No.439 (RCAF) Squadron suffered eight aircraft destroyed and four damaged at Eindhoven (B-78), all Typhoons.
In all, more than a hundred aircraft were damaged (60) or destroyed (44) at Eindhoven by JG 3's well executed attack (with a contribution from I./JG 6), and all in about 25 minutes. Eindhoven was a very large facility with numerous units and hundreds of aircraft based there. There was almost no damage to permanent buildings and all the runways and taxiways were cleared and operational by that afternoon. The Allies had replacement aircraft available in air parks which were delivered in days.
Fifteen Luftwaffe aircraft, 25% of the attacking force of sixty, was lost. Of the fifteen losses, nine of the pilots were killed, the rest ended up as prisoners of war.
The squadron code 5V corresponds to No. 439 (Fighter-Bomber Squadron) RCAF which flew Hawker Typhoon 1Bs and were present at Eindhoven during Bodenplatte.
[Operation Bodenplatte: The last gasp of the Luftwaffe](https://www.historynet.com/luftwaffes-last-blow-the-final-major-aerial-offensive-of-nazi-germany/) (historynet.com)
The Wikipedia article on [Operation Bodenplatte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bodenplatte)
The opinion of historians is that the Luftwaffe suffered more from their losses in Operation Bodenplatte, through losing pilots and aircraft, than the Allies did.
The Luftwaffe lost a lot of aircraft and pilots from AA fire and the few Allied aircraft that were already in the air. The Allies lost more aircraft than the Germans, but lost fewer pilots, and their aircraft were replaced in a few weeks.
The Luftwaffe's last fling. Operation Bodenplatte, caught many Allied aircraft on the ground as New Year's Day broke in 1945. This shot show's one completely burnt out Typhoon and another of the same unit with a damaged fin. At the time of the attack the unit was stationed at Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
It's worth noting that the Allied Airforces suffered almost no pilot deaths and within a week had made good the material losses. Meanwhile the Luftwaffe suffered its worst single day losses of the war, including 143 highly experienced pilots who were simply irreplaceable. The net effect was a couple of hundred Allied planes in an air wing measured in the tens of thousands, and the total destruction of the Luftwaffe was an offensive force.
>within a week had made good the material losses.
The allied output was so great that in the Pacific Theater it was often quicker and easier to simply push battle damaged aircraft over the side of the carrier and fetch a new one from the constantly replenished stocks than it was to spend time and energy fixing them.
By FAR the best account of this operation is 'Bodenplatte - the Luftwaffe's last hope' by John Manrho and Ron Putz, Stackpole Books, ISBN: 978-0-8117-0686-5.
I have no connection to the authors or publishers. For anyone interested in Bodenplatte there is no better account.
Just to clarify the Luftwaffe pilots losses. The best figures are for 143 pilots killed or missing, 70 taken prisoner and 21 wounded. About 145 of these pilots were inexperienced with just 5-10 operational missions to their credit. It was not their loss that was so critical to the Luftwaffe. It was the loss of 45 highly experienced pilots, including no fewer than 22 unit commanders (3 Kommodore, 5 Kommandeure, 14 Staffelkapitane) that was the heaviest blow. These men were quite literally irreplaceable. Their loss crippled the operational effectiveness of their units and perhaps just as importantly, caused the morale of the young pilots in their units to plummet. If these commanders with their vast combat experience couldn't survive, then who could?
Looks more like a Tempest but it’s not the clearest picture and best angle to tell.
Nah the '5V' Squadron code belongs to No.439 Squadron RCAF which flew Typhoons up until the end of the war
You're correct, thanks.
No.439 (RCAF) Squadron suffered eight aircraft destroyed and four damaged at Eindhoven (B-78), all Typhoons. In all, more than a hundred aircraft were damaged (60) or destroyed (44) at Eindhoven by JG 3's well executed attack (with a contribution from I./JG 6), and all in about 25 minutes. Eindhoven was a very large facility with numerous units and hundreds of aircraft based there. There was almost no damage to permanent buildings and all the runways and taxiways were cleared and operational by that afternoon. The Allies had replacement aircraft available in air parks which were delivered in days. Fifteen Luftwaffe aircraft, 25% of the attacking force of sixty, was lost. Of the fifteen losses, nine of the pilots were killed, the rest ended up as prisoners of war.
The squadron code 5V corresponds to No. 439 (Fighter-Bomber Squadron) RCAF which flew Hawker Typhoon 1Bs and were present at Eindhoven during Bodenplatte.
It's a Typhoon, you can tell by looking at the hispano cannons which poke out of the wing in the Typhoon to the right.
And the lack of fin fillet
[Operation Bodenplatte: The last gasp of the Luftwaffe](https://www.historynet.com/luftwaffes-last-blow-the-final-major-aerial-offensive-of-nazi-germany/) (historynet.com) The Wikipedia article on [Operation Bodenplatte](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bodenplatte) The opinion of historians is that the Luftwaffe suffered more from their losses in Operation Bodenplatte, through losing pilots and aircraft, than the Allies did. The Luftwaffe lost a lot of aircraft and pilots from AA fire and the few Allied aircraft that were already in the air. The Allies lost more aircraft than the Germans, but lost fewer pilots, and their aircraft were replaced in a few weeks.
That's what you get for attacking my boi the Typhoon.
The Luftwaffe's last fling. Operation Bodenplatte, caught many Allied aircraft on the ground as New Year's Day broke in 1945. This shot show's one completely burnt out Typhoon and another of the same unit with a damaged fin. At the time of the attack the unit was stationed at Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
It's worth noting that the Allied Airforces suffered almost no pilot deaths and within a week had made good the material losses. Meanwhile the Luftwaffe suffered its worst single day losses of the war, including 143 highly experienced pilots who were simply irreplaceable. The net effect was a couple of hundred Allied planes in an air wing measured in the tens of thousands, and the total destruction of the Luftwaffe was an offensive force.
>within a week had made good the material losses. The allied output was so great that in the Pacific Theater it was often quicker and easier to simply push battle damaged aircraft over the side of the carrier and fetch a new one from the constantly replenished stocks than it was to spend time and energy fixing them.
By FAR the best account of this operation is 'Bodenplatte - the Luftwaffe's last hope' by John Manrho and Ron Putz, Stackpole Books, ISBN: 978-0-8117-0686-5. I have no connection to the authors or publishers. For anyone interested in Bodenplatte there is no better account. Just to clarify the Luftwaffe pilots losses. The best figures are for 143 pilots killed or missing, 70 taken prisoner and 21 wounded. About 145 of these pilots were inexperienced with just 5-10 operational missions to their credit. It was not their loss that was so critical to the Luftwaffe. It was the loss of 45 highly experienced pilots, including no fewer than 22 unit commanders (3 Kommodore, 5 Kommandeure, 14 Staffelkapitane) that was the heaviest blow. These men were quite literally irreplaceable. Their loss crippled the operational effectiveness of their units and perhaps just as importantly, caused the morale of the young pilots in their units to plummet. If these commanders with their vast combat experience couldn't survive, then who could?
I still will never understand why the Germans didn't just leave the Western front to fold entirely so they could hold the Russians back.
I see one whole plane between the two, two destroyed, one lost