On 9 July 1944, Obltn. Bär, a “column leader” with II./Flak Sturmregiment 52 (mot.) sent in a report that on his way back from Paris the previous evening he had been in Trun when an Unteroffizier from his [supply?] echelon relayed a farmer’s information about a belly-landed Bf 109 lying 1 km east of Tournai-sur-Dive (itself around 3.5 km SE Trun). It had come down on the 8th and its injured pilot had apparently been taken to a German military hospital by the son of Marius Gotier, a local resident. The machine was still there but was said by now, two days later, to have been looted by French civilians. The farmer added that three men from Tournai—named as Blanchard, Bélanger and Dammin—had drained its fuel on the evening of 6 July.

Bär took the farmer by vehicle to the crash site and established that the aircraft in question was a Bf 109 with the following markings: a Balkenkreuz; the number 14 in yellow, near which was triangle with the number 87. The machine also carried a unit emblem, a diamond containing an ace of spades but falling darkness precluded any further search for markings. The Messerschmitt exhibited severe damage “which could only have arisen from the application of force.”

Strictly speaking, the presence of the “Ace of Spades” emblem was contrary to the rules introduced at the end of June and Bär’s report does not tell us whether yellow paint, which should also have been removed, was still present on the rudder and lower cowling panel.

There is an obvious discrepancy over the dates given: if the crash happened on the 8th then the wreck could not have been looted on the 6th. The aircraft’s emblem was that of JG 53 whose II. Gruppe was the only part of the Geschwader present in Normandy and a yellow fuselage number denotes the 6. Staffel. Jean-Bernard Frappé records the following losses from that Staffel during early July where the pilot was not listed as killed:

Of the above Nachotzky, flying a “yellow 14”, seems the best match for the crash examined by Obltn. Bär, Frappé writing that the pilot was hospitalised in Paris after being injured in air combat. Nachotzky recovered, only to be killed by anti-aircraft fire during JG 53’s attack on Metz-Frescaty airfield on 1 January 1945. He is buried in Sandweiler.

Bundesarchiv

RL 2-IV/40: Invasions-Kalendar über den Einsatz der fdl. u. eig. Luftwaffe (21.–26. Juli 1944)

RL 7-3/599: Luftflotte 3, Verschiedene Angelegenheiten, Bd. 2 (Mai–Juli 1944)

Published

Jean-Bernard Frappé: La Luftwaffe face au débarquement allié (Éditions Heimdal, Bayeux 2018) ISBN 978-2-84048-464-6

John Manrho and Ron Pütz: Bodenplatte, the Luftwaffe’s Last Hope (Hikoki, 2004) ISBN 1 902109 40 6

Online

https://www.volksbund.de

https://aircrewremembered.com/KrackerDatabase

© Nick Beale 2023