My relative's B-17 was shot down over X on this date. Where can I learn more?

[Richard T Eger]

For a quite helpful discussion in regard to researching this subject, the reader is referred to the topic "AFHRA & NARA Missing Air Crew Reports - 6" on the "Archives in the USA" forum.

Regards,
Richard

[Richard T Eger]

The following e-mail from April 2024 gives a quick guide for learning more about a specific combat in which an Allied plane was shot down.

.................................................. .................................................. .......

From: "CHRIS DUFFY" chris_duffy_seaside@yahoo.com
To: egerrt@dmv.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2024 3:35 PM
Subject: research

DEAR RICHARD I AM TRYING TO FIND WHICH NIGHTFIGHTER
UNIT AND AIRCRAFT NUMBER AND TYPE SHOT DOWN A HALIFAX
BOMBER IN JUNE 1943 SOME 25 KLM WEST OF THE HAIGH
HOLLAND IS THERE ANYWHERE I COULD WRITE OR E MAIL FOR
INFORMATION? YOURS GRATEFULLY MR. DUFFY.

.................................................. .................................................. .......

From: "Erich and Kathi Brown" eke@internetcds.com
To: egerrt@dmv.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2024 11:07 PM
Subject: question on TOCH....

Hi Richard !

Noted the problems you are having with lwag and the questions of Help Me
!, concerning Chris Duffy. He needs to check with the Gemeinshaft der
Jagdflieger and ask for the night fighter representative, which at
present goes through Willy Göbel. Best bet maybe is to write Gert
Overhoff on the Gemeinshaft web-site.
A big problem is that at Freiburg archiv's the KTB's are somewhat
incomplete and may not include all pilots with victories as well as
losses by the geschwader or gruppen. It does appear that not all KTB's
have been found of the night fighter units. I have been unable to open
Jaap's exhaustive list so I cannot say this for fact.
If this was concerning a US bomber I would ask the gentleman to satrt
posting a question(s) on http://www.heavybombers.com
(now http://www.armyairforces.com ). Hopefully the
person would know the squadron or bomb group. They then could ask for
information about the crew and mission(s) flown via their message board
which covers all the 8th as well as the 15th Air Forces.
From here they then could inquire from http://aviationarchive.com
(apparently no longer available) and
check their site for macr's, mission reports/tracking charts of the
bomber group/squadron. Once known, then they can ask the questions
pertaining to the Luftwaffe day fighter units...twin and single......
we then could check if available the time of action , airfield and
gruppen/staffle or geschwader and see if they were active during this
date. references like Dr. Prien's histories come in very handy, as well
as webistes like JG 300's and our own sturmgruppen 1944, etc.
does this make any sense ?

Erich

[Richard T Eger]

The following information was supplied to me today by Larry deZeng. It was a response to an inquiry by a fellow seeking information about the fate of his father's crew after their plane went down at or near Magdeburg.

"WASt = Deutsche Dienststelle für die Benachrichtigung der nächsten Angehörigen von Gefallenen der ehemaligen deutschen Wehrmacht (German Office for Notification of Next of Kin of Members of the Former Wehrmacht Killed on Active Service). You must go through WASt to obtain hospital information (incl. medical treatment of P/Ws) from the Krankenbuchlager (Depository for Hospital and Medical Records) located at Wattstraße 11-13, 1000 Berlin 65.

WASt's address is: Eichborndamm 167-209, 1000 Berlin 51. Both of these are 15- year-old addresses, but the website will give you the new ones. WASt also has a bi-lingual website at: www.com-de.com/wast/index.htm . Their rules are as follows: for non-family members they will only provide information if it is 10 years or more after the individual's death or 90 years after the individual's date of birth. The charge in force on 20 June 2024 was $8.00 per page for non-official (un-notarized) photocopies.

BA-MA is the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv in Freiburg. The RL 40/Kart Flak maps are there You will find lots more on BA-MA on the website lwag.org in the "Archives in Germany" forums, including the address and how to write to them.

These German government agencies will correspond with you in English (both ways), but it takes a little longer that way. Imagine the clerk of your hometown's courthouse getting a letter of inquiry written in German. You can imagine what would happen. At least most German agencies will process your inquiry and respond in English, albeit reluctantly.

A couple of other points. Expect 3 to 5 months from the time you write to the time you get a reply. Nearly all Luftwaffe records were destroyed at the end of the war, so people will have to do a lot of searching to try and answer your questions. That's why I suggested the Magdeburg city archivist as a possible shortcut. Some city historian may have already done the basic research and they may know right where to put their finger on it."

Thanks, Larry.

Regards,
Richard