Wednesday 31 March 2010

Oblt. Franz von Werra - Battle of Britain ace ?


Best known as 'The one who got away' Franz von Werra had made a number of attempts to 'escape' while held in the UK. He was subsequently transferred to a prison camp in Canada. However he didn't exactly 'escape' from detention there - in fact he was able to alight from the train taking him to a POW camp. This was in April 1941. According to his own account he then paddled a small boat across the St. Lawrence with his bare hands. 

Von Werra was the third German serviceman to have crossed to the neutral US by this stage of the war but the 'von' in his name ensured the US press would fill column inches with the 'Baron's' 'story'. While the US authorities did plan on sending him back to Canada, the German embassy in NYC hurriedly organised his onward travel to Mexico and south America. However 'von' Werra was not a German or even a 'von' at all. He was born to impoverished Swiss parents, the 'de Werras' and 'sold' to his adoptive German parents (cf. Wilfried Meichtry). His motives for 'escaping' were rather less than 'heroic' - according to Burt Leasor's book & the film based on it, the British had apparently told fellow inmates about his considerable tally of false claims - specifically five Hurricanes shot up on the ground on 28 August 1940 during a sortie where he claimed four aerial victories - all these claims were apparently accepted by his superiors, specifically Oblt. Sannemann and Hptm. von Selle, without witness statements - and needless to say were false. His 'determination' to escape may have been at least partially motivated by the possibility of his fellow German POWs taking a very dim view of his 'fraud'. Author Robert Michulec in Greenhill's 'Luftwaffe Aces' describes him as the 'greatest liar of the Jagdwaffe aces'..

The official Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report (which can be found in Air 22/266 at the Public Records Office) is as follows, courtesy David Bryant:
 
"21/4 Me.109 WNr 1480
Force landed at Love’s Farm, Marden, Kent on 5/9. Markings black outlined in white. Crest: Shield U-shaped, outlined in red, divided into 8 segments coloured black and white. Wing tips and rudder painted white. Camouflage all blue. Fuselage all blue. Spinner divided into alternate black and white sectors. Fitted with DB601A engines made by Mercedes Benz werk nr.10598. Aircraft force landed following fighter action. Condition reported to be very good. Standard armament two 20mm. cannon and two MG17s. Starboard wing shows many .303 strikes." 

 A note on the 'white nose' seen in so much artwork of this machine. Logic suggests the cowling would have been noted as being white if such had been the case - given that the wing tips and rudder were noted as being white. So the assumption, based on photographic evidence showing the cowling as lighter than the RLM 65 behind it, is that it is a "fresh" RLM 65 or even a RLM 76. 

Below; a close-up extract from a good quality print, ie not the poor quality repro above. This clearly shows the fuselage 'blue' does not resemble at all the white seen on the spinner....


Von Werra was awarded the RK later in the year, although his victory tally - even inflated - was well short of the usual total required to earn the coveted award. Von Werra replaced Oblt. Wilfried Balfanz as Kommandeur I./JG 53 and was promoted to Hauptmann. He achieved his first victory on the Eastern Front on July 6, 1941 and a view of his rudder scoreboard towards the end of July 1941 shows some 40 Abschussbalken - his claims ultimately bore little relation to his credited victory total. He left Russia in mid-August 1941 to get married.