Bomber Command Encounter

[dov]

Hallo

My request to the modelling community: Does anybody have or know some sources of an encounter of a particular British bomber (type, call sign, squadron) in a night bombing raid in 1943 to 1945 with an a/c from JG 300, 301 or 302 or any Sturmstaffel?

Why? First of all, I am going to start in near future a series of Bf-109 and Fw-190 in 1/48 to build. I have the chance to change markings, because of masks and decals in reserve. I would prefer to build an a/c with some punctual history behind.

In this matter, the navigation in night interception is for me the most remarkable quality of any aircrew.

Let me know!

Thanks in forward.

Happy Modelling

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Nachtjagd War Diaries by Theo Boiten gives full RAF aircraft details, but usually only the Luftwaffe pilot and unit, matching Bomber Command Losses to Luftwaffe kill claims.

 

I do not know of any encounters between RAF bombers and Sturmstaffel aircraft.

 

Forgot to originally add Jagdgeschwader 300 by Jean-Yves Lorant and Richard Goyat, two volumes, the first of which covers to September 1944.

 

Geoffrey Sinclair

Edited June 25, 2020 by Geoffrey Sinclair
add extra reference

[G.R.Morrison]

To echo Mr. Sinclair's recommendations, Boiten's works are the best treatment of a complicated subject area.  And as he said, the Sturmstaffel Fw 190A-6s & A-7s can come off your list, they were a short-lived unit, engaged in daylight operations against the 8th Air Force, Jan. - May 1944.

 

I have always found the 'Who shot down whom?' chase to be problematic, with SO many variables in play.

 

The JG 300 / 301 / 302 has their origin in the N.J.V.K. (Nachtjagd Versuchskommando) of May / early July 1943, which became JG 'Herrmann', named for their commander Major Hajo Herrmann (a very-experienced bomber pilot).  Many of the aircrew were former bomber or transport pilots, rated for instrument flying.  As you acknowledge, night combat in a single-seater was extremely hazardous, even a very-experienced, long-serving pilot, like Helmut Weinreich, could be killed in a night landing.

 

Because their claims always directly competed with those of the numerous Flak units, many were dismissed, and others were near-impossible to assign to a specific RAF loss.  That said, here are two incidents in two well-documented Fw 190A-6s from the night of 3./4.July 1943:

 

Oblt. Friedrich-Karl "Nasen" Müller,* WNr.550543 "grüne 3" - 'Halifax' - probably a 9, 12, 115 or 460 Sq Lancaster at 01:28.  

 

Herrmann's WNr.550445 "grüne 1" - 'Lancaster' -- actually Stirling BK718 of 90 Sq. at 01:30

 

Several other pilots of the N.J.V.K. made claims at that same time, Boiten also assigns them "9, 12, 115 or 460 Sq Lancaster"

 

Both of these Fw 190A-6s had the head armor removed, unneeded at night, easier to swivel-and-search, and lighter if the canopy has to be jettisoned in a bail-out.

 

There are other examples, Gerhard Stamp's Bf 109G-6/R6 was a 'borrowed' machine from the III/JG 11, retaining its original 'Tigerkopf' unit emblem, and "gelbe 17" markings, but with sprayed-black undersides, and Stamp's (bomber) successes recorded on the rudder.  Before these 'Wild Sau' units acquired their own aircraft, most were using day fighters 'borrowed' from a a variety of units, the II/JG 1, I & III/JG 11, the II/JG 27, II/JG 53 -- you get the idea.

 

Good luck with your project, GRM

 

* There were two very-successful fighter pilots named Friedrich-Karl Müller.  "Tutti" was a long-serving Messerschmitt pilot with the JG 53, and later Kommodore of the JG 3 (died in a landing accident); "Nasen" Müller, a former transport pilot, became the most-successful single-engine nightfighter, and survived the war.

[Blimpyboy]

20 hours ago, G.R.Morrison said:

I have always found the 'Who shot down whom?' chase to be problematic, with SO many variables in play.

 

It can be rather tiresome!

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2018/04/19/did-a-canadian-shoot-down-the-red-baron-a-century-later-the-debate-hasnt-quit/amp/