5 & 18 May 1944 ARR v. USAAF, Question about sources & books

Yes it's true but until middle of june '44, FW 190 units (stationed in Romania) combat only on estern front against russian.

One of the first mentioned action of FW 190 in Romania against US raids was on 23 june'44 in so called "Sternflug" when FW 190 and IAR 80-81 units should attack the bombers while Bf 109 units (romanian and german) should engage the US fighters.

In April, Mai and first week of june there were no FW190 attacking US planes in south Romania ( Bucharest and Ploesti areas).

As 463rd Bomb Group Mission Report for 18 May 1944 mentioned that were attacked by yellow nose fighters there is no doubt were IAR80-81 (yellow engine cowling) . And also romanian Bf 109E from 52sq ( with yellow engine cowlings) were fighting that day against US bombers.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on December 17, 2008 11:06 am

C-no, I was not referring to this particular incident - where you're obviosuly right - but in general, as my previous post clearly indicates.

Gen. Dénes

i have strong proves that B-17 ( MACR 5791, pilot Lt. Menge) crash not in Romania, but in Bulgaria . The crew ( unfortunately) not survived, that is for no one was in Shumen POW camp ( www.shumen-camp.info).Till now now are known 2 places where 2 flyers were burried. Any pictures of the plane and the crew will be appreciated.

Hi Strazh

Thanks for the info.
What are those 2 places names ? The 2 flyers were indentified ? I have only the list of the crew. Indeed all were listed KIA in MACR.

Hello Cantacuzino,
Thanks for the response,
In June 2008 DPMO team was at the crash site, I was with them.
Till now we are sure that it was Menge's plane, because we found the cylinder head with the SN which response to one of the numbers in the MACR, and the part of landing gear with label B-17G. I can share only this pics, if somebody is interested in. From August 2009 JPAC is investigating the case, as you understand further information is not for sharing. One of the fliers is buried near the plane , judging from interviews the body was very small and burnt. I propose it was Lt. Menge ( he was the shortest), he stayed probably to the very crash in the plane. Before the crash all rest bailed out. Another one was dead because his parachute failed to open and he was buried by Bulgarian villagers in village Gorno Pestene, Vratsa region, Bulgaria. We do not know his name, in 1945 his remains were exumated and buried again in Sofia American cemetery, but he probably was not identified by Captain DeStefano, chief of the USGRU team for Bulgaria. Another 8 crew members survived , but the same day were killed and buried first between 2 Bulgarian villages near Vratsa, than removed from that place. The investigation about this is under way.

How were they killed?

Gen. Dénes

As Mr Strazh mentioned, the info is not yet for public sharing due to JPAC investigation.