Research, text and photos by George Karelas

This summer, in collaboration with the Aegean Tec Τeam, Marinos Giourgas and Vasilis Spyropoulos and with the help of the Kythera diving center of Giorgos Lamboglou, we managed to locate, dive and identify the wreckage of the Baltimore FW282/P of 454th Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) shot down by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft on December 3rd 1943 and crashed at sea at the northern tip of Antikythera island, now resting at a depth of about 60 meters and a distance of about 100 meters from the rocky coast of the island.

The search, the location of the aircraft and the events that resulted in the loss of 3 out of the 4 crew members on December 3, 1943 were reported through WW2 wrecks in Greece but also the Kathimerini newspaper and the magazine in depth.

The Antikythera Martin Baltimore and the dramatic story of an air battle in December 1943

The identification was beyond dispute thanks to the detailed account of the events leading up to the loss of the aircraft by the pilot and sole survivor. Captain F/L William Alroy Hugh ‘Alan’ ORSLEY was rescued by the locals of Antikythera island, taken prisoner and told his fascinating story after the war was over.

From the point where the pilot went ashore and was led by the fisherman’s son who collected him, Mr. Marinos Andronikos, our underwater research began…

Wreck diving and field research confirmed what the Australian pilot testified.

The wreckage of the reconnaissance aircraft was for the most part in good condition and this helped to identify it as the Baltimore wreck although the part of the fuselage with its distinctive unique number painted on it or any tag on the fuselage or the engines that would help in its formal identification were missing.

But the puzzle was not complete, as we needed to investigate and confirm which German pilot should be credited with shooting down the aircraft on the morning of December 3, 1943.

This is the most difficult part of the investigation and since I have undertaken it I will make my own assessment while asking for assistance of the members of WW2 wrecks in Greece in the effort to complete or correct the reports we have available from the German side.

In 1943 and after two years of Luftwaffe dominance in the Greek skies, the allies counterattacked and small flexible bombers mainly Beaufighters of the RAF, SAAF and RAAF began to attack from North African airfields against targets in mainland Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea. Reconnaissance planes prepared the attacks and identified possible targets.

The allied aircraft flew to the Aegean and the Ionian Sea from airfields in North Africa and upon their return flights, they used Kythera island at the southern end of the Peloponnese, and Antikythera island, with which they had visual contact, as identification points and from there they made their way to their airfields in Africa.

This was soon noticed by the German observatories in Kythera and Antikythera. The Germans planned their ways of dealing with them. They added fuel tanks under the fuselage of BF 109s of Squadron 7/Jagdgeschwader 27 based at Maleme airfield in Crete and sent the fighters to wait for the Allies in the Kythira-Antikythira area by circling and waiting for the allied aircraft to appear on their return flights.

According to German records that Tom Kracker has compiled and created a massive online database of Luftwaffe aircraft victories and losses, Rudolf Moycis is said to have shot down a Baltimore reconnaissance in December 1943. The shooting down was recorded as having taken place at 11.05 in the morning near Antikythera on the last day of 1943, i.e. December 31st while the reconnaissance Baltimore was performing a low flight.

On 31 December a Baltimore of 454 Squadron was attacked by two Bf 109s in the Kythera Strait. It was reported that the final attack was made by Rudolf Moycis who claimed to have brought down the Baltimore. As it turned out, despite the damage he had suffered, he managed to return to his base. And that’s how a mess probably started…

The day before, another Baltimore ID number FA 559 also of 454 Squadron was lost, as estimated in the squadron report shortly after take off.

This case does not seem to fit with the downing of the Baltimore of Antikythera as it appears to have taken off at 12.30pm while the aircraft we are investigating went missing at about 11am.

I conclude that there has been a mistake in the date of the downing of Baltimore that Moycis shot down and instead of being December 31st it is the 3rd. All other details match (id, low flight , North of Crete , time 11.05)

Although the downing of Baltimore was not credited to Moycis in the end it was probably done by him the German ace and the problem arose when instead of December 3rd 1943 being listed as the day of success the 31st was mistakenly listed….

I anxiously await the knowledge of the readers of WW2 Wrecks in Greece to complete the story that was filled with history and images in our summer.

Since Moycis and his plane seem to have been particularly popular and well-photographed I am listing some more photos, models and illustrations of his aircraft.