US airmen, book FORTRESS PLOIESTI

Victor I understand that you have helpped the author of FORTRESS PLOESTI with material and information. On that book there's a photo of 1st Lt Arthur Fiedler of the US Army Air Force who shot down durîng Ploesti campaign in 1944 3 BF-109....were these ARR or Luftwaffe and where were they shot down ?

This post has been edited by Victor on December 31, 2004 02:50 pm

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An other photo on the FORTRESS PLOESTI is of Lt Carl Hoenschel also of the Army Air Force who was credited over Roumania with 4 aerial victories and who got killed being shot down on its P-38 by a ME-109 in Jully 1944 over Roumania....was he shot down by a Roumanian or Luftwaffe pilot ? Photo Liz Willson

Al

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Also from the book FORTRESS PLOESTI there's a photo of a Roumanian ARR pilot exchanging cigarettes with 15th AF POW who is about to leave Popesti Air Field during Operation Reunion ....who's the ARR pilot? was he a member of the Grupul 9 de Vanatoare ?

Let me know

Al

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Sorry, I did not provide Jay Stout any photos, only some testimonies of Romanians on the ground, witnessing the bombing raids.

I don't recognize the Romanian NCO exchanging cigarettes with the American pilot. Strangely he is wearing aiguilettes.

Yes Victor I know you didn't provide the photos , but I was wondering if you know any more details about the people depicted on these photos

Thanks

Al

Dragos Stinghe never saw that person.
He said it may be a staff officer.

1st Lt. Carl Hoenshell of the 71st F.S. was shot down by Bulgarian Bf 109Gs on June 10, 1944.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on January 01, 2005 07:46 am

I have coresponded with Col. Fiedler a couple of years ago. I wasn't able to identify any of his claims.

1. 24 June 1944 1 Bf-109 probable Ploesti area
Couldn't find any such Romanian loss in the area.

2. 28 June 1944 2 Bf-109 Bucharest area
There were over 10 similar claims in the area so it is hard to say who should down who.

From my reserch the pilot credited for shooting down on 10 june '44 the P-38( Hoenshell ?) at North of Sofia was german pilot Lt. Taubenberger from JG 51.
Hoenshell couldn't defense himself because he was out of ammo after the fight over Popesti-Leordeni airfield with 6thFG ( IAR 81 C).

PS: Denes what is your source for Bulgarian version. Do you know the name of the bulgarian pilot credited with victory on 10 june'44 ?

I quickly checked my list of Bulgarian victory claims and found no claim for June 10, 1944 (only June 11). However, I did not find a claim submitted by Ltn. Hans Taubenberger either (the only USAAF claim of his I found is for a B-24 west of Ploiesti on April 5, 1944).

I have to dig in deeper into my files at home to solve this issue.

Gen. Dénes

I found the claim of Ltn. Taubenberger (among the victory claims in the Mediterranean combat area).
It appears that indeed he was the victor over 1st Lt. Hoenshell's P-38.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on January 04, 2005 02:45 am

Hello Denes

Happy New year to you and your family. For an old survivor of the 54 JG Green Heart who lives in Switzerland and who was not related to OberLeutnant Taubenberger air kill nor to his theather of operations, I have heard a similar comment that he brought down the P-38 of 1st Lt Hoenschell who almost runned out of ammo over Roumania and had no way to defen himself but make a Russian " Taranov" as a last escape of the scenario...but as he wasn't from Russia nor US Army Air Force permitted such combat tactics ,he elected to get enganged into the fight risking to have his guns jammed .

Best Regards
Alex