Dear Colleagues, could you please help to solve a WW II mystery related to the H2S operation and a special duty flight? I am referring here to the
Pickaxe project, which resulted in the British-Soviet collaboration to insert secret agents into continental Europe on behalf of the NKVD. My interest is related to the failed Whiskey mission of April 20/21, 1942, involving a
H2S equipped Halifax Mk II, # V9976, of the 138th RAF Sq., with the mixed Polish/British crew. The flight was to deliver two Soviet NKVD agents into Austria, which was likely beyond the capabilities of the Soviet special duty aviation at the time. Hence, Moscow applied for help to the British under the Pickaxe agreement. Unfortunately, the plane crashed into the ground in dense fog in Bavaria on April 21, 1942, at about 01:10, killing the crew and the passengers. The crew members names are as follows.
F/O Ryszard Zygmuntowicz, PAF - Pilot - killed
W/C Walter Ronald (Wally) Farley, DFC, RAF - 2nd Pilot - killed
F/O James A. Pulton, RAFVR (161 Sqdn) - Gunner - killed
Sgt Czeslaw Madracki, PAF - Navigator (Flt Engineer?) - killed
F/Sgt Bronislaw Karbowski, PAF - Rear Gunner - killed
F/Lt Antoni H. Voellnagel, PAF - Flight Engineer (Navigator?) - killed
Sgt Leon Wilmanski, PAF - Air Bomber (W/Op?) - killed
Sgt Mieczyslaw Wojciechowski, PAF - Wireless Op (Gunner?) - killed
The sources are confusing the names of the Soviet agents, who were passengers of the flight. Here are the names that appeared in the publications, but note that there were only two agents on-board:
Peter Stari(t)sky aka Peter Schuulmburg or Schulenburg aka Rudolf Hofstädter, a German, who became an NKVD agent in 1940
Sevolod (Vsevolod?) Troussevitch aka John Traun aka Johann Traunn, an NKVD agent since 1940
Or rather:
Franz Löschl aka Franz Mayer aka S. Troussevitch, an Austrian born in Vienna in 1913 - killed
Lorenz Mraz aka Ing. Rudolf Hofstädter aka Peter Staritsky, an Austrian born in 1908 - killed
Apparently, both agents were typesetters by their profession, and were to operate in Austria in the defense industry.
Unfortunately, the aircraft hit a hilltop of the Blauberge mountain south of Wildbad Kreuth, Bavaria, which is south of Munich (near Tegernsee lake), on way to the drop zone in Austria in dense fog. There are rumors that one or both agents could have survived the crash, but lost their lives during an encounter with a German woodsman.
My question is related to the accuracy of the H2S radar in the ground mapping setup. This equipment was apparently used for navigation as the aircraft was flying as low as possible, trying to avoid German radars. Some sources sugessted that the reflection from the Tegernsee lake could have been misinterpreted as far as the altitude is concerned, and the aicraft technically made a controlled flight into terrain. Is such an explanation plausible? Or maybe someone has another explanation on the reasons of the tragedy related to the accuracy of the H2S?
More information on the flight:
The plane crashed into the Blue Mountains under mysterious circumstances. F/O Ryszard Zygmuntowicz, PAF - Pilot - killed W/C Walter Ronald (Wally) Farley, DFC, RAF - 2nd Pilot - killed F...
aviation-safety.net
www.baaa-acro.com
The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
This is a individual page for Aircraft Halifax II V9976 of the Royal Air Force. You may find some details of its career, loss details, maybe a photograph, and whatever mention of the serial that occurs in the forum. At the very least you will end up knowing what type of aircraft carried this...
www.rafcommands.com
Ich habe das mal zusammenfassend ins Deutsche übertragen und stelle es aus verschiedenen Gründen hier ein. Der letzte Flug der Halifax V9976 Am 20.April 1942, zwei Minuten vor Mitternacht, stürzte in den Blaubergen (Kreuth) eine Halifax der 138. Squadron (RAF Tempsford, Gibraltar Farm) ab...
unterirdisch.de
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