Crashed VVS 218 DBAP Boston at Bogdanesti

Muggs

Here it goes on a new topic :

The A-20J was operated by the 5th Air Army of the 2nd UKR Front
The Boston was flown by group commander Lt.Colonel Kotov born
in Kemerovo and the Navigator Guard Major Fedorenko born in Kiev
along with 1 gunner Guard Starshina (Plutonier ) Pirogov gunner
radio operator and one gunner and the aircraft belonged to
218 DBAP.

The Boston was changing base on Aug 29,1944 from either Balti
or Tiraspol to their new base at Tecuci when intercepted by
3 ME-109 from Roman (Reghin).....

I checked on Erich Hartmann history book and he states
something about a Boston with no details nor any clues who
were the JG52 pilots involved ( German language ).

JG52 and JG77 shows no activity on Aug 28 through Aug 31'44
on their records....but they were active along with the other
JG's /DTM Rumania as they were retreating from Bucharest,
Ploesti etc and regroupping at Reghin in an attempt to withdraw
into Hungarian airfields.

According to the Russian MACR the crew is buried South-East
800-1000 meter from end of the forest in Bogdanesti. The
Soviet records dont state which forest but they do state that
they were buried overthere. Its highly believed that debris
of the Boston are still scatered throughout the forest.

Since I go open with all details and I get assistance from
the historical division of Russian AF and for the benefit of the
forum, I kindly ask that all folow ups and photos should be
posted in here.

Best Regards
Al

This post has been edited by yugit on September 07, 2011 02:37 pm

I am not trying to muddy the waters here, but...

There is a "Bogdanesti" near Iasi. This is more or less on the straight path between Balti and Tecuci. This is within range for Roman-based fighters.
There is a small forest there, the Google Earth co-ordinates are:
47° 6'56.55"N
27°25'9.64"E

There is a Bogdanesti in Bacau that is west of the the Balti-Tecuci path.

There is a Bogdanesti in Suceava that is north of the Balti-Tecuci path.

None of the three "Bogdanesti" are near the Tiraspol-Tecuci path.

Radu

Radu

sint de acord si este corect....langa Iasi dar trebuie sa intreb
in Moscova de la ce baza au decolat informazie care nu stiu
la ora actuala

Salutari

This post has been edited by yugit on September 07, 2011 02:44 pm

According to the Russian info available, the take off was initiated
at Balti and both Bogdanesti come in question (Iasi and Bacau)
Hartmann cites in his book SE of Roman .....so probably still
Bogdanesti near Bacau. The aircraft belonged to 312 th Night
Bombardment Regiment of 218 NBAP.

For anyone who understands Russian, I am attaching the MACR's


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/18/36728881.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/535/32444734.jpg/

This post has been edited by yugit on September 07, 2011 03:16 pm

Thanks for the info, i can't promise anything but i'll try to get ahold of whatever info possible !

The one near Bacau is somehow close to my wife's parents and i was thinking of driving till there the next time we go visit, but i'll try to make some calls and see what comes up in the meantime

Great to hear from you and many thanks in advance for any
effort no matter the outcome in the long run. My instincts
tells me that this could lead to some interesting results
in due course. I must tell that in similar to the P-39,the
A-20 series it was a superb airplane.

Thank you and best regards

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/a20gy.jpg/

This post has been edited by yugit on September 07, 2011 05:24 pm

Translation from file 36728881.jpg :

The 312nd Night Light Bomber Air Division (312 NBAD)

25. Lt.Col. Ivan Kotov, Division Deputy CO
26. Maj. Victor Fedorenko, Division Senior Navigator
27. Sg.Maj. Ghenady Pirogov, Division communication air mechanic

The plane was hit by the enemy MG-fire.

This post has been edited by Petre on September 10, 2011 08:03 am

Bolshoi spasibah Petre, I speak more or less Russian too and my wife is Russian...therefore I was aware about all that.

Best Regards

This post has been edited by yugit on September 07, 2011 07:16 pm

There is another Bodganesti in Vaslui.
Google co-ordinates 46°27'17.21"N 27°43'11.06"E
There is a small forest nearby.
This is right on the direct path between Balti and Tecuci and is south-east of Roman.
Hope this helps,
Radu

Maybe there was no Luftwaffe. They have not written anything about any enemy plane.

Radu ,

You have a point, you really do and it really makes sense
what you saying.The new coordinates would take Lt.Col.Kotov
flight to its intendet destination through the most efficient way.....
and I tend to believe that you are " right on the money ".

Now, that route would take him SW or aprox. on a 190
degree azimuth to Tecuci and slightly West of Husi which
may or may have not been the home base of SG2 at that
time.

Therefore maybe an expert of the Luftwaffe on here can
tell us what Jagd Geschwader of the Luftwaffe was stationed
at Husi then.....that could bring us to the next steep.

I've checked through my professional Jeppesen
flight planning software and lacking standard parameters
for flight calculation purposes such as cruise altitude,pressure
altitude and winds aloft I can roughly estimate 45-50 minutes
flight time given he flew at average cruise speed.

BR

Al



This post has been edited by yugit on September 08, 2011 11:08 am

Could be this claim from the official Luftwaffe victory list.



28.08.44 Oblt. Gotthold Jasta: Führer -K u r i e r S t .
B o s t o n I I I S D 9 4 / 2 5 O . N . : a t 8 . 0 0 0 m . 1 0 . 2 0 Film C. 2035/IIA n e r k : N r . 4

Its hard to believe that a Fuehrer Kurrier Staffel pilot would
be involved on this, secondly it was on Aug 29,44.
Nevertheless pse look further at SG2 if they were in
Rumania still on AUg 29,44

This post has been edited by yugit on September 08, 2011 11:48 am

After 23-08 '44 germans pilots were retreating in a hurry, the combat reports were filled later (when the front was stabilised ) so the date could be more or less appropriate.
Why do you exclude a Fuhrer Kurrier pilot from the list ? Mayby he flew a fighter plane that day.

At that time SG2 moved from Husi (and Zilistea) to Reghin. On 31 august, Reghin was attacked by 31FG Mustangs claiming some FW 190 from SG2.

Is it mentioned in the report the hour of the crash ?