Skipper,

John J. Smith listed on the Comete Line website. I can go back and look later.

Edit: Found his information.

Stirling BF505 Information

Stirling
BF505
218
HA-Z
Dortmund
4th May 1943
5th May 1943


Further Information

[FONT='Times New Roman','serif']"Serial Range BF500 - BF534. 35 Stirling Mk.111. Part of a batch of 200 Short S.29 Stirling Mk.1/111/1V. BF309- BF358; BF372-BF416; BF434-BF454 (116) Mk.1; BF455-BF483; BF500- BF534; BF561-BF580 (84) Mk.111; BF464; BF468; BF532; BF575; BF580 were converted to Mk.1V. Delivered by Short & Harland between Mar43 and May43. Contract No.774677/38. Delivered to No.218 Sqdn 23Mar43. Airborne 2240 4May43 from Downham Market. Shot down by a night- fighter (Lt Robert Denzil,1V./NJG1), crashing 0107 at Murmerwoude (Friesland), 5 km S of Dokkum, Holland. Those killed are buried in Dantumadeel (Mumerwoude) General cemetery. F/L W.L.Turner RCAF KIA Sgt F.N.Robinson KIA Sgt W.N.Forth KIA Sgt J.L.White PoW P/O P.S.Beck PoW F/S J.M.J.Smith PoW Sgt H.W.Sawkings KIA F/S G.A.Hinshelwood KIA P/O P.S.Beck was interned in Camp L3. PoW No.1254. F/S J.M.J. Smith in Camp 4B, PoW No.222555. Sgt J.L.White in Camps L1/L6/L4/11B, PoW No.1165. 'Air Battle of the Ruhr', A.Cooper, records Sgt H.W.Sawkings as Sgt H.W.Sawkins and F/S G.A.Hinshelwood as F/S G.A.Hinselwood. "[/FONT]

got him , he crashed on May 4/5th 1943 at MURMERWOUDE, frisia (Netherlands) .
F/L W.L.Turner RCAF KIA Sgt F.N.Robinson KIA Sgt W.N.Forth KIA Sgt J.L.White PoW P/O P.S.Beck PoW F/S J.M.J.Smith PoW. Sgt H.W.Sawkings KIA F/S G.A.Hinshelwood KIA P/O P.S.Beck was interned in Camp L3. PoW No.1254. F/S J.M.J.Smith in Camp 4B, PoW No.222555. Sgt J.L.White in Camps L1/L6/L4/11B, PoW No.1165.

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The Pilot Russell, of a B17 My Uncle thinks he came from San Angelo or San Antonio, Texas. My Uncle said he met him in Fresnes Prison.

(It might be the following Lt. Michael / Michel Russell (O-747325) (From Alabama. Shot down on Berlin Mission March 6, 1944, the Dates don't add up though because by March 1944, My Uncle was in the Camps by then. It could be either someone else or he met him at one of the camps or Buchenwald.

FORD the Flight Engineer

My Uncle said he met him in Fresnes (Again might be a camp instead)

Skipper,

Check on a T/Sgt Charles Morrissey Ford, Turret Gunner/Engineer on B-17, shot down May 29, 1943

Whitney Gunner from Erie, Pennsylvania
My Uncle said he met him in Fresnes (again it might be a camp)

Might be the same as Ford (B-17)

Stuart M. Sharp from Decatur, Illinois

My Uncle said he met in Fresnes (again might be a camp)

I think he was with FORD and WHITNEY.

Jo Ann may I ask where you received info that Kollak was the pilot as NJG 4 was quite active, he shot down 1 Wellington, a Halifax and a Lancaster according to German records at Freiburg.........

other NJG 4 pilots that scored or made claims were :

Oberleutnant Bergmann and a Major Holler who shot down 2 - a Wellington and a Stirling plus from IV./NJG 4 a Hauptmann Wohlers a Wellington

also it is confirmed that a 429th squadron Wellington fell to Leutnant Werner Baake of I./NJG 1

Erich,

I would have to go back and check who told me about him here (several people) and then the website I found him on him, I will get that and then he is listed on the Lost Bombers site.

Hang on....

Jo Ann

Erich,

This is a site I checked on him too.

Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 - NJG 1

Erich,

Wellington HF542 Information

TypeWellingtonSerial NumberHF542Squadron429X1DAL-?OperationD_sseldorfDate 111th June 1943Date 212th June 1943

Further Information

"Serial range HF513 - HF545. 33 Wellington Mk.X. HF452-HF606, 118 Wellington Mk.X, delivered by Vickers (Chester) in May and June 1943. Part of a batch of 1100 Wellington Mk.1C/111/X/X11/X1V. HD942-HF606. For the full list of this large batch refer to Record No.6135. HF542 was one of three 429 Sqdn Wellingtons lost on this operation. See: HE593; HZ235. Airborne 2308 11Jun43 from East Moor. Shot down by a night-fighter (Lt Werner Baake, 1./NJG1) and crashed 0110 at Westendorp (Gelderland), 8 km ESE of Doetinchem, Holland. Three are buried in Wisch (Varsseveld) General Cemetery and the other two have no known graves. P/O R.P.Davies RCAF KIA Sgt D.E.Campbell RCAF KIA Sgt R.Zeidel RCAF KIA Sgt L.P.R.Taillefer RCAF KIA Sgt A.J.Maclachlan RCAF KIA "


This one was listed for Baake on Lost Bombers (Not my Uncle's plane. My Uncle's was HZ355.

Skipper,

You have taught me well, Master! Ha Ha

Gotta run...Grandson Up and wants to play...Dirty Diaper Duty!

Be Back later!

Jo Ann

Erich,

They got quite a few during the night on June 11th and 12th. Kollack got 3 within a couple of hours actually closer to an hour and a half!

Jo Ann

Jo Ann I see several members of NJG 1 are not listed that had claims as well as Baake that I mentioned confirmed. a big problem is that Reinhard Kollak is not in service on this date with NJG 1 at all only during 1941.

sorry to spoil the fun but it was another LW pilot/crew and please be careful with Lost Bombers if you would, as his info is direct copies for Allied losses from the multi-volumes of Chorley which are not complete works

Kollaks claims are at :

00.41
01.00
01.24

I better check on that then.....Thank you. I will go back to the other site and see.

Jo Ann

Kollack was at 7/NJG4 at the time of the crash. He later transferred to 8/NJG4. The reason why some sites mention NJG1 despite his transfer is because there is a confusion: 7/NJG4 was formed with elements from 1/NJG1 in 1942. This is why people keep saying he flew with them. see the ww2 dk air site for more details.

__________________

a light bulb went off in my head when the date was mentioned and upon further search in my data : this was the first combat mission flown by the prototype He 219 with Werner Streib at the controls. the crew shot down 5 RAF bombers and then crashed on landing tearing the cockpit free away from the fuselage at Venlo, Holland. Two of the bombers were from the 78th sqdn., 1 of them from the 115th sqdn.

too bad there is quite a bit of time frame expended Skipper these chaps need to get their records updated

Erich and Skipper,

Ok so, I don't speak "Plane" Lingo....Still learning!

No really, what was the final outcome here on the Wellington HZ355.

Kollack yes? Or more research needed.

Jo Ann

Kollack is still the best candidate but Erich is right to say that nothing should be taken for granted, there were several other claims and candidates, but the Doetichghem crash is near Arnhem Holland, so it is not the claim we are interested in. There is a nice phrase often used by Chorley with says "it is believed that" this generally suggest that there is never a 100% probability, unless we were sitting in the fighter ouselves and even then, there are overclaims.

The "translation" of Erich's info. The DO 219 Uhu has been used a nightfighter and was used that night for the first time as a prototype. He is not saying they claimed your uncle's aircraft, but they are among the candidates too. What it is interesting to note that this rather rare aircraft flew in the skies for the first time that night. It was a clumsy aircraft, but it was remarkebly fitted witht he first ejectable seat, but that's another story, maybe Erich and I should open a special thread for the UHU.

__________________

Skipper and Erich,

I will explain this to my Uncle and still show him the information and picture of Kollack to him. He will want to learn a lot about it. He wants me to find out what happened to the men that he told me about (the names of the ones he met along the way and in the camps). So far I have not found anyone that is still with us, but I will keep looking. He knew that the Biernaux family that helped him in the Comete line were arrested and Raymond Biernaux (Olympe and Florent Biernaux's 20 year old son) died in a Camp, from the letter he received from Olympe in 1946 but he doesn't know the whole story. It will be hard to tell him the details about what happened to the people.

Found info on Sharp, Whitney and Ford

B-17F #42-3113 (F)
379th Squadron (US)
Shot down on May 29, 1943 near Pontivy, France
All 10 Crew survived and became POW's
Lt. Aurthur P. Hale
2Lt. Stuart M. Sharp (Stalag 7A - Work Camps Krumbachstrasse and Munich. NARA)
2Lt. Bernard Adruskiewicz
2Lt. Jerry B. Ahern
T/Sgt Charles M. Ford (Stalag Luft 3 - moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser. NARA)
Sgt Joseph E. Lasitor
S/Sgt Chester A. Whitney (Stalag 17B. NARA)
S/Sgt Chester T. Moore
Sgt Lee S. Hilton
Sgt Lawrence E. Josselyn

Any Master Internet Sufer here?

I have tried to locate a picture of F/Sgt. John J. M. Smith (636817)
From: Dolverton, Buckinghamshire
RAF Bomber Squadron 218
Stirling BF505
Shot down May 4 or 5, 1943
Neerpelt
Crashed: 5km south of Dokkum, Friesland, Netherlands
F/S J.M.J. Smith in Camp 4B, PoW No.222555

Went through Comete Line, Arrested by Gestapo on July 9, 1943, with my Uncle.

Any suggestions? I have searched and searched.

Searching and I found this.... Someone else probably has it too!




[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']Ancestry.com. Canadian Soldiers of World War I, 1914-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006. Original data: Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918). Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada.[/font]

I put a copy in my Gallery.

Hi Jo Ann, I was away for the day, looking for militaria at a local flee Market. I made a couple of great finds. In the meantime I see you have posted many more fine stories. You did the rigt thing about John Smith, hopefully someone will read your note and post a picture. It's the first time I see the de De witter info. It confirs what i said about his borth place in Paschendaele, but what's new is his temporary address in France near LE MANS. I know there were many resistants there, some were actually betrayed and arrested, no wonder if De Witter was among them!
When are you leaving to visit your uncle? Do I have time or not?

__________________

Skipper,

I have to stay home (prior commitments), my husband is going tomorrow morning and will be up near my Uncle all week with his work. Hubby gets email on all of his computer gadgets so I can send him anything as I find it. Besides, he took French! He can spell the words much better than me.

I have pictures of DeZitter, Flore, Dessoubrie, and the False houses. It appears that My Uncle travelled to Paris with Sgt. Frank Hugo and Sgt. William E. Cole. I have a good picture of Sgt. Frank Hugo but the one I have of Sgt. William E. Cole is not as clear. I made them as large as I could without distortions. I found a website that had a story written about Hugo and Cole, I sent an email but it came back undeliverable. Website is from 2004 I think. F/Sgt. John M. J. Smith "Smitty" my Uncle remembers very much so it's not that important but just in case. Wish I could find a picture of Jean-Marcel Nootens. He worked with DeZitter and would have been the one that took my Uncle to get his picture taken.

I am still trying to find out information on a "M. A. Lenssen of Grand Route, Eisden." On the letter I found, it says that Lenssen lodged my Uncle in his/her house. I think the "M" is for Mr. It is used elsewhere in the letter where I know that the name does not have a "M" in it.

Jo Ann

After next week, I will be spending a lot of time with my Uncle on the phone going over things but I do have a question...

He told me that after one of his escapes he was sent to the "Cooler". He has used the term "Clink" also. I am guessing it is the same.

When I was little and my Uncle came to visit, of course I had to go to bed early, I didn't...I listened to my Uncle talk with my mother (I was hiding) and remember him saying that he was put into a small box/cage. He was hungry and ate a grasshopper. He said that he was able to grab a small dog and ate it too. I remember this so much because it scared me. I will try and ask him about it after next week but I was wondering if this was the "Cooler or Clink".