Hptm. Helmut Bergmann

[mhuxt]

OK gents;

I'm now Officially Confused. Was this officer lost on 6/7 July 1944, or 6/7 August 1944?

Cheers,

Mark

[Gordon Raddock]

Hi Mark

I'd like to add to the confusion!! According to Obermaier's "Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe 1939-1945 Band 1" Bergmann failed to return from a mission over the Invasion front on the night of 6/7 August 1944. Chris Shores' "Aces High Volume 2" states that Bergmann was the victim of Flt Lt Edward Richard Hedgecoe and Flt Sgt JR Whitham of 85 Sqn on the night of 6/7 December 1944.

Sorry, not much help!
Cheers
Gordon

[ju55dk]

Obermeier is right. According to the WASt-Verlustmeldung the Bf 110G-4 Wnr. 140320 3C+CS was lost 06-07.08.1944 in the area Mortain-Avranches. Aircraft did not return from a nightmission! Crew:
Hptm. Helmuth Bergmann, Fw. Günther Hauthal and Fw. Wilhelm Schopp all missing.

Junker

[mhuxt]

Many thanks gents. Was hoping for WASt info as I couldn't find anything to support 6/7 July - must have been a mis-print or simple finger trouble.

Gordon - yes, on checking my data, I found I also had the additional entry for Hptm. Bergmann on 6/7 December, which I've duly removed.

For what it's worth, I had a conflicting entry for the same incident, which gave Hedgecoe / Whitham as possibly having shot down: "Bf 110 G-4 Wrk.Nr. 740078 G9+HZ of 12./NJG 1, which crashed north of Handorf, killing Staffelkapitaen Hauptmann Hans-Heinz Augenstein and radar operator Guenther Steins. Gunner Uffz. Kurt Schmidt baled out WIA." As Augenstein was also a Rittkreuztraeger, perhaps the confusion stems from there. Source was one of the Osprey Combat Aircraft books.

Cheers,

Mark

[Paris7]

ju55dk

Thank you for clarifying things, Hpt Helmut Bergmann is of great interest to me, he seems to have been quite a pilot. He shot 7 Lancasters down on 10/11 3 44, my father was the pilot of the 6th Lancaster he claimed that night. It seems Helmut Bergmann was celebrating his promotion earlier that day (10th April 44); thankfully my father managed to bail out and escaped capture, several of his crew wern't so lucky.

I would be very grateful if you could tell me more about Bergmann and the Luftwaffe base at Chenay France, I am unable to pinpoint it as there are several French places named "Chenay", I'm guessing it is just north east of Reims?
Is there any record of where Hpt Bergmann flew from on the night of 6/7 Aug 44? Do you know, was he still based at Chenay?

[Adriano Baumgartner]

If Hptm Bergmann was not shot down by the 85 Squadron crew ( Hedgecoe ) on 6/7th December 1944, WHO claimed him and his crew on the night of 6/7th August? Flak? Or a RAF Mosquito?
Any information about who claimed this ace and his crew would be welcomed to this thread!
All the best for all and thanks for adding sharing new information ( at least for me! )
Adriano

[Paris7]

Hello Mr Etgen,
I've followed your instructions but the file won't open.

Thank you Chris. Oddly a search for more information here on this site hasn't produced any posts about Hpt Bergmann. I have read your excellent FlyPast article, but that's it so far. A pointer to where I might find more would help please.

[FalkeEins]

..yes if there's more on Bergmann I'd be interested too. The Flypast article is a good starting point. Don't recall the issue details offhand. Re the file, you'll need Winrar to open it as it's been zipped.....

[Leo Etgen]

Hello Paris7

The files are contained as a zip which means you will have to have downloaded a program such as WinZip or WinRar to then open them. However, if you have already read Mr. Gross's article I am sure you will not find much new with what I have written as it is basically what Obermaier has written with his victory list based on Foreman and Wood. As the original link has already expired I am uploading the file once more. Hopefully this time you will be able to open it. My apologies for the inconvenience.

http://rapidshare.com/files/233698659/Bergmann.zip.html

Horrido!

Leo

[Paris7]

Thanks so much for your help Leo, I've downloaded your file and do have Winzip so I should be able to open this now.