Mission: Reconnaissance - Lyme Bay, Dorset, England.
Date: 28th October 1942
Unit: 1 Staffel./Fernaufklärungsgruppe 123
Type: Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4
Werke/Nr.7215
Coded: 5 + (White)
Location: Believed crashed into the sea off Cherbourg, France.
Pilot: Unteroffizier. Helmut Kohl. 69004/265 – Missing. Born 02.06.1920 in Koeln/Deutz.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Extract from the War diary of Willi Quante, 4./(F)123
Again fate decreed that one of our comrades would not return. Uffz. Kohl had waited for a week to fly his first combat mission. Today a fliers-fate caught up with him. For a long time he was at the fighter pilot’s school. His wish was to show the enemy his “Iron fist”. Shortly after takeoff he pushed his aircraft to close to the mirror-flat ocean….it cost him his life. The search action of our aircraft and fighters was without result. That is a confirmation of our assumption that he went into the water at an air speed of 430 kilometers an hour. His death was tragic! This pilot had only been with the 1st Staffel for one week. Failed to return from his first operational flight over England.
Date: 28th October 1942
Unit: 1 Staffel./Fernaufklärungsgruppe 123
Type: Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4
Werke/Nr.7215
Coded: 5 + (White)
Location: Believed crashed into the sea off Cherbourg, France.
Pilot: Unteroffizier. Helmut Kohl. 69004/265 – Missing. Born 02.06.1920 in Koeln/Deutz.
REASON FOR LOSS:
Extract from the War diary of Willi Quante, 4./(F)123
Again fate decreed that one of our comrades would not return. Uffz. Kohl had waited for a week to fly his first combat mission. Today a fliers-fate caught up with him. For a long time he was at the fighter pilot’s school. His wish was to show the enemy his “Iron fist”. Shortly after takeoff he pushed his aircraft to close to the mirror-flat ocean….it cost him his life. The search action of our aircraft and fighters was without result. That is a confirmation of our assumption that he went into the water at an air speed of 430 kilometers an hour. His death was tragic! This pilot had only been with the 1st Staffel for one week. Failed to return from his first operational flight over England.
Helmut Kohl - missing in action (Brownless)
Burial detail: None found.
Researched and compiled by Melvin Brownless with special thanks to Armin Goebel and Fritz Schlichting for their help in constructing this page, August 2013.
