Need information about German pilot/Plane.

[colletorww2]

Friday 9 Febuary 1945 a German plane was flying to Herdla airport and it got shot down and crashlanded on an island called Toska(Which just happens to be where i was born), the airplane got shot down by friendly fire from a fortress in the area and the pilot bailed out and was brought into the nearby town of Manger. The people thought he was British and tried speaking english to him, but he kept his mouth shut, they even asked the priest to talk to him, but he kept his mouth shut until the Germans came and picked him up. The next day, the Germans came and gathered the big parts of what was left of the plane.

And eyewitness i talked to said: "I was out working on the farm, when i hear cannons firing and i see tracers, even though it was in the middle of the day. The plane almost hit our farm and came down really low over the farm, until it crashed in a field. There was a big explosion and a part of the propellor landed next to a fence outside our home, i wanted to go get it, but it was during the war so i didn't dare".



In the 1980's they made a new road on the island and they removed the fence and probably a lot of parts. But even though my father and a lot of other people said "There is probably nothing left". I decided to look for parts after all, i got a permission from the woman that owns the field. And i started digging, the first couple days i detected in the bottom of the field and the only thing i was able to find were parts of an old barn the tore down. But one day when i was digging, a good friend of mine who saw the plane crash told me to search higher up, and boy did i hit the jackpot. I had found exactly where the plane crashed and in just 1 small hole i found 80 rounds, i also found a couple of 20mm rounds(Empty ones of course, most of the 20mm shells were destroyed, or badly damaged in the crash. I did find 2 intact explosive parts of the 20mm which i had to dump in the ocean).


And i was wondering if anybody had any information about Uffz. Herbert Schäfer of the Jagdstaffel 11./III./JG 5 . And what he had done before it got shot down(A lot of the 7,92 rounds have been fired, so i am wondering why).

[diddyriddick]

I've got a little bit different info. According to the Luftwaffe Loss Register, Schaefer was actually flying an FW-190 A-8 belonging to Jagdstaffel 12. Otherwise, your info jives with mine. The Werk # is 0350 177. There is no info on his action that day at the below site, but based on other losses the same day at Herdla, I would guess that British Squadron 65 was probably involved.

Luftwaffe Loss Register - Part 10 Fighters JG5

[beaupower32]

I see I am a few days late, but it looks like the plane he was flying was Blue 1 with the Wrk Nr. 0350 177 like diddyriddick said.

Beaufighter in focus - Google Books

On this link it shows his name in a list very bottom of the page, right colum. The book is about beaufighters, so did he tangle with them on the day he was shot down? I am also seeing some areas listing as a P-51 that shot him down.

[Njaco]

He may have been a victim of "Black Friday". I copied this from an unknown source years ago...

RAF COASTAL COMMAND BLACK FRIDAY
9 February 1945
Coastal Command's Strike wings performed many memorable shipping strikes during the last two years of the war and one of the blackest days in the Strike wings' history, the appropriately named "Black Friday", was this day.

At 10:30 hours two Beaufighters from RAF No.489 Sqd. sighted a Narvik destroyer with heavy escort at the entrance to Vevringefjord and no less than five transports were seen in Nord-Gulen, the largest between 4000-5000 tons. Even before the two Beaus had landed, the planning of the attack had begun. The five merchant ships were an obvious target but the Admiralty had other priorities. They were more interested in destroying the few remaining warships of the Kriegsmarine. The nearby Strike Wing base at Banff was alerted as was Peterhead, home of RAF No.65. Sqd flying Mustang Mk IIIs . They would act as escort.

A large strike Force was assembled and consisted of the following forces. Nine Beaufighters with cannon and MGs, twenty-two Beaufighters armed with rockets and twelve Mustang MK IIIs. Another force consisting of Mosquitoes from various squadrons was to patrol the area between Ytteroyane and Stord, with special orders to attack the large transports. The large formation numbering forty-three planes were led by Wing Commander Colin Milson, an experienced "Aussie" who had fought in the Mediterranean and the Norwegian theatres. At this time in the war, Coastal Command had a great deal of experience with shipping strikes, having perfected them during three intense years of operations, but German fighters were still to be reckoned with.

The Luftwaffe had only about forty-five single-engined fighters in Norway south of Trondheim, barely more than the total number of planes in the strike force. But they were flying high-performance Focke-Wulfs or Messerschmitts and most of the pilots were battle-hardened veterans from the northern front, having fought the Russians for over three years. More specifically, 9.and 12. Staffel of the famous "Eismeer Geschwader" JG 5, was stationed at Herdla just outside Bergen. As the only Staffels in Norway at this time, they flew both late and early variants of the Fw 190. And at Gossen near Molde, 10. and 11. Staffel had their Bf 109G-6s and G-14s ready. Planes from both bases could reach Fordefjord and effect an interception if alerted in time.

At 15.40 hours the formation reached the Norwegian coastline west of Sognefjord. At this time the outriders started their search north and south looking for other vessels or even the destroyer. A German fighter was sighted to the north, but it quickly disappeared. A small convoy was seen to the south, but no trace of the destroyer. The outriders turned back and headed for base after completion of their missions.

The Beaufighter formation headed towards Fordefjord from the south. The German fortress at Furuneset fired a few rounds at the allied aircraft without inflicting any damage. The time was just past 16.00 hours. The formation turned north expecting to see the enemy at the entrance of Fordefjord. F/S Stan Butler from RAF No.144. Sqd related; "But as we turned north with the intention of turning west into the fjord when we reached it, and making our attack "out to sea", we suddenly found ourselves under fire from the ships which were almost underneath us".

This was indeed an unwelcome surprise. Having been outmaneuvered, Milson had no other choice but to initiate another attack run. Abandoning the attack was simply not an option. Because of the placement of the German vessels, Milson decided that it was impossible to launch an attack in the normal way out to sea. They had to get further east to make the attack run out the fjord. As the forty plane formation turned east, the German sailors prepared for the forthcoming attack; some continued firing their guns, the officers shouted their quick orders; one vessel ran aground near Frammarsvik and the crew hurriedly evacuated as did some from the destroyer Z-33 itself. After having turned east, Milson led his strike force south toward Forde and then west just south of the fjord. Milson now realized that an attack out the fjord was virtually impossible if they were to have any chance of success. They would have to continue on a westerly direction and then make a 180 degree turn northeast again to attack into the fjord; just the opposite of the usual practice. Milson ordered the Beaufighters into echelon port just before the wing turned into the final attack run. Finally they were ready.

The alarm had sounded at Herdla shortly before 15.50 hours. On this day 9./JG 5 had nine Focke-Wulfs at readiness, 12./JG 5 had three. Fw. Rudolf Artner, a very experienced pilot from the 'Eismeer' front was leading the 9. Staffel in his Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8, "White 10". Having been the favorite wingman of famous 'Eismeer' aces such as Heinrich Erhler and Walter Shuck, he was credited with 17 victories up to this date. Lt. Rudolf Linz used his faithful "Blue 4", an A-8 with close to 70 black victory bars on its white rudder, most of them from his time on the northern front. A few minutes later the Focke-Wulfs were in the air. 12. Staffel's three fighters were placed above and behind the other nine to provide top cover.

Milson made the first attack, behind him the others were queuing up to make theirs. There was simply not enough room in the fjord for more than two or three Beaufighters to attack at the same time. Projectiles of all calibers were streaming towards the planes, making the entire fjord a very dangerous place to be. But it was not a one-sided battle. The Beaufighters singled out their targets and according to one of the eyewitnesses "it seemed to us as if it was the boats in the middle of the fjord which got the worst of it". Some planes attacked from south-west, others from a more western direction, the latter used cannon and rockets against the Z-33.

By 16:10 hours another factor was to be brought into the battle. Having successfully attacked and evaded the enemy ships, they headed up the valley of Naustdal barely 50 m over the landscape. Beaufighter 'PL-Y' of RAF No.144. Sqd. piloted by P/O Smith and P/O "Spike" Holly acting as navigator photographed the chaotic scene behind them and as Holly looked over the tail, he saw a fighter a couple of hundred yards behind them. He wondered if this was a Mustang, but his hopes were shattered as he noticed the characteristic broad cowling of a radial-engined Focke-Wulf. A quick message to Smith over the intercom, and then things happened quickly. The German fighter attacked and he and Holly fired almost simultaneously. A cannon shell exploded near Holly, and splinters wounded him in the belly, knocking him unconscious. The cockpit and port Hercules was also hit, destroying the intercom and any hopes of regaining base.

At very low level they cut off some treetops and headed west, just north of Fordefjord. 'PL-Y' continued to fly for some time westwards, and Smith managed to effect a crash-landing on the sea in Hoydalsfjord. Here they were rescued by civilians, but as Holly's wound needed professional attention, the Norwegians had no option but to contact a doctor. That was equal to contacting the Germans. Smith and Holly were thus captured later that evening, and eventually transported to Bergen. But they had survived. Others were not so fortunate.

9./JG 5 had attacked directly into the swarm of Beaufighters waiting to attack the ships. A Beaufighter was seen to loose its tail and exploded shortly afterwards. A member of the crew, identified as a French-Canadian, was later found in the sea.

[Njaco]

At about this time, FD/L Foster, leader of the ten Mustang MK IIIs of RAF No.65. Sqd. discovered the German fighters too. He could see how they had attacked the Beaufighters over Vevring, diving out of the skies from about 4000 feet. Foster alerted his comrades over the radio. Then he saw three more fighters, heading directly for him. He fired a short burst at one of them, obtaining hits in the BMW-engine. Pursuing the Focke-Wulf, the German fighter started to trail black smoke. The German fighter finally crashed into the sea near Heilevang. The pilot, Lt. Karl-Heinz "Charly" Koch took to his parachute and like his plane he ended up in the cold fjord. He was eventually rescued by Norwegians. Another Mustang managed to pick off Fj.Ofw. Otto Leibfried's "White 22", actually an F-8 fighter-bomber, near Gjesneset just opposite to where Z-33 lay. Leibfried managed to bail out despite being wounded, but he landed in very difficult terrain. In the nights following the battle, people could see his flares calling for assistance. There was however, little the Norwegian and German patrols could do. In the summer of 1945 Leibfried's dead body was finally located laying on a small bed of pine branches.

The battle soon spread over a large area in all directions. The Beaufighters suffered heavily at the hands of the Focke-Wulfs. Near Gaular terrified civilians witnessed how a Beaufighter was pursued by a Focke-Wulf and was hit several times. The Beaufighter tried to land on an elevation, but the terrain made this an impossibility. The plane broke in half during the ensuing crash and the cockpit-section slid down the hillside for more than 500 meters. Sadly, the crew perished in the crash. A single Mustang tried to help out, and attacked the German fighter. A long aerial duel developed. The Mustang finally caught fire, and made a wide turn out the fjord. But then the British pilot turned back. According to eyewitnesses the pilot must have been badly wounded, but instead of bailing out he continued the fight. But to no avail. The Mustang crashed in the green pine forest being the only Mustang loss of the battle.

The German fighter was in trouble also. The engine had been damaged and this forced the pilot to bail out. A small charge dispensed with the canopy but he was too close to the ground for the chute to open. Fortunately, the snowy hillside enabled the pilot to survive, a small avalanche carried him to the bottom of the valley. During the journey down, his flare gun accidentally went off, causing severe burns on one leg. He found his way into a small barn and after a while some Norwegians found him and made sure he made it to hospital. The pilot was Uffz. Heinz Orlowski from 9./JG 5. He spent the rest of the war in hospital and reconvalence at Herdla, and did not see further combat. In 1994 he and his newly-restored "Weise 1" were actually reunited in Texas, survivors of a fierce battle some 49 years before.

Further north, in Naustdal, three fighters followed closely in the tracks of Smith and Holly's damaged Beaufighter. The leading plane was a British Mustang. The other two were German as the Mustang suddenly dived into the valley to emerge below one of the Focke-Wulfs and then fired a short burst of fire. The Focke-Wulf quickly flicked over and spiraled down with black smoke trailing behind to crash in a ball of flames near Solheimsstolen. The occupant, Leutnant Rudi Linz was probably killed before impact as he made no attempt to evacuate the plane. 28 years of age, he was the most successful German pilot in Norway at this time, having been credited with 70 victories, most of them against Russians.

Fw. Rudolf Arter from 9./JG 5 got his second victory of the day not far from where Lt. Linz fell. Coming barely three minutes after the first, Fw. Artner wrote the following report detailing his nineteenth victory of the war: "As the battle developed I managed to hit another Beaufighter twice during a low-level tail chase. The plane finally turned and crashed straight into the ground after yet another salvo. The crash was noted at 16.13 about 5 km north-northwest of Naustdal."

Beaufighters were shot down over a wide area. The Beaufighter of F/O Savard and P/O Middleton bellied in on the ice, but turned over and trapped the crew. Norwegians tried to help them but retreated as German soldiers fired at them. Middleton was severely wounded and died when he was being transported to land, but Savard survived to spend the rest of the war as a POW. Another Beaufighter fell at the entrance to Fordefjord. F/L McColl and W/O MacDonald from RAAF No.455 Sqd. survived the crash landing only to be arrested by German soldiers in a nearby civilian house.

The last of the Beaufighters to attack the vessels was 'PL-O' with F/S Stan Butler at the controls. He had just attacked a small vessel with cannon fire and was trying to escape the inferno when a small caliber projectile pierced the cockpit and destroyed the base of his control column. As Butler was maneuvering wildly to put the Flak gunners off their aim, liquid splashed all over him and his canopy, making it very difficult to see out. At that moment the navigator F/S Nicholl discovered "the unmistakable front silhouette of an Fw 190 with little lights sparkling along its wings". Butler used a trick he had learned during his training in Calgary, Alberta. By careful control of the rudder and banking port and starboard, he gave the impression that he was weaving from side to side. This made it difficult for any attacker to get a good shot at his target. Before the German pilot could figure out what to do about this elusive Englishman, Nicholl had fired a red Very cartridge which alerted a Mustang to their problems. The Mustang successfully chased the offending Focke-Wulf away.

The battle lasted about 15 minutes. At about 16.30 hours the last combatants withdrew from the battle and set course for home. The remaining Beaufighters and Mustangs, many of which were damaged, flew singly or in small groups all the way to Dallachy. Fw. Rudolf Arter had led his Staffel into combat and landed at Herdla at 16.55 hours, barely more than an hour after take-off.

The allied Strike Wings suffered heavily. One Mustang and nine Beaufighters were shot down, including six of the Beaufighters from the hard-hit RCAF No.404 Squadron which lost eleven men killed with another one taken prisoner. The Germans suffered losses also, though not so appalling. As related above, Fj.Ofw. Otto Leibfried died after the battle was over, and Lt. Rudi Linz was probably dead before his Focke-Wulf hit the ground. The two other Germans shot down survived. Thus only two Germans fell in aerial combat.

In view of the enormous effort and terrible losses, the results of the attack were very disappointing. Z-33 was not prevented from continuing to Trondheim, even if four sailors were killed. Damages to the ships were light as well. Z-33 had suffered an explosion and a minesweeper was set afire amidships. But no vessels were sunk, as was the general intention behind the attack. The battle was to have important consequences for the conduct of future shipping strikes. The Admiralty altered the target priority, giving surfaced submarines top priority instead of surface warships. Tankers and troop transports were also to have a high priority. But whatever the priority, the strike of 9 February 1945 was the last in which heavy attack planes were sent against well-defended warships of the Kriegsmarine.

[Milosh]

If anyone is interested, there is a book, 'Canadian Squadrons in Coastal Command' by Andrew Hendrie. ISBN 1-55125-038-1

Besides 'Black Friday', there are many more reports.