stona
SMF Supporter
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2008
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- First Name
- Steve
The scene is early on the morning of January 1st 1945. We are at Furstenau airfield where no less than 68 Fw 190 D-9s are standing ready for the pilots of JG 26 and JG 54.
The plan is for two Ju 88 “Lotse”, pathfinders, to take off first. These will lead the fighters as far as the front lines where each Jagdgeschwader’s own officers will take over for the final leg of the flight to their objectives.
21 year old Obergefreiter Dieter Kragelow was assigned to 3./JG 26 in November and this will be his fifth operational flight.
As a member of the third Staffel he is to be in the second wave to take off under the command of Oberleutnant Alfred Heckmann, whose Rottenflieger (wing man) he will be. They will follow following the Stab I./JG 26.
Things go wrong for Kragelow from the start. The two Ju 88 “Lotse” take off at 0831 followed by the Stab I./JG 26 and 3./JG 26. Kragelow’s brand new Fw 190 D-9, Yellow 13, still with the delivery number painted on the rudder will not start.
This is the moment in time I have tried to capture. Kragelow gesticulates as he realises his engine will not start.
The rest is a little bit of history for those interested!
Eventually 64 aircraft manage to get airborne, the last is that of Theo Nibel who will famously be downed by a bird strike, delivering his almost intact Dora to the British.
Eventually everyone forms up and sets course at an altitude of 20-40 metres, behind the Ju 88s for the first turning point at Spakenburg. At 0850 the formation turns towards Rotterdam and is heavily engaged by German Flak, sustaining several casualties before the next turning point at Schiedam.
At about 0910 the formation approaches the front line. The two Ju 88s turn for home. As the Doras cross the front line a wall of AAA opens up, this time allied. More aircraft are shot down but the rest continue over the Scheldt estuary. Now British naval artillery opens fire with their 40mm Bofors guns. Coastal batteries join in and more aircraft are hit. Alfred Heckmann, Kragelow’s Staffelkapitan is one of the first hit. He turns back towards Furstenau. Kragelow is next to be hit.
In his words:
“Over the Scheldt estuary we ran into some British naval vessels and they opened up a fierce AAA barrage. My machine was hit several times. When we continued on course, I noticed that the engine no longer gave the RPMs it should and I decided to make an emergency landing. I was already to low for bailing out. The flaps would not move so I came in at high speed. The contact with the ground was heavy. The belts had broken and I crashed with my head against the cockpit panel. My spinal chord had been broken and my legs were stuck. I woke up after I was carried out of the wreckage and a doctor treated me.”
Dieter Kragelow is a lucky man. He is taken to hospital in Ghent and then to the UK. Happily he will make a full recovery. He will return to his home town of Saarbrucken after the war and become an architect.
Had he not been shot down and survived on that fateful day, his chances of surviving the war would have been slim indeed.
Cheers
Steve
The plan is for two Ju 88 “Lotse”, pathfinders, to take off first. These will lead the fighters as far as the front lines where each Jagdgeschwader’s own officers will take over for the final leg of the flight to their objectives.
21 year old Obergefreiter Dieter Kragelow was assigned to 3./JG 26 in November and this will be his fifth operational flight.
As a member of the third Staffel he is to be in the second wave to take off under the command of Oberleutnant Alfred Heckmann, whose Rottenflieger (wing man) he will be. They will follow following the Stab I./JG 26.
Things go wrong for Kragelow from the start. The two Ju 88 “Lotse” take off at 0831 followed by the Stab I./JG 26 and 3./JG 26. Kragelow’s brand new Fw 190 D-9, Yellow 13, still with the delivery number painted on the rudder will not start.
This is the moment in time I have tried to capture. Kragelow gesticulates as he realises his engine will not start.
The rest is a little bit of history for those interested!
Eventually 64 aircraft manage to get airborne, the last is that of Theo Nibel who will famously be downed by a bird strike, delivering his almost intact Dora to the British.
Eventually everyone forms up and sets course at an altitude of 20-40 metres, behind the Ju 88s for the first turning point at Spakenburg. At 0850 the formation turns towards Rotterdam and is heavily engaged by German Flak, sustaining several casualties before the next turning point at Schiedam.
At about 0910 the formation approaches the front line. The two Ju 88s turn for home. As the Doras cross the front line a wall of AAA opens up, this time allied. More aircraft are shot down but the rest continue over the Scheldt estuary. Now British naval artillery opens fire with their 40mm Bofors guns. Coastal batteries join in and more aircraft are hit. Alfred Heckmann, Kragelow’s Staffelkapitan is one of the first hit. He turns back towards Furstenau. Kragelow is next to be hit.
In his words:
“Over the Scheldt estuary we ran into some British naval vessels and they opened up a fierce AAA barrage. My machine was hit several times. When we continued on course, I noticed that the engine no longer gave the RPMs it should and I decided to make an emergency landing. I was already to low for bailing out. The flaps would not move so I came in at high speed. The contact with the ground was heavy. The belts had broken and I crashed with my head against the cockpit panel. My spinal chord had been broken and my legs were stuck. I woke up after I was carried out of the wreckage and a doctor treated me.”
Dieter Kragelow is a lucky man. He is taken to hospital in Ghent and then to the UK. Happily he will make a full recovery. He will return to his home town of Saarbrucken after the war and become an architect.
Had he not been shot down and survived on that fateful day, his chances of surviving the war would have been slim indeed.
Cheers
Steve
