I./SKG 10 - first Luftwaffe unit in action on D-Day - wreckage of crashed D-Day Lancaster recovered (from the UK press)

I./SKG 10 - first Luftwaffe unit in action on D-Day - wreckage of crashed D-Day Lancaster recovered (from the UK press):

"....They set off in the early hours of D-Day, never to return. The crew of the Lancaster bomber – among the most highly decorated in the RAF – were all killed when their plane was shot down by a German aircraft over Normandy. Their remains have never been found. Now, 68 years later, thanks to the chance discovery of a gold ring, the mystery has been solved......"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211250/Wreckage-Lancaster-bomber-crashed-D-Day-killing-crew-identified.html#ixzz28EvJdx7G 

Above; Fw 190 G-8s of 1. Staffel SKG 10 under the trees at Tours-West during June 1944. 'White 9' was lost with Fw. Nikolaus at the controls on the night of  4-5 July, shot down during an attack against Allied shipping..

While strictly speaking I./SKG 10 was not a fighter or even a night fighter unit, the Fw 190 G-8s of the Gruppe were the first Luftwaffe 'fighters' in action over Normandy on 6 June 1944. Gruppenkommandeur Major Kurt Dahlmann had been warned early on during the night of 5-6 June that heavy gliders were reported landing in the vicinity of St.Lô and that British parachutists were being landed at the mouth of the Orne. He had immediately ordered a recce as described by Oberfähnrich Wolfgang Zebrowski of 2. Staffel in his post-war memoir entitled   " Nachts über den Wolken " ( By night above the clouds..);

" ..all serviceable aircraft were immediately ordered up to combat transport gliders and tug aircraft reported over Saint-Lô. The night was still dark and visibility rather poor as we took off again (Zebrowski had just landed back safely from an over night bombing raid against the city and port of Portsmouth on the south coast of England..). As we reached the target area I scoured the night sky looking for tell-tale flashes of light from machine-gun fire, constantly changing direction and heading, jinking back and forth - there was no sign whatsoever of any gliders. As my fuel started to run low I turned back and headed for Evreux. We were rather downcast by this lack of success - none of us had seen anything of the enemy.."

It was still dark as another alert came into Gruppe HQ - Allied bombers were reported to be pounding the coast between Carentan and Caen.. on this occasion Gkr. Dahlmann instructed the Staffelkapitän of  3./SKG 10, Helmut Eberspacher, to lead four Fw 190s and head out over the sector. Two hours later the four pilots had landed back at Evreux having achieved the first German aerial successes of D-Day - intercepting a formation of Lancasters, four of the RAF four-engined bombers had been shot down, timed at 05:01 to 05:04, the first falling over Isigny and the others towards Carentan, the chase apparently taking place on a westerly heading. Three Lancasters were claimed shot down by Eberspacher himself, the fourth falling to Fw. Eisele.

Gkr. Dahlmann would receive the Ritterkreuz (Knights Cross of the Iron Cross) on 11 June 1944 for the performance of his Gruppe over Normandy following D-Day


Below; pilots of 3./SKG 10 with Staffelkapitän Helmut Eberspacher on the far right