Hello, For an article I am writing about the crash of LW653 in Dongen Vaart I am looking for the flown route from Lissett to Aachen and back, during the night of 24 to 25 May 1944. Is there a map/plan available? And which bombing flights were there even more that night? Thanks in advance.
Just to complete the report for the night - the other two pages Itell1 | WW2Talk Intell2 | WW2Talk A few days after each night/day operation by Bomber Command this summary report of action and intelligence would be produced - gives an insight into what was known at the time of the losses and enemy response. Ross
IWM London have one of Schnaufer's tail section on display complete with his kill markings. LW653 is one of the aircraft silhouettes marked on the upper arm of the swastika:
A before and after comparison of the damage done to the west marshalling yard taken from CAB 66/52/17. Ross, is there any chance that you could add the TNA references to your media folders please?
Not much consolation for any of the Bomber Command crews but... Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (16 February 1922 – 15 July 1950) was a German Luftwaffe night-fighter pilot and the highest-scoring night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. A flying ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during combat. All Schnaufer's 121 victories were claimed during World War II, mostly against British four-engine bombers, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Germany's highest military decoration at the time, on 16 October 1944. He was nicknamed "The Spook of St. Trond", from the location of his unit's base in occupied Belgium. Schnaufer was appointed Gruppenkommandeur IV./NJG 1 on 1 March 1944, taking over command of the Gruppe from Jabs who was given command of NJG 1. He was promoted to Hauptmann on 1 May 1944. Schnaufer became an ace-in-a-day for the first time on 25 May 1944 when he claimed five RAF bombers shot down between 01:15 and 01:29 for victories 70 to 74. The bombers had targeted the railway marshalling yard at Aachen. On 6 June 1944, the Western Allied forces landed in Normandy, during Operation Overlord. In support of the invasion of Normandy General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, assigned Bomber Command to support the ground forces. On the night of 12/13 June, Schnaufer claimed his first victory following the invasion when 671 bombers attacked various railway targets in France. Schnaufer claimed three bombers shot down that night, the first as a Lancaster and the second and third as a Lancaster or Halifax, between 00:27 and 00:34. Schnaufer's greatest one-night success and the second time he became an ace-in-a-day was on 21 February 1945, when he claimed nine Lancaster heavy bombers in the course of one day. Two were claimed in the early hours of the morning and a further seven, in just 19 minutes, in the evening between 20:44 and 21:03. (Wiki extract)
The original document is in the collection of The National Archives and as such scanning is not permitted - photographs are permitted and I have posted the jpg in the gallery - click on the download. If you intend to use in a publication then you should comply with the Copyright terms of use laid out by the TNA. Piece number AIR14-3376 as noted in my first post Ross
Noted Ross, but in fairness it was not apparent to me from your subsequent posts that all of these documents came from AIR 14/3376 and the gallery folders that you linked to didn’t reference TNA in any way. I note that since my post you have edited these folders – thank you. I’m not sure why my post should have elicited a copyright warning from you – if you feel that it was necessary then I suggest that it would make more sense attached to your folders: even now someone accessing these directly wouldn’t necessarily be aware that TNA was even the source let alone that their copyright restrictions apply.
Richelieu - do not assume that all replies are to you. ↑ Route map from AIr 14-3376 for night of 24th - 25th May 1944 Map 24_25 may 1944 | WW2Talk Ross Thanks Ross, sorry for asking, but is it possible to scan this map for me?
