42-30242 - Luftkriegsarchiv Köln

During the approach to the bombing raid on the ball bearing production facilities in Schweinfurt, the bomber fleet was already attacked in the area by strong formations of German day fighters. Nineteen groups of ten fighter squadrons and parts of three destroyer, six night fighter, and training fighter squadrons engaged the bomber crews in an air battle lasting more than two hours. Sixty B-17s were lost in the attack, and over 590 soldiers did not return to their bases.

The "Lallah-V III" also fell victim to this air battle. The aircraft was attacked by the Fw. 190 A7 piloted by Ofw Detlef Lüth from 4./JG 1 and shot into flames. The pilot of the B-17 ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft, which all crew members managed to do. The aircraft crashed unmanned about 300 meters from the outskirts of Ginnick, close to the right side of the road to Embken, and burned completely.

A few hundred meters from the crash site, the body of T/Sgt. Russell Ahlgreen was found. Although he appeared to be seriously wounded, he had managed to leave the aircraft while it was still in the air, but his parachute was already smoldering. With his parachute on fire, he fell to the ground and hit the ground without slowing down. His mangled body was recovered and buried in Cologne's Westfriedhof cemetery.

The rest of the crew were taken prisoner by the Germans on the ground and returned to the USA after the war.

After this disastrous "Black Thursday," the USAF temporarily suspended further daytime attacks on strategic targets deep inside Germany.

Ofw. Detlev Lüth was killed on March 6, 1944, during aerial combat with a B-17 near Haselünne.