ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 93953
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| Date: | Monday 8 January 1945 |
| Time: | 14:13 |
| Type: |  Douglas A-20B Havoc |
| Owner/operator: | 449 BAP Soviet Air Force |
| Registration: | 41-2937 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Székesfehérvár -
 Hungary
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | |
On 8 January 1945, despite extremely bad weather conditions, with low clouds and very low visibility, Hptm. Helmut Lipfert, the Staffelkapitän of 6./JG 52, took off with his usual wingman, Obfhr. Josef Prokoph, took off from Veszprem airfield to intercept a formation of Soviet Bostons in the Szekesfehervar (called Stuhlweissenburg by the Germans) area. Despite the adverse weather, he found the Soviet bombers and claimed two shot down near Szekesfehervar at 1413 hrs and 1418 hrs for his 173rd and 174th victories. Prokoph also claimed a Boston shot down, but Lipfert did not see it and could not confirm this claim.
They had met Bostons of 449 BAP, 244 BAD. Lipfert had first destroyed the A-20B-DL 41-2937 of Leytenant Vetlov crew, which was flying alone in front of the rest of group by waving the wings tried to pick up the Yak fighter escort from the airfield of Börgönd, just south of Szekesfehervar. The bomber exploded in mid-air without survivors.
Crew of 41-2937 (all killed):
Leytenant Viktor Mikhaylovich Vetlov (pilot)
Leytenant Viktor Matveyevich Ionov (navigator)
Starshina Iosif Isayevich Tolmatskiy
Serzhant Vasiliy Fedorovich Burtsev
Lipfert then attacked the formation and shot down the A-20G 43-21588 of Leytenant Kruglov, again without survivors. Kruglov bailed out, but hit the vertical stabilizer, lost consciousness and did not open his parachute. His body was found far away from the plane. The three other crew went down with the plane.
Crew of 43-21588 (all killed):
Leytenant Valentin Aleksandrovich Kruglov (pilot)
Leytenant Ivan Danilovich Kudryavtsev (navigator)
Ivan Ivanovich Shikhov
Serzhant Anatoliy Grigor’yevich Shestakov
449 BAP lost a third Boston shot down, the A-20G 43-9596, piloted by Leytenant Larionov, during this mission. So the claim of Obfhr. Josef Prokoph was valid. This time the whole crew survived.
The soviets collected the bodies of the eight fallen airmen and took back for a regiment ceremony and funeral to their base at Madocsa. They were buried there.
Sources:
http://www.luftwaffe.cz/lipfert.html
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=1262 (several pages in this long thread)
http://www.jg52.net/kriegstagebuch/1945/
http://epa.oszk.hu/01600/01610/00016/pdf/vmm_16_1982_26_veresd.pdf
https://obd-memorial.ru/html/advanced-search.htm
http://www.pobeda1945.su/division/3298
http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/1943_2.html
http://www.hungaryairport.hu/airport_data.php?id=4
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sz%C3%A9kesfeh%C3%A9rv%C3%A1r
http://www.maplandia.com/hungary/szekesfehervar/szekesfehervar/
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 08-Jan-2016 18:42 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Source, Narrative] |
| 08-Jan-2016 18:43 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Operator] |
| 09-Jan-2016 08:11 | Laurent Rizzotti | Updated [Operator] |
| 02-Jul-2021 08:10 | JF | Updated [Operator] |
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