Missing German Plane

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Is anybody aware of a missing German plane leaving from the Island of Rhodes on July 4, 1944? My grandfather was a corporal in the Italian Army stationed in Rhodes. Per the Italian Defense Ministry, he was a prisoner of the Germans (I assume from the time Italy surrendered in Sept 1943 until that time), he was loaded onto a German aircraft to be repatriated to the main continent, but the plane was lost and never made it. Any ideas for research?

[LAstry2]

Was it a trasport aircraft?

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I've no idea. The Italian MOD did not indicate on the report. Only that he was a prisoner of the Germans and being repatriated to the mainland. My assumption is that it would be a transport plane to carry many others.

[jbroshot]

In A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940-1945 Volume Five From the Fall of Rome to the End of the War 1944-1945, by Christopher Shores and Giovanni Massimello et al (2021), there is an entry for Tuesday July 4, 1944

British Claims
603 Sqn WtOff L.F. Sykes/Sgt W.H. Foxley Beaufighter TFX NE304 'W' ] Ju52/3m See off Syros 1755-2245
603 Sqn FltSgt E.E. Pennie/FltSgt G.W.Hinde Beaufighter TFX NE246 'K' ]

German Casualties
5./TG 4 WNr 3377 G6+BN lost Gadura-Tatoi; Ofhnr Heinz Faulhaber, Uffz Reinhold Wenger and three MIA

There are two photos, first one is captioned, "Left: A Ju 52/3mW of 5./TG 4 under attack off Syros by a 603 Beaufighter flown by Flt Sgt Pennie; Right: a Ju52/3mW blazes after being strafed in harbour by a Beaufighters of 603 Squadron on 4 July"

I looked up Syros on Google Earth and it is a small island in the Cyclades, but it looks like if a plane flew from Rhodes to mainland Greece it could pass over Syros;

and the only Tatoi I could find was the Athens airport. No luck searching for "Gadurra-Tatoi"

BUT here is the link to a WW2 airfield on Rhodes known as Gadurra (in Italian)

https://www.forgottenairfields.com/airf ... s-298.html

And the discovery of lost Ju52 off Rhodes, but identified as probably one lost on March 31, 1944

https://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/the ... h-31-1944/

[Larry D.]

Gadurra was the main airfield on Rhodes while Tatoi was one of the principal airfields around Athens. Both are detailed here:

http://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Greec ... canese.pdf

L.

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Amazing. Thank you for the detailed response.