Re: Idenitity of flak unit

Thanks, Michele, for your worthwhile comments.

For starters, "a correspondent" is not good enough to evaluate the claim(s).
You need to trace the information back to the source, analyze and assess the
source, etc.

<snip>

You are correct, of course. I wish tht I could do deeper research on
this crash. However, that is pretty much beyond my capabilities and
resources, and I have to rely on secondary sources. It would help if I
could speak German, or enlist the aid of a willing German researcher.
Unfortunately, people who provide information often don't provide
their sources, and don't even provide contact information for
themselves. The person who mentioned the flak ship has not responded
to further questions on the discussion board where I encountered him,
and I have no other way to contact him. If anyone here has suggestions
that would help to locate primary source documents, please let me
know!

<snip>

It is also entirely possible that none of the claims are correct. ...
It is therefore entirely possible that nobody hit the bomber! And that an
engine malfunction is the only cause of the crash.

Given that the surviving gunner did not mention any attacks, I think
that there were none, or at least no successful ones. It is possible
that there was an attack that caused damage that the crew was not
aware of or could at least not identify.

So do the reports from the crash site give details as to damage incurred by
the aircraft, apart from that deriving from the crash? Bullet/fragment
holes, ordnance retrieved etc.?

I simply do not know, as I have not seen the reports, and I don't know
where they are held. The Danish correspondent who first mentioned
flak, from Flensburg, has not followed through with two promises to
provide more information. I have several photographs of Germans
examining the wreckage, so it seems unlikely that detailed reports
were not made. They are perhaps in an archive somewhere. I'd love to
get my hands on them, with a translator by my side since I do not
speak or read German.

As to "history is a mess", note that you have chosen an extremely easy
event. In fact, we do know that no other missions but Rostock were carried
out that night, and we do know that no other bomber was downed that night
(though it is possible that the FlAK ship, the ground batteries, and/or the
night fighter did damage other aircraft without downing them). Imagine how
it would be if you chose a night with multiple missions in nearby areas, and
multiple crashes.

I didn't really choose this event so much as it chose me, when I found
a postcard that had been mailed during training in Canada by the
observer, Joe Hicks, who was killed in the crash. The reason for the
crash is interesting to speculate on and perhaps someday to prove, but
it's only a part of the story. Along the way I spoke with the dead
observer's sister and the woman he was engaged to (they had never
learned any details of his death), obtained photographs of him and the
surviving gunner, and learned much that I didn't know about Bomber
Command, the Hampden bomber, Arthur Harris, and the British
Commonwealth Air Training Plan. This group has itself been a wonderful
resource for me. Eight years ago I hardly knew a thing about the
Second World War. Now I know at least a thing or two, but seem to have
a lot more to learn!

Bob

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