German Documents

Kampfflugzeug Unterlagen, combat aircraft documents, are the files the Germans kept on downed Allied aircraft. Many were captured by the United States and are held by the National Archives, which has been scanning them from 125 boxes.

They are not indexed by aircraft, so finding the KU number for a particular loss is largely a matter of luck. Copies can be requested from the National Archives. The file below is the 306th's example of one.

Military researchers looking into the fate of ball turret gunner Alfred Lubojacky, the one member of the crew who did not survive because his parachute failed to open fully, appear to have identified the KU number, and it reached his family from them.

German clerks made mistakes of their own. Document 4 concerns a John R. McDonough, who was not on this crew; Frank L. McDonough was, and he appears in document 23. Neither tail gunner Leon Nahmias nor Lubojacky appears anywhere in these documents.

Each document shows the original German and an English translation by Charles Neal, reviewed by a native German speaker. The translator's notes are in italics and brackets, and include the present-day names of places in what is now the Czech Republic, which the Germans then called the Sudetenland or the Protectorate.

The same forms recur across other KU files, so this one is worth reading by anyone working through a file of their own.

24 documents. Each opens a PDF carrying the original German and the English translation side by side.

The same loss, from the Group's own records.

If you find an index of KU files, or can match a KU file to a 306th aircraft or veteran, the Association would be glad to hear from you. Write through the contact form, or see the leadership page.