Mustang III FX999 - Ved Fonnesbæk - Beretning - Account                                      29 DEC 2017


Beretning om nedskydningen af MUS FX999 modtaget fra
Jens Ove Steensberg
, Esbjerg den 2. oktober 2008:

"Jeg er født  marts 1943 øst for Bjødstrup, og ca. 2 km vest for Fonnesbæk.

Min far fortalte ofte om en luftkamp lige øst for vores gård. Han fortalte det var en englænder og en tysker. De var efter hinanden i lang tid og han hørte de skød efter hinanden. Pludselig kom de lige mod hinanden og skød. De fortsatte mod hinanden og fløj sammen i en eksplosion. Far sprang på cyklen og på bakken ved Lægsgård så han røg nede fra Fonnesbæk. Da han kom der ned var der andre nysgerrige.
Folk samlede op hvad der kunne bruges. Far tog et relæ, en spole med kobbertråd, en aluminiumsplade og nogle tomme patroner. Jeg ved ikke hvor han fandt dem, men på en patron var toppen savet af og far gættede at piloten havde brugt den til forstærkning af hans pibe, den ville have passet i diameter. Han så også en støvle med en fod i. Ellers husker jeg ikke hvad han fortalte om piloterne. Det relæ han fandt har jeg på loftet.

Jeg husker nedstyrtningsstedet, fordi mine bedsteforældre boede i Isenvad og min moster i Vester Isen. Først i halvtredserne var rydningen i  den lille granskov stadig tydelig, jeg kom ofte forbi. Jeg husker klart hvordan Spitfirene i Karup holdt øvelse over vores hoveder, når vi gik i marken. Far gentog så, hvad han havde set af rigtig kamp 21. maj 1944 og forklarede mig hvad øvelsen gik ud på.

Jeg har ofte spekuleret på hvad der blev af de to døde piloter og blev meget overasket, da jeg erfarede at de begge lå begravet i min by Esbjerg. Jeg har ofte
været i Gravlunden med amerikanere, men aldrig drømt om at jeg ”kendte” to af de begravede."

Se gravsten for den britiske pilot og for den tyske pilot.


Account of the shooting down of MUS FX999 received from
Jens Ove Steensberg
, Esbjerg on 2 October 2008:

"I was born in March 1943 east of Bjødstrup and about 2 km west of Fonnesbæk.

My father often told me about an aerial combat just east of our farm. He stated that there were an Englishman and a German. They went for each other for a long time and he heard that they were shooting at each other. They went on towards each other and against each other in an explosion. Dad jumped on his bike and on the hill near Lægsgaard he saw smoke from Fonnesbæk. When he arrived there were also other curious people. People collected what might be useful. Dad took a relay, a spool with copper thread, an aluminium plate and some empty cartridges. I do not know where he found them, but on one cartridge the top had been sawed off, and Dad guessed that the pilot had used it to strenghten his pipe - the diametre would fit. He also saw a boot with a foot in. I do not remember more of what he told about the pilots. The relay he found is now on my loft.

I remember the crash site, because my grandparents lived in Isenvad and my aunt in Vester Isen. In the beginning of the 1950's the clearing in the small spruce wood was still distinct. I often passed it. I clearly remember how the Spitfires from Karup had their exercises above us when we were in a field. Then Dad repeated when he had seen of real combat on 21 May 1944 and explained to me what they were practising.

I have often wondered what happened to the two dead pilots, and I was very surprised that both of them were buried in Esbjerg, my home town. I have often been in the Gravlunden with Americans, but never imagined that I "knew" two of the men buried there." 

See gravestones of the British pilot and of the German pilot