US aircraft shot down - January 1945 near Seckach Germany

[Odenwald]

Hello,

my name ist Jan im from Germany and me and my father do research about our local history.

In the fist day of Janaury 1945 (seems to be between 1st and 15th January) an american plane was shot down and crashlanded near the small town Seckach ( between Heidelberg and Würzburg) in Germany - the pilot survived without injury, he got arrested by the german Volkssturm. The plane was transported away the other day.

Unfortunately these are the only information we got from an old man who was a 8 year old boy kid in 1945. There are also no german documents who could help....

Thank you and have a good time

Best regards Jan

 

[mjfur]

Here's a list of all of the USAAF aircraft lost in Jan. 1945. From your description it seems like it was a fighter aircraft with only one pilot.
January 1945 USAAF Missing Air Crew Reports

This list includes the general area where the aircraft went missing. Between the two, you can make a list of fighters that went missing in/over Germany.
Accident-Report.com - Missing Air Crew Reports Index

Once you narrow down the list, you can look at the MACR's for a more exact location of where the loss took place.
https://catalog.archives.gov/search?q=missing air crew&f.ancestorNaIds=421

 

[Odenwald]

Hello,

thank you a lot for the links ! The 3rd link doenst work?


I will work through the links and then write again. Many thanks !!

Best regards Jan

 

[mjfur]

Hello,

thank you a lot for the links ! The 3rd link doenst work?


I will work through the links and then write again. Many thanks !!

Best regards Jan

The third link may be down due to Covid-19, no one there to fix it. It's a National Archives link, it should be up and running at some point.

 

[dstub]

Jan-
I followed mjfur's suggestion and found only 5 single engine planes lost 1 Jan 1945 over Germany. One is a P-51 but that crashed with a great fire and the pilot was killed. The other 4 are P-47s. Of those, 1 was KIA and another was likely KIA. Of the two remaining, one was reported lost 15 miles (24 km) NE of Malmedy which barely puts the crash in Germany (MACR 11513). This pilot was confirmed to have parachuted to the ground. The last possibility has a very skimpy MACR (11615) but was said to be lost near Saarbruchen.

Those other MACRs are 11597, 11530, & 11514. I don't think this is much help but good luck.

 

[Odenwald]

Jan-
I followed mjfur's suggestion and found only 5 single engine planes lost 1 Jan 1945 over Germany. One is a P-51 but that crashed with a great fire and the pilot was killed. The other 4 are P-47s. Of those, 1 was KIA and another was likely KIA. Of the two remaining, one was reported lost 15 miles (24 km) NE of Malmedy which barely puts the crash in Germany (MACR 11513). This pilot was confirmed to have parachuted to the ground. The last possibility has a very skimpy MACR (11615) but was said to be lost near Saarbruchen.

Those other MACRs are 11597, 11530, & 11514. I don't think this is much help but good luck.

Hello,

thank you for your research, I searched the MACR of January too, but couldnt find a case that fits - there some cases without information about the area of "crashing" ...

I also searched the cases of February, there a some MACR which could fit - but they were without further information, so not very helpful.

Im going to search the December 44 cases.

Thank you for your help and have a good time

greetings Jan

 

[mjfur]

Not to throw a wet blanket on your research, remember you are relying on an 8 year olds memory from 75 yrs ago. There may be some inconsistencies in month, date, type of aircraft, USAAF/RAF, etc.. Any of which will lead you down a different path.

 

[Odenwald]

Not to throw a wet blanket on your research, remember you are relying on an 8 year olds memory from 75 yrs ago. There may be some inconsistencies in month, date, type of aircraft, USAAF/RAF, etc.. Any of which will lead you down a different path.

yeah youre right, unfortunately there no german records about a crash in this place/area - of course there were some other crashes in the vicinity, but theyre all well documented.

 

[Sirkreu]

Hello Jan,
Maybe one of these two is your case?
16 January 1945 365th Fighter Group did a "fighter sweep" in WORMS area.
1 a/c P-47D-30, 44-20602: during dogfight with e/a, pilot called over r/t that he was hit and his voice sounded as though he personally was hit. Not defenite as to whether hit by flak or e/a. No further information.
Or this one.
1 a/c P-47D-28, 44-19788 : a/c was hit by e/a and pilot bailed out about 5 miles west of WORMS near M-4115. Parachute was seen to open.
(Source : microfilmreel BO329)
Regards and keep us informed!

 

[Odenwald]

Hello,

thank yo for your answer, i dont know , Worms is about 100km west of Seckach - the nearest posible crash I found , was P-51D 44-14068 , crashed near Heilbronn from 38FS, 55FG, 8AF USAAF. Little Joe'. Hit by flak crashed near Heilbronn. 20-Feb-45. 1st Lt Alfred Edward Carr Jr (POW). MACR 12558.

There lots oft MACR from Dec.44 until march 45 ,without concret position of crash/loss ... I have to wait until I get an answer from the german military archive, but this wil last 6 months or more. If there is anything available at all about that crash.

greetings Jan