Seeking information, particularly photos of a Stabstaffel He111 of KG54 that crashed in France on 19 May 1940

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

At the EoE Working Group, we've recently re-jiggered our loss listing for KG54 on 19 May 1940, as a result of a new identification for some old photos that are now identified as taken at Onnaing, France, on May 17th, rather than on June 16th, as we'd previously thought. This has resulted in re-evaluating the crash location of another loss by a Stabstaffel a/c, that we were carrying as down at Onnaing on the 19th.

The problem with this entry is that crewmen from this Stabstafffel a/c are listed as killed or died at both Arras and Onnaing on May 19th. Was there another crash in the vicinity of Onnaing on May 19th (as well as one of the 17th), or did the crash of this Stabstaffel a/c take place in the Arras area?

Here is what we presently carry on this one:

"19 May 1940 Western Front Amend: Stabsstaffel KG54 Heinkel He111P-2. Shot down by Hurricanes during armed reconnaissance flight to Arras 4.00 p.m. BO Oberlt Hans Fligge, BM Uffz Theo Pannig, and BF Obergefr Erhard Schmidt all killed, FF Uffz Rudolf Wirthwein believed baled out and captured wounded – later released. Aircraft 100% write-off."

Despite there being some 11 losses to KG54 on May 19th, we've been able to locate crash photos for only three of these incidents, all off which made belly landings. Obviously photos of bad crashes are often hard to identify, but I'm hoping to improve or identified holdings on KG54 losses for that day beyond these:

B3+AH 1./KG54 (Priebe)
B3+BL 3./KG54 (Fricke)
B3+FM 4./KG54 (Gottschling)

We also have possible additional 8./KG54 He111 FL and crash of B3+GS at an unknown airfield, possibly in Belgium, that day.

Has anyone got any additional information that we might not have on either this Stabstaffel a/c crash location (or photos), or photos of any other KG54 crashes/losses on May 19th? We're well aware of what has been published in the German unit history published years ago, some of which we now know to be inaccurate.

Does anyone have any photos or further info on an He111 crash at La Mée-sur-Seine, E of Melun, France, on 16 June, which killed the 9./KG54 crew of Fw Kurt Wifling?

"16 June 1940 Western Front Amend: 9./KG54 Heinkel He111P-2. Reportedly shot down by AA fire but possibly that attacked by Capt Gérard of GC I/3 during sortie south of Orléans and crashed at La Mée-sur-Seine, east of Melun, 10.30 a.m. FF Fw Kurt Wifling, BO Uffz Erich Rieg, HS Uffz Paul Orasch, and BF Gefr Heinz Biedermann all killed. Aircraft 100% write-off."

We've made a lot of progress with KG54 losses over recent years, but there are still a lot of questions, and crashes for which we have no known photos or only very general loss locations. Who can help?

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator