Heinz Ewald JG52

[keith A]

Can anyone tell me when Esau Ewald became a staffelkapitan and also when he scored his 71st kill? I have the latter as claimed over a P-51 on 01/03/1945 but other sources have it as an IL-2M3 a week later.

regards

Keith

[keith A]

According to Wikipedia he made 15 unconfirmed claims, can anyone tell me when these occurred. I also read that he destroyed 9 trucks and 8 other vehicles (I assume these were staff cars etc.) does anyone have any information on these/

best regards

Keith

[Leo Etgen]

Hi Kieth

All the information that I have seen states that he became Staffelführer of 6./JG 52 on 15 February 1945. 6./JG 52 on 1 March was redesignated 7./JG 52. My information is that indeed he claimed his 71st victory that day although he was also brought down by German Flak. I hope this helps and any comments or corrections are welcome.

Horrido!

Leo

[keith A]

Cheers Leo. I found he made unconfirmed claims (from the JG52 website) on 11.06.1944 (P-51) and 08/03/45 (IL-2M) but no further details. Ewald is a problem. In December 1943 he is a gefreiter according to Lipfert but other sources promote him to Uffz. He is flying with 6./JG52 on 5/12/1943 according to Lipfert but with Stab.II/JG52 according to a Russian source. His RK award identifies him as a member of 5./JG52 but he is with 7./JG52 according to his victory tally....

[keith A]

The vehicle claims relate to a ground strafe in 1944 when 9 trucks and 3 SPW were destroyed by his flight...plus some horse-drawn stuff.

[Johannes]

Hi Keith

71st confirmed claim on 11th March 1945 a Yak-9

u/c are:-

23rd January 1944 P-39 1430 hrs
24th January 1944 Yak-1
25th January 1944 Yak-1
1st March 1944 Yak-1
11th March 1944 Yak-1
21stMarch 1944 Yak-7
2nd April 1944 P-40
6th June 1944 2 x Yak-1
11th June 1944 P-51
24th June 1944 B-24 1135 hrs Buzau
28th October 1944 Boston 1420 hrs
14th November 1944 Yak-9
8th December 1944 Yak-9
8th March 1945 Il-2 Stuhlweissenburg area

total confirmed= eighty-three

Kind Regards

Johannes

[keith A]

Cheers Johannes,

I always thought his B-24 was confirmed. He saw it fall on fire before he was shot down. Did he claim two?

best regards

Keith

[keith A]

Just read my Lipfert diary. He states that only two claims were made by II/JG52 and that neither was by Ewald (Lipfert B-24, and another by Uffz Heinrich Tammen) Although the JG52 War diary states "Ltn.Heinz Ewald (21) wird nach Abschuß einer B-24 (29. Ls.) von mehreren Begleit*jägern gejagt und abgeschossen. Schwer verwundet gelingt es ihm, ca .3 km südöst*lich Mizil, mit dem Fallschirm abzuspringen."

best regards

Keith

[Rasmussen]

Originally Posted by keith A

I always thought his B-24 was confirmed. He saw it fall on fire before he was shot down. Did he claim two?

In his logbook he didn't claim not one ... you find the following: "Luftkampf mit 40 Liberator, abgeschossen von Liberator, Fallschirmabsprung" ("air combat with 40 Liberator, shoot down by Liberator, parachute jump").

[keith A]

That is superb! According to his memoir he sees the B-24 fall before he is shot down therefore he misremembers. Having said that he probably didn't make any sort of claim for a while because his wounds were so serious that it was not sure he'd survive. Take that claim out and as Johannes very rightly states it's unconfirmed at best.

regards

Keith