P-47 belly landed at Wissen/Germany

[TCO]

I am looking for information regarding a P-47 Thunderbolt, which came down at Wissen. The pilot survived unharmed an was taken prisoner.


Unfortunately I don' t have a date yet. I assume autumn 1944 or spring 1945.


Thank you,
TCO

[Horst Weber]

Originally Posted by TCO

I am looking for information regarding a P-47 Thunderbolt, which came down at Wissen. The pilot survived unharmed an was taken prisoner.


Unfortunately I don' t have a date yet. I assume autumn 1944 or spring 1945.


Thank you,
TCO

Good evening !

Unfortunately, the database of NARA record group 242 (A - Z) is only listing a B-17 as crashed 3 km south of Wissen on January 10th, 1945. The a/c (43-38237, 379th BG, 527th BS, MACR 11762) had midair collision with 43-38955, same Squadron. No other a/c are in this database for Wissen.

As you know, Autumn 1944 to March 1945 was the high peak of allied fighter-bomber activities in Western Germany and East of the Rhine river. In this time frame, many P-47 were lost by crashes and even crash landings in the main area.

Give us, please, more information concerning the date frame (around Christmas ?, snow in the area or not ?, e. g.)

Best wishes !

Horst Weber

[Leendert]

Depending on the accuracy location wise of the MACR involved, then nearby Altenkirchen instead of Wissen?


See http://p-47.database.pagesperso-oran...e/42-2xxxx.htm and scroll to 42-25778 on 19 March 1945.


There were P-47 losses at Wissen according same website, but here with pilots KIA. See same link.



Regards,
Leendert

[Leendert]

There is a website luftkrieg-grossraum-koblenz.de that suggests that 1st Lt Alkire came down near Asbach.
POW after crash, but back with US troops on 30 March.


Regards,
Leendert

[RSwank]

Alkiere's MACR:

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91136509

He bailed out of the plane, was captured and then escaped. Nothing about a belly landing.


I wonder if another possibility would be a Free French P-47?

[Oliver1966]

Perhaps it was the P-47 flown by Lt. Marling which made a belly landing in the Weyerbusch area not far away from Wissen/Sieg at 25th March 1945...

... the attached document is from my homepage www.luftkrieg-grossraum-koblenz.de

Best regards
Oliver

[TCO]

Thx for your support!
Here is more:

It was after March 11th 1945.
Meanwhile I doubt, that it was a Fighter-plane. One American airman came down in daylight by chute unharmed at a lonely farm on a ridge south of Wissen and north of Glatteneichen.
Wings and fuselage were scattered in a radius of appr. 1 km. It was also told that the co-pilot was still in the cockpit, obviously dead, however this info is not certain.

[TCO]

Well, the date must be wrong!

1945 yes, but not March and beyond.
The date is based on the recollection of a contemporary witness, who recalls that they were housing bombed out individuals at the time of the crash. The town of Wissen was bombed on 1945/03/11.

It might be possible, that the billeting was not referred to the attack on Wissen. It could have been refugees from fightings in the western part of Germany or bombed out individuals from cities e.g. Cologne...

My hypothesis is, that it was a mid air collision of two B-17s of 379. BG/527. BS on 1945/01/10.

The B-17 I am looking at would be 43-38237 piloted by Major Davis.
MACR 11762.

Any further information would be highly welcome.

[RSwank]

Below are the two MACRs for the two B-17s involved in the collision.

The Major Davis plane was 43-38237 MACR 11762, broke up in air near Wissen:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91116082

Plane 43-38955 flown by Lt. Leo Jordan, MACR 11737, crashed near Altenkirchen:
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91115510

[TCO]

Thx a lot for the links to the MACRs!