Mustang III FX999 - Near Fonnesbæk                                                   Updated:  29 DEC 2017

Airman Surname Init Rank Service Sqdn P_link Plane Operation Crash_site Crash_d Buried_d C_link At_Next
a014232.htm Bird A G F/Lt RAF 19 p321.htm MUS FX999 Day ranger Near Fonnesbæk d210544 b230544 c014.htm Esbjerg


"Den 21. maj 1944 ledsagede F/Lt Bird i sin Mustang jager et Mosquito fly under et togt rettet mod et mål syd for Aalborg.

Under luftkamp øst for Herning beskød F/Lt Bird og piloten på en tysk ME 109-jager hinanden samtidig, hvilket resulterede i at Mustang flyet eksploderede i luften.
Piloten blev dræbt. Nedstyrtningen skete ved Fonnesbæk syd for Ikast. F/Lt Bird blev begravet den 23. maj 1944." (FAF)

Styrtet var her nær Fonnesbækgaard. (Kilde: Jens Ove Steensberg) Se også beretning fra Jens Ove Steensberg.

Rapport fra Ikast kl. 22.45 fra Statens Civile Luftværn, sag 13398 fra døgnet 21/5 1944 kl. 11.40 til 22/5 1944 kl. 12.00:
"Dags dato er en engelsk to-motorers jager nedstyrtet ved Fonnesbæk, ca. 4 km syd for Ikast. Der er ingen bomber i maskinen, men en del 13 mm ammunition.
Piloten er fundet som lig og ført til kapellet i Ikast. Ved maskinen, som vil blive fjernet af Værnemagten den 22/5 1944, er etableret dansk og tysk vagt.
Den tyske Værnemagt og Fluko Aarhus er underrettet." Nå ja, en Mustang havde een motor og 6  12,7 mm maskingeværer.

Se P51 Mustang og P-51 Mustang - Fotos . Mustang er det britiske navn. Amerikanerne kalder flyet P-51. Se også ME 109. 1 flyver. 

"On 21 May 1944 F/Lt Bird in his Mustang escorted a Mosquito on a raid on a target south of Aalborg.

During a dogfight east of Herning F/Lt Bird and the pilot of a German ME 109-fighter shot at each other simultaneously with the result that the Mustang exploded
in the air. The pilot was killed. The crash was at Fonnesbæk south of Ikast.

F/Lt Bird was buried on 23 May 1944." (FAF) See p321 MACR with many details.
See also details about the German pilot Unteroffizier Wolfgang Schröder-Barkhausen on photo of his gravestone.

The crash was here near Fonnesbækgaard. (Source: Jens Ove Steensberg) See also account from Jens Ove Steensberg.
Report from Ikast at 22.45 hrs. from the Civil Air Defence no. 13398 from 11.40 hrs. on 21 May to 12.00 on 22 May 1944:
"
This date an English two-engined fighter crashed near Fonnesbæk, about 4 km south of Ikast. There are no bombs in the plane but an amount of 13 mm ammunition.
The pilot was found as a corpse and taken to the chapel of rest in Ikast.
At the plane, which will be removed by the Wehrmacht on 22 May 1944, a Danish and German guard has been established.
The German Wehrmacht and Fluko Aarhus have been informed.” Well, a Mustang had one engine and 6 12.7 mm machine guns.

See a Mustang and No. 19 Squadron RAF. Also P-51 Mustang - Photos. And here is a ME-109.
Mustang III FX999 took off on a ranger mission on 21 MAY 1944. (Source: Aircrew Remembered has this.)
Special remarks in p321 MACR: "Took off from Holmsley South with Mosquitos."  1 airman.