Can anyone please help me to identify this aircraft which was shot down near Cloppenberg, Germany late 1944/early 1945. Sorry there is not much to go on. The man in the photograph is a Polish mechanic serving with 2nd Tactical Air Force
Thank you. This was way outside my area of knowledge but you are the second person to suggest this; the first was the man who gave me the photo but he was not sure.
I agree, looking at it, is that the remains of an inline engine in the nose rather than a BMW radial?
I can't see exactly whether this is an in-line engine. But the "Dora's" got a so-called "fuselage buoy" at the stern to extend the cell to compensate for the changed centre of gravity. On the photo this is the bright spot in front of the torn off tail unit. Possible airfields would be Ahlhorn, Sage/Bissel or Varrelbusch: At least in Ahlhorn, Polish squadrons were temporarily deployed (I grew up very close by....and there often searching with metal detector) Traditionsgemeinschaft Fliegerhorst Ahlhorn e.V. - 1938 - 1945 II. Weltkrieg in Ahlhorn
Thank you Itdan I think you have pinned down the area very well. It must have been taken just after the end of the War but the man in the photo was with 317 Squadron based at Varrelbusch just after that from 2nd June 1945 and he was also at Ahlhorn from 10th September 1945. So it could have been at either of these places.
On the tail fin the Werknummer numerals ‘95’ can be seen; unfortunately the other numerals which would have made up the remainder of the aircraft’s Werknummer are missing. Although I am far from a Luftwaffe ‘profi’, I believe the only Jagdgeschwader flying the D-9 in NW Germany in late 44-45 was JG26. Checking the list of JG26 casualties in Donald Caldwell’s ‘The JG26 War Diary Vol 2 1943-1945’ reveals two D-9s with ‘95’ in their Werknummer: Werknummer 210950, White 1 flown by Lt Kurt Fischer, which crashed at Plantluenne airfield at 1028 hours 28 Jan 45 in a non-operational accident, killing Fischer. Werknummer 210951, Yellow 11 flown by Ogfr Manfred Niessen, which burnt out after crashing north of Kirchhellen airfield on 24 Feb 45; Niessen survived the crash. While Kirchhellen is nowhere near the Cloppenburg/ Varrelbusch/ Ahlhorn areas, as Plantluenne is much closer Fischer’s Fw190D-9 could be a candidate for the aircraft in the photograph. Unless someone else knows otherwise...!
The aircraft in question was clearly destroyed on the ground. It does not matter, there was more than enough scrap lying around Another "Dora" at Varrelbusch:
National Archive London HW 5/685 Government Code and Cypher School: German Section: Reports of German Army and Air Force High Grad Machine Decrypts (CX/FJ, CX/JQ and CX/MSS Reports).