Ott, Josef.

Ott, Josef, born 08-08-1920 in Hiltenfingen/Bayern Germany. Josef was the pilot of a Dornier airplane of the unity 3 of the Jagdgeschwader 2, “Richthofen” Luftwaffe, under command of Major Kurt “Kuddel” Ubben. Kurt just had taken over the command of Jagdgeschwader 2, as on 27-04-1944, he, age 32, engaged American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters near Fère-en-Tardenois. In the ensuing combat, Ubben was shot down in Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8/R2 “Sturmbock”. Kurt bailed out but his parachute failed to open either due to insufficient altitude or because of an improperly fastened harness. He was succeeded by Major Kurt Bühligen,

On 15-03-1944, at 12:20 AM, an aerial battle took place in Veldhoven, close to the Eindhoven airport resulting in the crash of a German aircraft of the type Dornier 217 M-1, piloted by Lieutenant Josef Ott and belonging to unit 3 of Jagdgeschwader 2. The aircraft crashed at 0:25 in the garden behind the house of Antoine van de Sande at Locht 44, where it was still on fire upon the arrival of the Air Raid Protection. One of the aircraft’s engines ended up in the utility room and shed of F van Loon, residing at Locht 42, which buildings were completely destroyed. Two chicken coops were also destroyed, and two chickens and four rabbits were killed. The plane was completely destroyed by the crash and the fire. The crew, consisting of four people, lost their lives in this incident. The bodies were transported by ambulance from the German Wehrmacht to Eindhoven. The webmaster lived for 28 years in Eindhoven, and after I married in 1974, we lived in Veldhoven in the same street, and the pilot, Ott, thrown out of the plane, lay in the hedge of our upcoming house. The fallen pilots were found here and there, the local doctor had to provide assistance, all were trew out of the plane, one was found with a half-open parachute.

 At the arrow, the plane came to a stop.

The Ortskommandant in Eindhoven and the Polizeioffizier in Vught have been informed of the incident. The municipal fire department extinguished the fire under the supervision of the German Wehrmacht.

Furthermore, the following crew members of the aircraft also perished: Helmuth Claas, born 13-12-1922, age 22, buried at the German cemetery Ysselstein, Block AA, Row 3, Grave 70; Gustav Renziehausen, born 21-11-1921, age 22, Grave 69; and Hermann Stark, born 13-06-1921, age 22, Grave 71.

Family members of my wife, the brothers Arnold and Frits Janssen who lived in that street before we took over and experienced everything, from the first minute eyewitnesses of this crash, have the following story.

My brother and I had the habit, living close to the Eindhoven airbase, of staring at the sky almost every evening. We could usually tell by the “buzzing” what kind of aircraft were in the air. We also knew approximately what time the German bombers returned from a raid to England. we quickly realized that there were English fighters nearby. From the window of our bedrooms (upstairs), we saw and heard above the forests, in the direction of the village, Steensel, a bomber approaching that took the full brunt of the English fighter. Everything happened very quickly. The bomber, burning like a torch, descended very quickly over the forests located opposite the house of gamekeeper Thieu Klijn,  and there it already touched the tops of the trees. My brother and I, thinking that the bomber was heading straight for our house, then used the stairs as a “slide.”

The burning bomber plowed thru the gardens opposite our house (the trench was about 50 cm deep) and all the chicken and rabbit cages in them were “upturned.” At the corner of our house was the then above-ground power connection with those well-known white insulating pots. This connection was completely torn out of the wall. The aircraft came to a stop by the poplars of the van der Sande family, but one of the engines ended up in the barn of Frans van Loon (manager of the Boerenbond). Everything happened so quickly that we didn’t even have time to be surprised. We found the body of pilot Josef Ott in the hedge by the roadside.

All four were buried at the Ysselsteyn war cemetery in the Netherlands, the only German War Cemetery in the Netherlands. Section, Blok AA, Row 3-Grave 68,.69,70 and 71.

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