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Ofw. Campsen held the German Cross in Gold, Iron Cross 1st Class and Gold War Flights Badge. He had been shot down before, having at that time 450 war flights to his credit. At about 20.00 hrs. on 29 October 1944, his Ju 87, V8+QB, had been hit by medium AA near Stolberg (east of Aachen). With its engine and fuel feed system damaged, Campsen and his radio operator, Uffz. Gustav Merchel, abandoned the aircraft. Merchel tried to regain German lines but was taken prisoner after three days; Campsen evidently made it back to fight again. In his last letter to his wife, on 20 February 1945, Campsen had written: "I am looking forward so much to my next leave, maybe in summer, would be nice and then it should be six weeks long … the decision for the outcome of the war cannot be far away. I am still, just as you my love, very confident." Helmut Steffen was NSG 1’s Intelligence Officer, not Campsen’s normal crewman and it is not known why they were flying together on 24 February; their final radio message was: “Aircraft on fire, we are bailing out.” Green and Oxby saw no parachutes whereas they did report their victim catching fire, although unfortunately neither of these points is conclusive in identifying the Ju 87 concerned.
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My thanks to Dr. Steffen Daehn for allowing me to reproduce the information and photographs on this page. |
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