American aircraft shot down in Germany

fubar57 · Feb 10, 2015

Nice Andy. From Wiki...

Some 37 Me 262s engaged some 1,330 U.S. heavy bombers and over 700 fighters of the USAAF 8th Air Force destined for Berlin, known as "Mission 894" by the Americans, with some bombing undertaken using H2X radar due to inclement weather over the target area.[1] The Me 262s were equipped for the first time with 24 of the new R4M air-to-air rockets. JG 7 claimed 12 bombers and one fighter though U.S. records indicate only eight heavy bombers lost. III./JG 7 lost three jet fighters in return. I./JG 7 was forced to takeoff in bad weather and lost Hans Waldmann in a mid-air collision with Hans-Dieter Weihs, and Günter Schrey following combat with U.S. fighters.

Geo

stona · Feb 10, 2015

B-Siebzehn said:
.
Today I spoke with a man who saw the crash. He told me the 4 crew members were dead.
And 5 were captured by the Volkssturm in Losse.

The bodies of the dead airmen would typically be buried locally, usually at a nearby church (this happened to a member of my own family, a Bomber Command navigator) and their names would be known to the local authorities who would have passed them up through official channels. Such records may well exist. If they were buried in a churchyard that church might have the names.

The surviving airmen would have been passed on by the Volkssturm to the Luftwaffe and then into the Luftwaffe system of interrogation and ultimately PoW camps (Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe (Dulag Luft) and then the 'Stalag Luft' familiar from those 1950s movies). These records may or may not have survived so late in the war.

Someone more familiar with the USAAF units involved in these actions might be able to identify which units suffered the losses and your aircraft might be identified through their records.

Cheers

Steve

B-Siebzehn · Feb 10, 2015

The told me an old man now.

I can not translate well.
Here the German text

Als wir am 18.März 1945 beim gegen 11:00 uhr beim Mittagessen waren gab es eine Laute Explosion.
Schnell verbreitete sich im Ort das ein Amerikanischer Bomber bei Dewitz abgestürzt sei.
Ich war 7 Jahre alt und fuhr mit meiner Mutter zusammen mit dem Fahrrad zur Absturzstelle.
Ich saß auf dem Gepäckträger. Dort angekommen sah ich vier tote Amerikanische Soldaten am Wegrand
liegen. Die Fallschirme der Soldaten lagen entfaltet daneben. Auf einem LKW des Volkssturms
standen 5 Amerikanische Soldaten die gefangen genommen wurden. Ob sie zu der Flugzeug Besatzung
gehörten kann ich nicht sagen. Die 4 toten wurden an Ort und Stelle begraben. Es war ein schrecklicher
Anblick. Dicht neben dem Weg befand sich ein riesiger Krater warscheinlich von einer Bombe.
Die Flugzeugteile wurden alle in den Krater gezogen und mit Erde aufgefüllt. Größere Teile sollen
in einen Naheliegenden Wald geschaft worden sein. Die Schnüre an den Fallschirmen waren bei der
Bevölkerung sehr begehrt und waren nach kurzer Zeit weg. Als die Amerikaniscen Truppen um den 14. Aprill
in unsere Gegend kamen wurden die 4 auf dem Felde begrabenen Toten Amerikaner eiligst von der Bevölkerung
auf einen Friedhof umgebettet. Warscheinlich aus Angst.
Die Amerikanischen Truppen betteten diese ebenfalls wieder um.

B-Siebzehn · Feb 10, 2015

When we were at about 11:00 clock at lunch on March 18th, 1945, there was a loud explosion.
Spread rapidly in a place that American bombers in Dewitz had crashed.
I was 7 years old and took my mother along with the bike to the crash site.
I sat on the luggage rack. Once there, I saw four dead American soldiers on the roadside.
Parachutes were the soldiers deployed next to it. On a truck Volkssturm
5 were American soldiers who were captured. Whether they aircrew
were I can not say. The 4 dead were buried on the spot. It was terrible
Close beside the road, a huge crater was probably a bomb.
The airplane parts were all drawn into the crater and filled with soil. Larger parts are
have been in a forest. The strings attached to the parachutes were at
Population were highly sought after and after a short time away. When the Americans troops around the 14th Aprill
came to our area were the 4 buried on the field dead Americans rushed from the population
reburied in a cemetery. Probably out of fear.
The American troops embedded this also .....

stona · Feb 10, 2015

"Die 4 toten wurden an Ort und Stelle begraben"

I understand that the four dead Americans were buried where (or near to where) they fell. Their identities should have been passed to the Luftwaffe and so on, but it makes it less likely that any local record exists.

"Als die Amerikaniscen Truppen um den 14. Aprill in unsere Gegend kamen wurden die 4 auf dem Felde begrabenen Toten Amerikaner eiligst von der Bevölkerung
auf einen Friedhof umgebettet."

The later re-burial by the local German population in the cemetery, as the US forces arrived, was entirely unofficial and as the elderly man says, due to fear of the American reaction.

By the way, though the rigging lines (schnure/cords) may have been valuable the old chap has probably forgotten that it was the parachute silk that was really sought after. My own grandmother still had silk from a German parachute, not from an airman, but a parachute mine, when she died!

Cheers

Steve

stona · Feb 10, 2015

"Auf einem LKW des Volkssturms standen 5 Amerikanische Soldaten die gefangen genommen wurden. Ob sie zu der Flugzeug Besatzung gehörten kann ich nicht sagen."

Though your witness wasn't sure whether the five prisoners on the lorry were US airmen I would strongly suspect that they were. A B-17 carried 10 crew usually and the four dead, plus five prisoners would account for 9 of them.
It is also difficult to imagine where else five Americans might have come from

Cheers

Steve

bobbysocks · Feb 10, 2015

now if you can figure out where that "crater" is that they put the airplane parts and covered with soil you may have a little treasure to dig for.

Tracker · Feb 11, 2015

Your Dead Reckoning computer is a USAAF one as shown below.

Your picture

USAAF picture

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Feb 11, 2015

Like I said, an E6B.

B-Siebzehn · Feb 15, 2015

hello,

thanks to all.
I have found a part that has a serial number.
I think that's not important. But I show you the pictures.
I can not read all

Point-Oxygen-Swivel
............SK2110
Serial No. 19653
BARKO MFG.CO
...RDER or
....TRACT NO

mfg

stona · Feb 15, 2015

Barco Manufacturing Company was based in Illinois and traded until 1962 when it was acquired by Aeroquip, a subsidiary of the Trinova Corporation. Aeroquip has expanded from its original speciality, producing hoses, joints and fittings for aircraft to become one of the world's largest producers of industrial hoses, fittings and clamps.
Cheers
Steve

B-Siebzehn · Mar 17, 2018

Hello,
Can anyone help me?
Meanwhile I found out which crew the b17 had.

I do not get along with the abbreviations, RAD, ENG , BAL,.... usw....

can someone assign the abbreviations to the soldiers?

fubar57 · Jan 12, 2020

A pilot is usually rotated after a certain number of missions. This isn't set in stone though. Some do go on to train

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