Martin Drewes 3.okt.43

[RT]

Martin Drewes seems to hv bellylanded at this date near Allendorf, I couldn't find the loss, Hracowina+Petz having jump-out slightly before,

remi

[Andy Mitchell]

Remi,

Balss has the following:-

3/4 Oct 1943

11./NJG 1 Haiger, Feindflug

Bf 110G-4 Wk Nr 5308 G9+DY

It records Drewes as wounded and that the damage was incurred from defensive fire from the tail turret of a Stirling.

Note from "The Bomber Command War Diaries" 3/4 Oct 1943 547 aircraft to Kassel inc 113 Stirlings

[RT]

Ok I found it now , thks Andy, Wn is 6308 place Allendorf, seems that Drewes couldn't opened his canopy so he risked a bellylanding..

Remi

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hello Andy and Bonjour RT,
Martin wrote an account of his experiences both in Portuguese and in German. He does mention this incident and the return fire from a Stirling. May I ask you Andy, if you managed to discover "possible" claims from Stirling´s rear gunners to that claim?
RT: Martin told me when I visited him in 1998 that someone in Germany had dig out parts of his machine in a forest. I do not know if it is true, but knowing Drewes and his integrity I do believe that someone dug out pieces of his machine. Maybe someone knows more...
Yours
Adriano Baumgartner

[RT]

Maybe the gunner of the Stirling was not enought alive after the meet to claim anything

Remi

[Andy Mitchell]

Adriano,

Sorry to dissapoint you but my sources do not go to that level of detail.

Also unless it relate to units that I am investigating I do not dig that deep.

[Heuser]

Gentlemen,

the whole story is mentioned in a very recommendable book of a reliable local researcher, I think the one mentioned by Adriano Baumgartner.

The crashplace was near Allendorf/Donsbach, SW of Dillenburg and SE of Haiger.

Regards

Heuser

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Remi: that´s a possibility: the gunner who claimed a Bf 110 damaged or shot down maybe have been shot down too, on the same night.
Andy: I guess that there must be some claims, submitted by rear-gunners or dorsal gunners. That´s what I was trying to obtain more information.
Heuser: Do you know any other source of information? I do know that Drewes wrote a book in Portuguese and that this book was primarely written in German. On his book he well remember this incident with a humoristic style of writting. He told me, in 1998, that a German had dig out pieces of this ( his ) machine, etc...no more! Maybe a nearby habitant!?
Yours
Adriano