Leicester Evening Mail November 3rd 1945. (BMA).
The accident received little coverage in British Newspapers.
C47 42-93041 was from The USAAF 30th Air Depot Group (Illesheim) recently loaned with crew to the 344th BG at Schleissheim Airfield (highlighted) near Munich, Germany.
It was flying from Bovingdon to Schleissheim with a crew of four and twenty six passengers when it flew into a small mountain near a rock formation known as The Bernsteinfelsen at approx 600 M amsl. I have not yet been able to access the accident report. I have seen it stated that the crew mistook the city of Karlsruhe for that of Augsburg and were following the River Rhine in the belief that they were following the River Lech. The accident happened about half an hour before sunset (it was said to be foggy) as a climb into cloud was commenced. Recently a memorial has been dedicated to those who lost their lives.
View to the east with a highlight over the Bernstein.
I take the liberty of transcribing an article by Ditmar Glaser from the Schwarzwaelder Newspaper Group - November 12th 2021.
76 years ago, the worst plane accident in the Bab Herrenalb region to date occurred on The Bernstein. A memorial stone has now been erected not far from the crash site. The driving forces behind it were the brothers Peter and Roland Bittman from Michelbach. On November 1st 1945 at 4.30 pm an American Military plane crashed about 70 metres below the amber rock. 4 Crew and 22 soldiers died, four survived. The young soldiers were based in Oberschleissheim near Munich and had been on leave in London. The machine first grazed treetops and finally crashed on a steep mountain slope above Michelbach. The plane broke into pieces, exploded and caught fire. It was a miracle that there were survivors. Three injured were able to free themselves from the wreckage, they pulled a badly injured comrade from the wreck. Then they went to get help (which is said to have arrived 4 hours after impact). One went over the mountain in the direction of Bernbach where he was found by a forest worker sitting in the woods by the wayside and was brought to Bernbach. In a tavern they met German women and French soldiers none of whom spoke English. They fetched the Teacher from Bernbach who was able to act as an interpreter and explain what had happened. The two other survivors went downhill and met helpers in Sulzbach.
Looking South-east. Bernbach highlighted.
In 1994 Peter Bittman conducted research with Timo Bittman and Manfred Herm from Michelbach but were unable to discover the cause of the accident. When 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the accident, Peter and Roland Bittman and Manfred Mayer from the press office of the city of Gaggenhau tried again and were successful. They located an aircraft engineer and local researcher Gunter Braun in Oberschleissheim, who knew how the accident occurred. Apparently bad weather and the alleged lack of experience of the 23 year old pilot and 22 year old navigator were to blame. For the memorial Arne Gluckstein, Head of PR at ForstBW Western Black Forest District, procured the necessary permits. District Forester Andreas Bach allocated a site on the Bernsteinweg, a salient about 50 metres above the accident site. Contemporary witnesses Franz Kratz (90) from Moosbronn and Rudolf Barner (92) from Gaggenau were also present at the public dedication of the memorial stone.
The heavy Memorial Stone used was from the Crash Site. Roland Bittman is seen here. Source: Schwarzwaelder bote.
Source: Schwarzwaelder bote.
The historic airfield at Schleissheim, Post-War. Essentially a training airfield dating back to 1912.
Ernst Udet on the occasion of the Airfield's 25th Anniversary - April 1st 1937. Dachau Concentration Camp was some seven kilometres distant.
Source BFH with thanks.
344th BG returned to the USA at the end of 1945. They left their Martin Marauders behind to be disposed of in any convenient manner, this image from Spring 1946.
Photo: as captioned.
https://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/f...ield-buildings
https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/cras...nalb-26-killed
Bahne Andressen 1922-1945. Captain of 42-93041. He lies in Oakland Cemetery, Keokuk, Iowa. His image extracted by 'Nelda' from the Coleman Flying School, (Coleman, Texas) Class 44E Yearbook.
Tempus Fugit