April
29, 1944 25th victory
April
29, 1944 25th victory
of the 354 FG / 353 FS piloted by Capt. James (NMI) Cannon
|
serial number |
plane type or name |
squadron |
code |
reason |
mission lost on |
pilot / crew |
|
43-6424 |
P-51B-5-NA |
354FG |
FT-K
|
fighter
|
Crash location
near Gleidingen In fact : Klein Gleidingen or Groß Gleidingen which are only 4 kms far from Broitzem airfield. |
Capt.
James (NMI) Cannon |
Searches concerning this victory :
| progress of the search | 4 | Last update | October 2, 2003 | Evaluation quality of information | 4 |
The mission of the USAAF
COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
FTP SITES
1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/wwii_chronologySATURDAY, APRIL 29, 1944
EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)
STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force) :
Mission 327 :
679 bombers and 814 fighters are dispatched to bomb Berlin, concentrating on railway facilities ; they claim 95-33-48 Luftwaffe aircraft; 63 bombers and 13 fighters are lost :
1. 210 of 228 B-17s bomb Berlin; 10 B-17s are lost and 150 damaged; 1 airman is KIA, 7 WIA and 100 MIA.
2. 218 B-17s are dispatched to Berlin; 158 hit the primary, 24 hit Magdeburg, 10 hit Brandenburg and 4 hit targets of opportunity; 28 B-17s are lost and 161 damaged; 4 airmen are KIA, 20 WIA and 260 MIA.
3. 212 of 233 B-24s bomb Berlin; 25 B-24s are lost, 2 damaged beyond repair and 121 damaged; 13 airmen are KIA, 11 WIA and 246 MIA.
Escort is provided by 117 P-38s, 463 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-47s and 234 Eighth and Ninth Air Force P-51s ;
3 P-38s and 10 P-51s are lost; 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair; 7 P-38s, 16 P-47s and 7 P-51s are damaged; 1 pilot is WIA and 12 MIA.
The victory claim was confirmed by the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe as a P-51 :
29.04.44 Oblt. Heinz Knoke:25 5./JG11 P-51 Fl.Pl. Braunschweig-Waggum: 40m. 11.50-12.00 Film C.2027/I Anerk: Nr.28
P-51 declared lost on April 29, 1944 (current result of my works) :
Source : MACR
Mail of Martin Kyburz
serial number
plane name
squadron
code
reason
mission lost on
pilot
P-51B-10-NA
"Maggie's Drawers"363FG
380FS
failure
near
Redon (F)2nd Lt. Albert G. Johnon
POW
MACR 443542-106682
P-51B-10-NA
4FG
334FSQP-B
near
LiebenrodeBarden Lt. John L
POW
MACR 467143-6424
P-51B-5-NA
354FG
353FS
near
Gleidingen
In fact : Klein Gleidingen or Groß Gleidingen which are only 4 kms far from Broitzem airfield.Capt. James (NMI) Cannon
MACR 442243-6513
P-51B-5-NA
363FG
380FS
near
Redon (F)2nd Lt. Norman D. Hersberger
MACR 443143-6577
P-51B-5-NA
355FG
354FSWR-J
Berlin
Crash location
near
RathenowCapt. Neal Thomas F Jr.l
KIA
MACR 454743-6646
P-51B-5-NA
4FG
334FSQP-L
near
FuechtorfLt. Peter Kennedy
POW
MACR 454143-6804
P-51B-5-NA
363FG
380FS
near
Lingen1/Lt. Arthur W. Owen, Jr.
MACR 443243-6852
P-51B-5-NA
363FG
380FS
near
LingenF/O Daniel G. Diya
MACR 513043-6918
P-51B-5-NA
354FG
355FS
failure
near
Vlothe2/Lt. Richard H.Hudson
POW
MACR 442043-12383
P-51B-1-NA
354FG
355FS
near
Goedekkenrode2/Lt. Paul W. Kallas
KIA
MACR 4434
- - - Special thanks to Martin Kyburz (Swiss Mustangs) for his help - - -
- - - Special thanks to Daniel Carrizales for his help- - -
Crash location of Capt. James (NMI) Cannon's P-51 near Klein Gleidingen or Groß Gleidingen (?)
and, by the way, crash location of Heinz Knoke's Bf 109 !
Knoke and the American pilot were driven in lorry by the highway until Broitzem.
The location of James Cannon near Gleidingen came from german LGK report # J 953.
(Horst Weber source, from an index of the LGK reports in a dayly order, arranged hour or minute by minute.
Generally only one line, providing day-month-year, time, Type of aircraft serial-#/markings(sometimes), location...)
- - - Special thanks to Horst Weber for his help- - -
Description of this victory by Heinz Knoke and different information :
Heinz Knoke Informations
Personal comments
Source
Date
Type of claimed plane
In fact this victory claim was confirmed by the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe as a P-51.Place of the interception
Crash Location
After the emergency landing and that of his victim Knoke and the American pilot are driven in lorry by way of the highway until Broitzem. The falling point is probably near Klein Gleidingen or Groß Gleidingen ?
Presumed mission USAAF
Presumed route USAAF
Schedule
Stand by : 10.00
Take off : 11.04
"11.30 : off to the west and below I spot the first vapour-trails"
"...Ten more minutes only , and my tank will be empty... ...Then my engine stops: not a drop of fuel left."Wunstorf's takeoff
The autonomy of the 109G was about 1. 30. If there are 10 minutes of fuel in Knoke's tank his victory took place more than one hour and twenty minutes after his takeoff,
round 12.30 ~ 12.35Weather report
Knoke's Unit
II./JG11
(Bf 109 of II./JG11)Detail 1
Detail 2
"...The way is now clear for the Focke-Wulfs... ...Major Moritz goes in to attack with his squadron of in-fighters (rammjaeger). "
Detail 3
"...The Focke-Wulfs have meanwhile done a good job. I have seen nearly thirty of the Fortress goes down in flames. "
Description of the fight
"...At once I peel off and dive into the Lightnings below. ...A pack of Thunderbolt, about thirty in all, also come wheeling in toward us from the south. ...Then a flight of Mustangs dives past.
...Once again I have a chance to fire at a Lightning. My salvoes register at last. Smoke billows out of the right engine. I have to brake away, however. Glancing back, I see that I have eight Thunderbolts sitting on my tail. ...Evidently my opponents are old hands at the game. I turn and dive and climb and roll and loop and spin. I use the methanol emergency booster, and try to get away in my favourite "corkscrew climb". ...
...My fuel indicator needle registers zero. The red light starts to flicker its warning. Ten more minutes only , and my tank will be empty. I go down in a tight spiral dive. The Thunderbolts break away.
Just about the clouds, at an altitude of 3,000 feet, I slowly level off. I estimate that I'm probably in the vicinate of Brunswick or Hildesheim. ...
...So what the hell . . . ?
In a flash I glance round, and then instinctively duck my head. There is a Thunderbolt sitting right on my tail, followed by seven more. All eight open fire. Their salvoes slam into my plane. My right wing bursts into flames.
I spiral off to the left into the clouds. A shadow looms ahead : it is a Thunderbolt. I open fire. Its tail is soon in flames.
Now I can see the ground. I jettison the canopy and am ready to bale out. There is another rat-rat-rat sound of machine-guns close to my ear and more hammer-blows hit my flaming crate. That Thunderbolt is there again, not 100 feet behind me.
Blast ! I shall be chewed to mincemeat in his airscrew if I try to bale out now. I huddle down and crouch low in my seat, trying to make myself as small as possible. ...The flames are licking closer now : I can feel the heat.
...There is no chance for me now.
My forward speed, of course, rapidly decreases. This cause my opponents to overshoot and pass me. For a few seconds he is in my sights ; but it is a chance to take him with me. I press both triggers. I feel myself trembling all over the nervous tension.
... My salvo scores a perfect bull's-eye right in the centre of his fuselage. He pulls up his smoking plane in a steep climb. In a moment he is in flames. The canopy opens and the body of the pilot emerges.
... too late for me to bale out now. ... ...It is all over in a split second. something crashes with stunning force on to my head.
In fact a Mustang
Mustang
No P-47 was declared lost on april 29, 1944.
In the intensity of the fight it is possible that KNOKE did not manage to identify his aggressors. While by firing from his plane in flames he shot down an American single-engined aircraft. As he crashed on the ground at some distance of this one and as he was seriously wounded in the head he was certainly not able to see the aircraft type of his winner (and of his victim). It will be necessary for him 7 weeks to get back of his wound. It is very plausible that KNOKE made a mistake on the type of plane.Detail 4
"I have no recollection of getting clear of that burning wreck, but I suppose I must have done so. ... ...When next I recover consciousness, I become aware of a man standing motionless and staring down at me. He is as tall as a young tree_an American !
<<Was that you flying the Messerschmitt ?>>
<<Yes.>>...
...<<Did you really shoot me down ?>>
<<Yes.>>
<<But I don't see how you could ! Your kite was a mass of flames.>>...
...I ask him in turn <<What was your idea in getting out in front of me when my engine died ?>>
<<Too much forward speed. Beside it never occured to me that you would still be firing.>>
<<That is where you made your mistake.>>
He laughs. <<Guess I'm not the first you bagged, am I ?>>
<<No ; you are my twenty-sixth.>>
The american tells me that he has shot down seventeen Germans. In a few more days he was due to go home...
...He also is married.
... I explain that he will be sent to aspecial POW camp for American airmen.
<<Are you an officer ?>>
<<Yes ; a Captain>>
<<In that case, you will go to a camp for officers.>>It was not the American pilot with whom he got on during one or two hours who was going to bring this information to him...
In the same order of idea, when this US pilot says to KNOKE that he have shot down 17 German aircrafts, nothing proves it is real. Capt. James Cannon's first score was a damaged Do 217,and he probably told Knoke about his first score and Knoke made out of a Do 217 under the nervous tension 17 claims by a simple misunderstanding.Detail 5
"We have a friendly chat about half an hour. He seems like a decent fellow. There is no suggetsion of hatred between us, no reason for it. We have too much in common. We are both pilots, and we have both just narrowly escaped death.
...On the Highway there is a truck waiting for us. Six Yanks from a Fortress are huddled in the back. They look rather gloomy. My Captain and I sit beside them.Although feeling like death myself, I try to cheer up the party with a few jokes.
...We are driven to the Brunswick airfield at Broitzem. There I say farewell to my fellow-sufferers, and we all shake hands.
<<Good luck ! >>
<<All the best ! >>
<<Auf Wiedersehen ! >>A great lesson of respect...
Victories of James Cannon (current result of my works) :
According to Olynyk, F. : USAAF (European Theater of Operations)
Credits For The Destruction of Enemy Aircraft In Air-To-Air Combat In World War 2, Aurora 1987,
Cannon was credited with 2.5 destroyed, 1 probable and 2.333 damaged.
Confirmed victories
Cannon was credited with 2.5 destroyed ;
Extract from aerial victory credits AFHRA sources :
http://afhra.maxwell.af.mil/wwwroot/aerial_victory_credits/avc_wwii_caba_carc.html
name serial unit ech theater rc date pos type enemy US order CANNON James AO00728577 353FTR SQ ETO 1 22 Feb1944 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A CANNON James AO00728577 353FTR SQ ETO 1 08 Apr 1944 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A CANNON James AO00728577 353FTR SQ ETO 0.5 13 Apr 1944 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Unconfirmed victories
Cannon was credited with 1 probable and 2.333 damaged ;
- James Cannon 's first score was a damaged Do 217;
- One of the damaged was an "Me-109" on 29 April 44, probably Knoke's Bf 109.
Things must be clarified but James Cannon must at least be partially credited for this certain victory !
I'm searching for the complete details of James Cannon victories. Thanks in advance for help.
