I visited the neighbouring village of Mahlerten today. In September 1943 after a raid on Hannover two Lancasters came down in this small village and as the crews were firstly buried in the local churchyard, (they are now in the CWGC cemetry in Hannover), I asked there about the crash sites. Searching through the churchyard I made a possibly amazing discovery, it seems that pieces of one of the shattered bombers are nailed to the back of a very old fence hidden in the undergrowth behind the WWI memorial. The metal is thin enough to have been used as aircraft "skin" and as can be seen in some of the photos I took seems to have traces of squadron letter codes. On some of the metal there is still traces of dark green camouflage paint. As the aircraft came down less than a kilometre away from the church it is very possible that parts of the aircraft were used by the locals (a common practice). The crews of the two aircraft were : Lancaster B III DV221 : S/L Kennard DFC + P/O Latham DFM + Sgt Aston DFM + P/O Faulkner + F/O Morey DFC + P/O Harrison DFM + Sgt Davidson + Lancaster B III JA704 : W/O Chesterton DFC + Sgt Ackroyd + Sgt Milling DFM + Sgt Cave POW Sgt Bullock + Sgt Bobson POW Sgt Jackson + F/L McGhie +
I was only there this afternoon ! I will be taking it further though. I'm not yet certain that these are pieces of the aircraft but I think that it is very likely that they are. Unfortunately the other pics I took are poor quality, I will take a better photo of the fragments I took with me which show green paint tomorrow though. The village is nearby and I will visit again soon and take more pics.
I have just checked these two losses against German night fighter pilot's claims in "Luftwaffe Night fighter Combat Claims" by Foreman/Matthews/Parry, and it seems that one of these aircraft was shot down by the greatest night fighter ace of all time Oberleutnant Heinz Wolfgang Schnaufer (121 kills), Schnaufer claimed a "Halifax" over Nordstemmen at 23:31 that evening, Nordstemmen is only 1km from Mahlerten, at night mistaking a Halifax for a Lancaster would be easy even for an experienced pilot. Pic 1 shows Schnaufer with his Bf 110 G. Pic 2 The tailplane of his 110 in the IWM. Pic 3 The painting "Night ghost of St Trond" (Schnaufer's nickname).
Good stuff zippy...however I wish my old man was still alive to tell me his story about his days as a German Soldier under Adolf Hitler. As far as what I remember my mum (she too passed away) telling me my dad was a gunner shooting down allied planes...he had no option though as he was forced to do this (it was tuff back in them days) or else he'd of been shot himself. After all his brothers got captured by the Russians who refused to Soldier for the Russians and the Russians then as a result of refusal slaughtered his brothers (My Uncles who I never got to see or know) True story.
Interesting photo I picked up at the weekend. Caption reads : Leutnant Karpinski and ? (Ufz/Unteroffizier maybe), on the ?burg Strasse in Court (?) May 1916. Trying to find out where the photo was taken and get the service record of Lt Karpinski.
Karpinski survived the war it seems, I've found that much out. There is no record of any German officer of that name being killed between 1916 and 1918 at the German war graves commision. Unless he is simply listed as "missing" of course.
Work in progress : Panther ausf A of the 23rd Panzer Division, Eastern Poland 1944. Still a fair bit of tidying up to do but it is nearly finished.
Thanks. The painting is the most difficult bit, a tank has to look "used and lived in" and weathering it can ruin many hours of work if you aren't careful.
I used to do the airfix models when I was younger and as you say the painting was the hard bit. Haven't an artistic bone in my body which doesn't help either!
Just ordered this today for my collection of Malta themed signed covers, signed by Wing Commander Tom Neil who flew in the Battle of Britain and with 249 Sqn. during the siege of Malta.
