Date: 19th April 1944
Time: 0135 hours.
Unit: 6 Staffel / Kampfgeschwader 6
Type: Junkers Ju 88A-4
Werke/Nr. 2537
Code: 3E + BP
Location: Coursehorne, near Cranbrook, Kent.
Pilot: Unteroffizier Helmut Harbauer 73172/265 POW (Born 19.03.1921 in Hof/Saale.)
Observer: Unteroffizier Friedrich Schork 73172/266 POW (Born 02.07.1918 in Dossenheim.)
Radio/Op: Unteroffizier Hugo Mühlbauer 73172/269 Killed (Born 08.09.1923 in Munich.)
Gunner : Unteroffizier Fritz Götze 73172/268 Killed (Born 05.02.1919 in Magdeburg.)
REASON FOR LOSS:
This aircraft was intercepted and shot down by P/O Allen and F/Sgt Patterson in a Mosquito of No.96 Squadron.
The following information is extracted from A.I.(k) Report No. 177/1944.
Started from Le Culot at about 2300 hours to attack London. The crew of this aircraft were on their first operational flight, having arrived from Tirlemont (Le Culot) only the previous day. The route as shown on a 1:2,000,000 Mercator map was Tirlemont - M/F beacon No. 2 Noordwijk (2354 hrs) - landfall near Leiston, Suffolk (0035 - 0038 hrs) - turning point just East of Newmarket (0049 - 0051 hrs) - London - Boulogne - Tirlemont.
The crew flew by D/R, distrusting other navigational aids; the flight seems to have gone according to plan and the target, which was marked by 15/20 red flares was duly attacked. When the aircraft was over Kent on the homeward flight, it was continually picked up by searchlights and suddenly an explosion occurred which the observer thinks was due to a night-fighter attack from astern. The aircraft caught fire and the pilot gave the order to bale out. The pilot and observer landed unhurt, but the radio operator and gunner were found dead in the wreckage of the aircraft.
The Harbauer crew from L to R; Uffz Harbauer, Uffz Götze, Uffz Mühlbauer and Uffz Schork (via Hall)
Research Melvin Brownless ARS December 2008
Burial details:
Hugo Mühlbauer & Fritz Götze now rest in the Deutsche Soldatenfriedhof Cannock Chase, Block 1 Graves 31 & 32.
