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Erbo von kageneck was not shot down, it was injured in combat but manage to return and died from his wounds in a Naples Hopital.
Excellent stuff Wildcat. Has he written a biography or autobiography I reckon it would be a fascinating addition to my collection hehe
Nice bit of shooting, getting to kill 1 each of the 3 main German fighters. Just missed the Me 163.That turned out to be my last flight in a P-47. My kills for the war were an FW-190 and an Me-109, in addition to the Me-262.
Legend says Ralph Hofer was shot down by Erich Hartmann, but since "The Kidd" went down over Hungary and Jg-52 was flying over Romania at the time, I don't really buy it, though Hofer was in fact the only 8th AAF ace to go down in a2a combat and not to ground fire.
Oops, the 4th FG had at least 5 aces down in air to air that I can think of including Carpenter, Sobanski, McGrattan, Bennett, Edner, Lang plus McPharlin (339) who was a 4th ace flying with 4th on D-Day when he was KIA w/Sobanski and McGrattan - three aces in one flight, and one fight. I could dig up more, perhaps.
Adams and Browning for 357FG come to mind, there are more there also. Mahurin was shot down by Do 217 gunner.
I also don't buy it for the simple overly-coincidental aspect of two young aces both called "The Kid" (well, "Bubi", but its the German equivalent) meeting in the air and fighting to the death. Plus I think the story would have made it into one of Hartmanns autobiographies, not just confined to books on the 4th.
Hi. I am knew to the Forum, but will take the liberty to sugest a topic: How about histories of confirmed cases of kills in aerial combats involving Known aces? I mean, cases in which a US ace shootdown a German ace, for example.
it does not make sense anyway because of the theater of ops for JG 52, E.H. shot down 15th AF fighters not 8th
Been doing some more reading on Caldwell and it seems he is also credited with shooting down Luftwaffe ace Hauptmann Wolfgang Lippert (29 victories?). Caldwell shot him down on 23rd Nov. 1941 whilst flying a Tomohawk. Lippert bailed out but broke both his legs when he hit the ground. He was found by British troops and taken to a hospital in Cairo. Whilst in hospital, Gangrene set in and both legs were amputated, however he died of an embolism moments later.