raidtag

Nancy: 25 May 1944

The aerodrome at Nancy was bombed on 25 May 1944 from 07.32–39 GMT, causing severe damage to III./JG 26. The British intercepted four messages which seem to have been overlapping fragments of a full listing of the resulting aircraft losses. Because each loss was numbered (“First report”, “second report” etc.) and Gruppenstab aircraft were listed in order of fuselage tactical number, the list can be reconstructed albeit with some gaps:

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 440624

black 20

Gruppenstab

100%

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 440179

black 21

Gruppenstab

 

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 163445

black 22

Gruppenstab

 

 

NOTE: this may be the same aircraft photographed by a German war reporter:

 

 

 

 

 

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 163432

black 23

Gruppenstab

 

Bf 109 G-6

black 24

Gruppenstab

 

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 163440

black 25

Gruppenstab

40% (airscrew, engine, fuselage, … tail-unit)

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 740723

white 1

9. Staffel

 

 

NOTE: this Werk Nummer is probably an error for 440723, white 1, which was flown to Étain by Uffz. Heinz Kemethmüller on 10 April 1944.

 

 

 

 

 

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 410419

white 4

9. Staffel

 

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162250

white 20

9. Staffel

 

Bf 109 G-6

9. Staffel

90%

Bf 109 G-6

9. Staffel

 

Bf 109 G-6

9. Staffel

(airscrew, fuselage, wings, tail unit)

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162258

white 23

9. Staffel

50% (airscrew, engine, fuselage, tail unit, wings)

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162248

white 8

9. Staffel

60% (airscrew, engine fuselage, wings, tail unit, undercarriage)

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162413

blue 6

12. Staffel

 

Also lost in the bombing were a Go 145, apparently belonging to III./JG 26 and an He 111 of the Hermann Göring Panzer Division:

Go 145 A

W.Nr. 236

GN+NG

50% (airscrew, engine, fuselage, tail unit, wings, undercarriage)

He 111 H-6

W.Nr. 4407

VG+SR

HG Fallschirm Pz. Div.

90% (tail unit, engine airscrew)

Donald L. Caldwell’s The JG 26 War Diary: 1943-1945 (Grub Street, London, 1998; ISBN 978-1898697862) describes how III./JG 26 had taken off to oppose the American raid and that it was the non-operational Bf 109s which fell victim to the bombing. Another three of the Gruppe’s machines were lost in combat with the 356th FG:

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162701

black 2

10. Staffel

Uffz. Egon Rummler, KIA

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 162681

yellow 4

11. Staffel

Uffz. Kurt Beck, KIA

Bf 109 G-6

W.Nr. 440989

blue 18

12. Staffel

Uffz. Albert Boeckl WIA

Montdidier: 12 June 1944

The I./KG 66 suffered the following damage in an air raid:

Ju 88 S-1

W.Nr. 140611

Z6+AB

30%

Ju 88 S-1

W.Nr. 140605

Z6+FH

45%

Ju 88 S-1

W.Nr. 140579

Z6+EN

3%

Ju 188 E-1

W.Nr. 260528

Z6+GK

5%

There were no casualties among the unit’s personnel.

NOTES: W.Nr. 140579 was reported lost on a mission over the Baie de la Seine on the night of 30 June/1 July 1944 along with its crew: Fw. von Allen (pilot), Uffz. Rödel (observer) and Uffz. Kühner (wireless operator). The Gruppe had been assigned to drop flares and Lux sea markers in support of a mining and torpedo operation off Courseulles-sur-Mer.

W.Nr. 260528 was found “destroyed” at Villacoublay by US troops. It had FuG 214 antennae. Z6+GK on fin.

continued on next page …

navtag

Introduction

ULTRA includes many reports of individual human and material losses but very few (that I have seen) like these which give a detailed rundown of planes destroyed in an Allied bombing or strafing raid.

(All times are GMT)

© Nick Beale 2016–2021


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