Hi there Zippy, Thank you very much for your prompt and extensive reply. It's wonderful to have made your acquaintance, and that you have been to the crash site. Another Ace (4 lines down) made a similar claim over Hannover a minute later, see below. Raht did not score a victory again until 27/28 September 1943, when he accounted for a Lancaster over Hanover. The report lists Raht as belonging to 4./NJG 3 at this time Gerhard Raht - Wikipedia All very brave men. Within the family, Stan (see pic attached) was said to be a very likeable person, and interestingly your photo of his grave stone has the same remark. I really would appreciate you talking to the locals if/when you next go to Mahlerten as they may remember the exact places where the 2 planes came down and the exact circumstances before and after the crashes. I will follow up with the London Gazette as you suggest for medal details. Cheers John View attachment 88860
Hi John, more research has shown that the second aircraft shot down at Mahlerten that night, JA704, was downed not by Schnauffer but by another JG 300 "Wild boar" pilot Feldwebel Kurt Emler, his second kill. Two of the crew survived, Emler had reached nine kills by the time he was kia in 1944. Schnaufer's victim was a Halifax of 434 Sqn LK919, which crashed at nearby Nordstemmen. Friedrich Karl Müller was in fact the top scoring single seater night fighter pilot. Here is a list of JG 300 pilots victories in single seat fighters : Leutnant Gerhard Bärsdorf (5) Leutnant Klaus Bretschneider (16) Leutnant Otto Brüning (12) Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel Arnold Döring (10) Feldwebel Kurt Emler (9) Major Hajo Hermann (9) Leutnant Ernst-Erich Hirschfeld (9) Hauptmann Iro Ilk (5) Hauptmann Karl-Friedrich Müller (30) Oberleutnant Walter Plewa (8) Unteroffizier Kurt Röder (6) Feldwebel Ernst Schäfer (12) Leutnant Georg Schmitt (7) Leutnant Werner Treusch (8) Feldwebel Ulrich Veh (11) Leutnant Kurt Welter (?) Oberfeldwebel Hermann Wischnewski (18)
@zippy Imagine you have seen this video and many like it already, but found it very interesting so thought I would share it for those who haven't seen it.
I have just stumbled across this thread and found it very interesting! I live in North Shropshire and this area was used by the RAF significantly for training purposes RAF Stations in Shropshire Sleap Airfield was used for training Canadian Pilots on bombing, which resulted in planes practicing nighttime bombing and invariably crashing into the main control tower, killing civilians and the members of the crew. This did not happen once, but twice, and within a week of each other! there is a free museum on the site now, which is open to the public and also has a good cafe in the old control tower, and the airfield is still operational and you can watch planes taking off and landing if people are in the area and want to kill an hour or two.
