Cycling Route Death Valley De Peel - A Messerschmitt in Aarle-Rixtel (#2)

On New Year's Day 1945, Operation 'Bodenplatte' took place, a surprise attack by the German Luftwaffe on Allied airfields in
northwest Europe. In this context, the formation flew towards 111 JG3
Eindhoven air base.
The ME-109G-14 of Lieutenant Hans-Ulrich Jung (22) hit the
high-voltage line that ran from Helmond to Gemert.
The Messerschmitt caught fire and fell apart. The pilot - who had recently been awarded the Golden Cross - could do nothing and died.
The other pilots of the formation saw this happen and were very impressed. Petty Officer Michael Vogel: 'We had to move in front of the high-voltage line. Suddenly I saw Lt. Jung's plane burning brightly, his nose going down and him rolling over as he hit the ground."
The Messerschmidt flew over the canal between Helmond and Aarle-Rixtel and crashed near the Overbrug.
Eyewitness Johan Verschuuren: 'I found beautiful gloves among the many debris. One of them still had its fingers in it. But we were sent away and had to leave everything behind. The pilot's watch was still found in the same place after 70 years!'


From Under the Protection of the Angel Gabriel:

Wim Verschuuren says: "That day [January 1, 1945] I had to serve mass in Aarle-Rixtel. That is a long way from Overbrug. During the mass we heard the thunder of anti-aircraft guns nearby. On the way back we saw There were three planes and dead pilots in pieces in the vicinity of Café Schevelingen. Opposite the café, a propeller from one of the planes hit the ground and there was debris everywhere. We thought that a bomb had landed in the orchard but did not explode Father carefully explored the place and came back with the message that it was not a bomb but a fuel tank from one of the planes. We found many remains of killed German pilots in the meadows content. Father used an on-board machine gun as a pasture post for years."

"The planes flew so low that they flew into the high-voltage cables on the Heikant," Mr van Segghelen explains. As a result, they descended a mile further into the wielands."

Three aircraft are mentioned here, but only one is known. This plane crashed on the other side of the road, in the meadow south of the Goorloop, between the Aarle-Rixelseweg and the Kanaaldijk N.W..

Crew:
Flugzeugführer Lt. H-U. Jung, buried at Ysselsteyn.

The photo at the bottom left of the sign is of the Messerschmitt Me 262 that crashed near Helmond.

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Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Martin Damen (1, 2), Jeroen Koppes (3), G.J. Wouters (4)
• SGLO.
• VONK, S. e.a., Onder de Bescherming van de Engel Gabriël, Heemkundekring Helmond-Peelland, Helmond, 1994.

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