Knoke's Mosquito

[Karnak]

"as that there are flak claims for all three missing Venturas"

It was quite common for flak to claim same planes the fighters shot at. There were instances where the amount of catastrophically planes fell to ground and both flak and fighters claimed the same planes. After the count on wrecks it was decided by the high command which unit was credited with kills. So in those instances there was no over claiming.

I'm not sure how the flak got credited their kills but I'd be surprised if there was a same kind of visual confirmation requirement as for fighters. Could it be that if planes were shot at and later on found in pieces on the ground the kill was credited to flak that operated in the area unless there was film and other evidence to support a claim by fighters?

-C+

Agreed, but the timing on the claims being after Knoke landed is what kills them as possibilities.

[WaffenVW]

I didn't call him...

I did. Or at least a potential liar. Goering furious, Knoke sees an opportunity to impress his Reichsmarschall and gain some personal glory for his own nazi knight ideal. Poor weather, over the sea... who would know. This is a case where we will never know the truth and can only choose to believe in one theory or another including that it was this Wellington. I choose to accept that I will never know.

[Devil 505]

To go back to my original question, what did happen to the Mossies that raided Berlin on Jan 30? I still think that the encounter in question could have occurred on that date. Did they arrive home safely? Did Knocke claim any action on that date?

I'm not saying that this scenario is likely, I just want to see all the obvious stones turned.

Hell, maybe he bagged a Me 210 and thought it was a Mossie.

[Karnak]

To go back to my original question, what did happen to the Mossies that raided Berlin on Jan 30? I still think that the encounter in question could have occurred on that date. Did they arrive home safely? Did Knocke claim any action on that date?

I'm not saying that this scenario is likely, I just want to see all the obvious stones turned.

Hell, maybe he bagged a Me 210 and thought it was a Mossie.

It cannot have happened on that day.  His log book claiming a Mossie matches the date mentioned in his book.  The log book is filled out upon landing.

[Scherf]

As Karnak's noted, Knoke's logbook, the only original part of his tale, has the data on 6 November, so it can't have been the Berlin Mossies. IIRC on 30 January there were two groups of 6 from 105 and 139 Squadrons, one to pre-empt Goering at 11, the others to do the same to Goebbel's broadcast at, I think, 2.

There's audio from the Deutsche Rundfunk from just before Goering was due to speak, foolishly I mis-laid the link. Basically a shout, furniture going over, some dead air then martial music.

One of the 6 later aircraft was lost, apparently to flak as no air-to-air claim has ever come to light.

Part of my reason for this whole foofer-ah is that there's folks out there who'll put the whole thing down to missing British records, and that "it must have been" a Mosquito, despite any supporting evidence, because Knoke said it was and because there were no alternative explanations.