204th AAA AW Bn, 71st AAA Gp, 52nd AAA Brigade, IX Air Defense Command, Ninth Air Force

Hello everyone,

This is my first post. I am a Swiss engineer who in 2011 wrote a book about captured Luftwaffe aircraft. It is basically a collection of unpublished photos of captured German aircraft taken by US or British soldiers. I researched the history of each aircraft and their crew as thorough as it was possible to me.

For my next book, I am researching the shooting down of a Junkers Ju 88 on 8 May 1945 by the 204th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion (AAA AW Bn). Since 6 May 1945, it was attached to the 71st AAA Group (52nd AAA Brigade, IX Air Defense Command, Ninth Air Force) and was based at airfield R-11 (Eschwege) in Germany.

What I am trying to find out is:

• To which AAA Group was the 204th AAA AW Bn attached before 6 May and where was it stationed in 1945?
• How long has it already been at airfield R-11? I think it arrived sometimes in the second half of April 1945, but I am not sure.

Thanks,

Roger
www.vintageeagle.com

 

Found some info, but it doesn’t answer your question yet……..still looking

 

From the History of the IX Air Defence Command

 

In May 1945 the U.S. 204th AAA (Anti-Aircraft Artillery) Battalion was stationed about 25 miles southeast of Kassel, Germany, protecting airfield R-11 at Eschwege. The 204th belonged to the IXth Air Defense Command, whose job was to protect vital ports, cities, airfields, supply bases, and lines of communication behind the field armies from the French beaches to Germany. Around 2:37 pm that afternoon, the 204th's gunners saw a German aircraft flying low towards their positions near the airfield. Batteries C and D began firing at the aircraft with their M-51 electrically driven turret-mounted antiaircraft guns. The German aircraft, a Junkers Ju 88, descended and belly landed in a field between low hills. The aircraft crash-landed with propellers still turning, shedding the blades, but beyond the left engine breaking free from the wing, the aircraft seemed to have suffered little damage. The one thing that stood out was that the crew had jettisoned the cockpit canopy before hitting the ground. As U.S. soldiers approached, they found to their surprise that the aircraft held not only a reduced crew of two, but also approximately ten “passengers.”

Early that morning, at their base in Vaernes, Norway, several aircraft, including the Ju 88 that would crash at Eshwege, readied for the flight. After flying over the Baltic, the Ju 88 landed at Cirava airfield in the Courland Pocket and picked up wounded soldiers. Taking off again, they flew west to reach land held by either Germans or by the western Allied armies. Running low on fuel, the Ju 88 had just left Soviet-controlled territory when the pilot spotted the airfield at Eschwege. Having no pre-arranged signal to show the aircraft’s intentions, the defenders fired on the perceived threat. Following the established procedure for a belly landing, the crew jettisoned the canopy, since the regular access to the cockpit under the fuselage would be blocked. Once U.S. personnel arrived on the scene, a hole was cut in the side of the aircraft to reveal the passengers in the bomb bay and rear fuselage who were now trapped by the blocked underside. The downing of this desperate flight was claimed as the last U.S. air victory in Europe before hostilities officially ended an hour before midnight.

Source: Last American Aerial Victory in Europe. And Last American Aerial Victory in Europe - Google Arts & Culture

 

Source: https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16...opean_airfields.pdf?ver=2016-08-30-150750-583

 

107th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron



Source: https://www.127wg.ang.af.mil/Portals/25/documents/Fact Sheets/107th Fighter Squadron fact Sheet.pdf?ver=2017-02-10-085959-650

Eschwege was opened as a Luftwaffe airfield in 1937 as a Junkers Ju 52 transport airfield, with Kampfgeschwader 25 (KG 25) being formed at the airfield in April 1937. The airfield was used as a transport and support airfield throughout World War II, with numerous Luftwaffe ground units being formed there and then moved to combat assignments elsewhere.

The airfield was captured by United States Army forces in early April 1945. The IX Engineering Command 825th Engineering Aviation Brigade moved in about 6 April and cleared mines and other wreckage from the field, declaring it operationally ready for Allied combat aircraft on 7 April. It was designated as Advanced Landing Ground "R-11 Eschwege". The Ninth Air Force 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group moved in on 10 April and remained until July, flying photo-reconnaissance missions from the airfield using a variety of aircraft.

After the end of the war, the airfield was turned over to Air Technical Service Command, and became a facility for the scrapping of captured Luftwaffe aircraft and other German military equipment. It was closed at the end of 1945.