not only allied just today
Neergestorte Duitse piloot bij Nijtap na 79 jaar geïdentificeerd
A German pilot who crashed with a fighter plane in Nijtap near Opeinde in World War II has been identified after 79. It concerns non-commissioned officer Konstantin Benzien.
The plane crashed on December 11, 1943 at a butcher's shop in the hamlet. Because it happened at such a high speed, the aircraft ended up deep in the ground.
Only some remains of the pilot were found. He was buried in an unnamed grave. The Missing Airmen Memorial Foundation (SMAMF) subsequently tried for a long time to find out the name of the pilot. This has now been achieved through DNA testing.
Benzien's ring
German pilot gets a name
The plane carrying Benzien was not the only plane to crash. According to the foundation, it was raining planes that day. This was because the Luftwaffe was able to intercept a group of American bombers. Then fierce dogfights ensued. At least twenty American and ten German planes have crashed.
Two missing
Most victims could be identified fairly quickly. But exactly which German pilots had died remained a mystery for a long time. Archive research by the SMAMF shows that only two German pilots were missing on 11 December 1943: Friedrich König and Konstantin Benzien. One of them had to be the victim in Nijtap.
Ring fan Konstantin Benzien © SMAMF
In 1999 it became clear that König had died at the Drentse Peest. According to the SMAMF, this made it clear that it was Benzien who died in Nijtap. However, the German authorities only identify people on the basis of DNA evidence and there was none yet.
Getting DNA Wasn't Easy
Retrieving the DNA of the Benzien family was not easy. His immediate family was already dead. And the grandchildren of one of Benzien's sisters were no longer eligible to provide a DNA sample.
Researcher Alexander Tuinhout did receive two letters from Benzien's eldest sister. The National Forensic Institute succeeded in securing DNA via the stamp and the glue edges. The DNA profile of the unknown pilot's bones matched the DNA profile of the oldest sister. This made it clear that it was Konstantin Benzien.