ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 220413
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| Date: | Friday 31 December 1943 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 |
| Owner/operator: | 2./JG Ost Luftwaffe |
| Registration: | 8961 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | in a field near Plassay, Charente-Maritime -
 France
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Saint-Jean-d’Angély airfield |
On 31 December 1943, during VIII Bomber Command Mission 171, various targets in France were hit:
1. 200 of 236 B-17's and 57 of 60 B-24's hit the Bordeaux-Merignac, Cognac-Chateaubernard and Landes Bussac Airfields at 1211-1315 hours; they claimed 17-13-27 Luftwaffe aircraft; 18 B-17's and 5 B-24's were lost, 8 B-17's and 2 B-24's were damaged beyond repair and 103 B-17's and 5 B-24's were damaged; casualties were 9 KIA, 36 WIA and 231 MIA.
2. 57 B-17's were dispatched to hit a blockade running ship at Gironde but cannot find the target; 1 B-17 was damaged beyond repair and 3 damaged; casualties were 2 KIA and 5 WIA.
3. 87 of 94 B-24's hit the St Jean D'Angely Airfield at 1211-1235 hours; they claimed 9-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 B-24 was lost, 3 were damaged beyond repair and 5 damaged; casualties were 10 MIA.
4. 120 of 125 B-17's hit the industrial areas at Paris-Ivry and Bois-Colombes at 1207-1227 hours; 1 B-17 was lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 49 damaged; casualties were 2 WIA and 10 MIA.
These missions were escorted by 74 P-38's, 441 P-47's and 33 Ninth Air Force P-51's; they claimed 9-1-1 Luftwaffe aircraft; 1 P-38, 2 P-47's and 1 P-51 were lost; 1 P-38 and 6 P-47's were damaged beyond repair and 1 P-38 was damaged; casualties were 3 WIA and 2 MIA.
On the German side, fighters from JG 2, JG 26, 1./SAGr. 128, Jagdgruppe Ost and Jagdgruppe West opposed the raids and made a total of 29 claims (28 bombers, including two for final destruction, and 1 P-47) while losing 13 fighters destroyed in battle and 7 more in accidents. 15 more bombers were claimed shot down by Flak. Luftwaffe losses on the ground were also heavy: Jagdgruppe Ost lost 17 aircraft destroyed and 21 damaged under bombs, while III./KG 40 lost 6 aircraft destroyed and 3 damaged. At Tours, the Verbandsführerschule des General der Kampfflieger lost 5 aircraft destroyed or damaged.
_____________________________________________________________
Eleven pilots of Jagdgruppe Ost, an operational training unit of the Luftwaffe, took off from Fontenet/St Jean d’Angély airfield to intercept American bombers that had just bombed Cognac-Châteaubernard airfield.
They quickly saw the numerous bombers and engaged them at around 1210 hrs near Saintes. The battle lasted twenty minutes. The German pilots of Jagdgruppe Ost claimed nine heavy bombers shot down, but also suffered six losses.
Uffz Otto Kraft of 2./Jagdgruppe Ost, a pilot under training, was probably killed when his fighter was hit by return fire of a bomber. His Bf 109 F-2 WNr 8961 dived at high speed in a field near Plassay, leaving only a huge crater.
In 2005 the crashsite was excavated but only small fragments were found: the aircraft practically disintegrated when hitting the hard ground.
Sources:
http://crashavionallemand39-45.over-blog.com/article-crash-d-un-messerschmitt-bf-109-a-plassay-ou-la-triste-fin-d-un-pilote-70975584.html
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii/usaf/html/Dec.43.html
http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_summ_loss_acft_overview.asp?PAGE=1
Luftwaffe claim lists by Tony Wood and Jim Perry (http://don-caldwell.we.bs/jg26/claims/tonywood.htm)
http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20France.pdf
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plassay
http://www.maplandia.com/france/poitou-charentes/charente-maritime/saintes/plassay/
http://ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20France.pdf
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 01-Jan-2019 20:32 | Laurent Rizzotti | Added |
| 01-Mar-2019 12:23 | TigerTimon | Updated [Aircraft type, Departure airport, Source] |
| 10-Jul-2019 07:37 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 25-Dec-2019 18:42 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator, Operator] |
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