PRO Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Forces (& predecessor, NW African TAF) reports

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

David Pausey
Help needed in identifying Luftwaffe recon unit,crew MTO
Tue Mar 26 21:37:54 2002
195.92.67.75

Hello all
Can anybody help me identify the units & crew of the following aircraft:29-2-44 Ju88T-1 wnr430926 DO+FN crew KIA shot down 6m SE of Derna,Cyrenaica by two Spitfire 9's.
Date? report date 8-5-44 Me410A-3 ??+RK crew KIA shot down by two Spitfire 9's near Vasto,Italy.
3-7-44 Ju88T-1 8H+ZH crew POW forced down by two Spitfires 40m E of Oran (near Port aux Pouls)
Regards David.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Nick Beale
Aufklärer
Wed Mar 27 22:40:44 2002
212.159.25.15

Me 410A-3 +RK of 2.(F)/122 (Werk Nummer 170098; full code almost certainly F6+RK) was shot down at 0730 on 15 April 1944. The crew were Uffz Albert Allrich (pilot, KIA) and Uffz. Erwin Lehmann (Observer, KIA). They’d taken off from Perugia at 06.44 hours.
Ju88T-1 8H+ZH was an aircraft of 1.(F)/33, callsign GI+WY, operating out of St Martin de Craux (Les Chanoines) in southern France. Pilot, Ofw. Helmuth Knapp; Beobachter, Fw. Götz von Houwald; Bordfunker, Fw Günther Schmidt. All three taken prisoner.
After developing engine trouble over Oran harbour, the Ju 88 was making for Spain when it encountered two Spitfires and the pilot belly landed it “without appreciable damage to the aircraft” at 14.00hrs. No. 256 Squadron’s Operations Record Book credits this victory to Spitfire Mk. VIII s/n JF 584 of C Flight of RAF flown by W/O Hally. he was operating out of La Senia and made the interception 25 miles due north of Oran at 21,000ft. He took off at 13.15 and landed at 14.15 hours (source PRO AIR27/1519 and /1524).
I don’t have anything definite on the first aircraft you mentioned (I don’t really do North Africa) beyond a reference to a 1.(F)/33 Ju 88 crew said by a prisoner to have been “lost early in March” on a mission to Africa — the date discrepancy may be just be a memory lapse — Olt. Pander (pilot or Beobachter), a Leutnant (name not recalled, pilot or Beobachter), Uffz. Keller (Bordfunker) and Uffz. Mendyka (Bordschütze).
These incidents are relatively easy to follow up. Prisoner interrogation reports (including examination of the effects of dead aircrew) by Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) are held by the USAF Historical Research Agency and by the Public Record Office in London (in series AIR51). Further reports were compiled in London by the RAF’s Air Directorate of Intelligence (K) — known as A.D.I.(K) — and their files are in series AIR40 at the PRO and on microfilm at USAFHRA. The daily operations/intelligence summaries of the Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Forces (and their predecessor, NW African TAF) at the PRO will tell you who claimed which unit claimed what on a given day. From there the ORBs of RAF Squadrons will get you to the individual pilots/aircraft concerned and you’ve a reasonable chance of getting the pilot’s sortie report as well. If you’re prepared to spend long enough looking through lists, you may also get a brief report on the wreck of an aircraft, if the Allies examined it.