bavaria at 7:40. Pilot of the US fighter shout be 1 Lt. Thomas A. Notboune. She crash-landed the aircraft, but died a couple hours later in Straubing (Data s.Wiki)

There are more than these version of the shot down and more versions, how she died after the shot down. I try to find an evidence for a shot down by an US fighter. Thank you very much, if anyone can help in that case.
Greetings from Berlin / Germany
Detlef
Reply With Quote
 


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Friendly fire WWII Brian Allied and Soviet Air Forces 803 8th July 2023 15:47
Ofw Heinz Arnold's last sortie 16 or 17 April 1945? Roger Gaemperle Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces 13 29th July 2009 09:24
JG77's 109s shot down by Pattle, April '41 rammjager Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces 12 11th March 2006 17:58
Losses of B-17's in RCM role paul peters Allied and Soviet Air Forces 4 15th February 2006 20:57
Tempest shot down a He 162 on 19 April 1945 --> Gun camera film? Roger Gaemperle Allied and Soviet Air Forces 5 25th April 2005 22:44


All times are GMT +2. The time now is 08:40.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2018, 12oclockhigh.net