Books on the Luftwaffe over Switzerland

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Anders Näslund
Johnen:s Bf110 ES or EN...
Fri Feb 22 08:39:13 2002
130.239.44.166

what code letters did wilhem johnens Bf 110 carry when he was
forced to land in Swiss???

in his book (my ex from 1962 i think) "duel unter the stars" he says (writes) it was
C9+ES but in other books they say EN,,also pic, if right
seems to point twoards EN...

also i think ive read that a swiss newspaper coverd the story
in april 1994....

anyone else has some more info..

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Rabe Anton
Johnen Bf 110G-4 in Switzerland
Fri Feb 22 14:06:56 2002
205.188.199.187

Karl Ries, Deutsche Luftwaffe über der Schweiz, 1939-1945,
p. 63, indicates Bf 110G-4 C 9 + E N forced-landed on Dübendorf A/D on 28 April 1944. The aircraft was piloted by Oblt. u. Stkp. Wilhelm Johnen accompanied by Lt. Kamprath and Ofw. Mahle. Michael Balss, Deutsche Nachtjagd: Personalverluste in Ausbildung un Einsatz-fliegendes Personal, p.265, confirms these facts and adds that the machine was WNr. 740 055.

RA

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

John Heard
Axis aircraft in Switzerland
Wed Mar 13 20:33:08 2002
212.50.160.27

Hello Everyone,

I am currently doing research on military aircraft "interned" in Switzerland during WW.II.

Having recently acquired the Squadron signal books "Strangers in a Strange Land" (Volumes 1+2), which deal with Allied aircraft types I am trying to find details of Luftwaffe / Axis aircraft.

I have been told that there might have been a fairly recent German language publication on this subject with a complete list of such aircraft. Can anyone enlighten me further with details of this book, or any other such publications on this subject matter.

Many thanks for any help.

John

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Nick Beale
Switzerland
Wed Mar 13 23:54:43 2002
212.159.1.3

It's not exactly recent but your informant may have been talking about "Deutsche Luftwaffe über der Schweiz 1939-45" by Karl Ries (Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz, 1978)

The book is in fact bilingual: German in the left hand column, English on the right.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Benno Goethals
list on the web; interned aircraft in Switzerland
Thu Mar 14 09:56:56 2002
193.78.100.48

Hi John,

There is a list available on the web. I don't know if it is accurate, although it looks rather good to me. However it must be a good starting point : www.airpic.ch (http://www.airpic.ch) and select "Swiss Air Force (unofficial) site" and "Interned aircraft".

Regards,

Benno

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

John Heard
Axis aircraft in Switzerland Thanks!
Fri Mar 15 20:00:05 2002
212.50.160.27

Thanks Guys for all the help on this matter. I now have some good pointers as to where to dig further.

Regards

John

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Dean Wick
Violation of Swiss Airspace
Wed Feb 19 14:53:43 2003
216.209.172.14

Greetings: On June 4th and 8th/40,II/ZG-1 was involved in intentional violations of Swiss airspace with resulting combat.From the few sources I have, namely John Vasco's "Zerstorer" I Know the Swiss lost 2 Bf-109s,one on each date, plus a Recce aircraft on the 8th. Does anyone know the actual German claims? I have a claim by Herbert Kutscha of II/ZG-1 for a Swiss Bf-109, but not sure of the date.Thank you to anyone who can provide some clarification. Cheers. Dean

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

John Vasco
Re: Violation of Swiss Airspace
Wed Feb 19 21:39:10 2003
195.92.67.69

Dean,

On 8/6/40, the Swiss Bf 109 E shot down by Bf 110s was claimed by Dähne & Klinke of 5./ZG 1. It was one of a pair that attacked them. Klinke's account to me mentioned 3 Swiss fighters. He said in a letter: "Doch dagegen waren 3 Schweizer Jäger (ME 109), die uns bei der Annäherung sofort von rückwärts angriffen und stark beschossen. Ich habe mich mit den dreien eine ganze Weile auseinandergesetzt, und angeblich soll ich zwei der drei (tapferen) Gegner abgeschossen haben. Das tut mir, wenn es so gewesen ist, heute noch leid." Their Bf 110 was later hit by Flak and made a forced landing, as a result of which both were captured by the Swiss. Both returned to Germany in a matter of weeks. Klinke was not operational for some time due to his wounds, and during the Battle of Britain Dähne flew with another Bordfunker and was killed in action. The pilot of the Swiss Bf 109 was wounded in the lungs and arm, but survived. Klinke was interested in the fate of the Swiss pilot, and when I was able to tell him that he survived, he replied: "Vielen Dank auch für die Mitteilung, den Schweizer Piloten betreffend, dass er trotz seiner Verwundungen überlebt hat. Das ist für mich sehr tröstlich. Gott schütze uns vor weiteren Kriegen!!!" Klinke later flew on the Russian from with ZG 1, having many close shaves. A kind, gentle man, who was most patient with all my questions and fulsome with his replies, Herbert Klinke died on 5th April 2002.

Hope this helps, and is of some interest.


Regards,



John Vasco

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

CJE
Swiss pilot
Thu Feb 20 16:05:50 2003
193.252.175.225

The Swiss pilot was Lt Rudolf Homberger of Cie Av. 15, flying a Bf 109E (J-328).
However, Roger Antoine, who wrote an article on the Swiss vs German air combats of June 1940 we published in Aéro-Journal n° 14, has no clue as to who shot Homberger down.
During their interrogation, Dähne and Klinke only mentioned they took off from Spire and staged at Freiburg-im-Br to escort He 111s of 4./KG 1 over Besançon. They said they were fired at by French AA and fighters. With their starboad engine on fire they turned back but drifted too far East and flew over Switzerland where a 75mm shell gave the coup-de-grâce to their 2N+GN which crash-landed at Oberkirch, near Nunningen (20 km South Basel).
They never mentioned any air combat over Switzerland. Caution?

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Dean Wick
CJE and John Vasco
Thu Feb 20 19:16:14 2003
216.209.123.58

Hi again: Thank you both for taking the time to respond to my inquiry. Would the interrogation,I assume by the Swiss, have been purposely "colored" by Dahne/Klinke to suggest the airspace violation was unintentional? Regarding the claim I mentioned by Herbert Kutscha,would it be reckless to make the assumption that he was responsible for the June 4th claim,or were there other clashes that I am not aware of? My source for this claim,by the way,is "Luftwaffe Diary,Vol.1" by Feist/McGuirl, which states that his claim was one of 3 he made during the 1940 "Blitzfeldzug"Any other suggestions on further resources? Again,I greatly appreciate your assistance. Cheers. Dean

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

John Vasco
Re: CJE and John Vasco
Thu Feb 20 19:40:04 2003
195.92.67.65

I take the point about no mention of shooting down a Swiss Bf 109 when interrogated. But the other side of the coin is that would two young German aircrew, just shot down and captured, talk openly about shooting down one of the aircraft of their captors? If they had any sense they would not, in order not to antagonise their captors. Caution? - yes. But I would suggest you consider both sides of the argument. During the Battle of Britain, German aircrew, quite understandably, often stated under interrogation that the kill markings on the rudder of their crash-landed aircraft were not theirs, they were just flying it on that particular mission. Understandable in all the circumstances. What I have set down above is simply the information given to me in writing from Herbert Klinke. I'm not seeking to provoke an argument here, rather I am merely providing some information that came my way to others.


John Vasco

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

CJE
Right
Fri Feb 21 11:59:25 2003
80.11.88.158

Had I been in the same situation I'd also have forgotten to mention incidentally that I had just shot down one of their planes.
In his article Roger Anthoine makes no mention to Homberger's victory.

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Tim Smit
He 111 loss
Sun Mar 23 22:32:06 2003
195.241.132.155

In Karl Ries' book "Deutsche Luftwaffe ueber der Schweiz 1939-1945" it is said that on the 10th of may 1940 Swiss patrol aircraft were scrambled to meet a Heinkel 111 that had entered their airspace. They succeeded in silencing the "B" and "C" defensive stands and setting one engine ablaze (or at least heavily 'asmoke' so to say), before this aircraft left Swiss airspace and fled back to Germany, so a certain kill could not be confirmed. Does anyone have any information regarding to what unit this aircraft may have belonged to, and if it eventually went down or not?
Any info would be helpful.
Please e-mail anything of importance to my address:

thamastha@hotmail.com

Best regards and many thanks in advance

Tim Smit