Monday 30 June 2014

Rare image of Lichtenstein radar Hirschgeweih (antlers) on a Ju 86, Fw 190s of JG 301, JG 1 cross-hatch scheme - daily Luftwaffe Ebay find # 88





Rare image of Lichtenstein radar Hirschgeweih (antlers) on a Ju 86. The partially visible emblem and number on the nose indicates that this Junkers may have been on the strength of Luftnachrichtenschule 6 (LNS 6)..thanks to Tomáš Pruša for the identification


More from Mathias Beth's current Ebay sales;

maandertarnung squiggle camo on Fw 189 and SG Mickey Maus








 http://www.ebay.de/sch/bedel2000/m.html?item=291176164096&hash=item43cb73ab00&pt=Militaria&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

more Fw 190s currently on ebay.de;

rare cross-hatch camo scheme on JG  1 Fw 190, Fw Decker in "Gelbe 11", unidentified pilot climbing down from a machine marked with a Kommodore's double chevron, II./JG 301 A-8s in front of hangar at Ludwigslust..note the pale-coloured cowls.


http://www.ebay.de/sch/little-a-88/m.html?item=351101798433&hash=item51bf4c4821&pt=Militaria&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562








http://www.ebay.de/itm/WWII-US-Army-Foto-LUDWIGSLUST-Fliegerhorst-Focke-Wulf-FW-190-ME-109-18-5-1945-/351104270937?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1120





Thursday 26 June 2014

Luftwaffe Seaplanes Vol 3 - Roba, Neulen, Ledet - Seenotstaffeln, Breguet 521 Bizerte, He 115


Volume 3 of the Lela Presse 'Luftwaffe Seaplanes' series has arrived!  410 A-4 glossy pages, around 800 photos and 50 Thierry Dekker artworks! That's well over 1,300 pages for the three volumes! This volume deals chiefly with the Dornier Do 24 (around 200 pages) and Beute types such as the Breguet Bizerte..






French text, but these volumes represent the most in-depth treatment of the subject in any language. And each volume does contain extended photo captions in English and translated text extracts by this blog author. I feel very proud to have been involved with these books, thanks to the team at LeLa Presse and especially to Jean-Louis Roba, who, when I suggested that Hannibal Gude, Staffelkapitän 8. Seenot, could perhaps be profiled in the book, dug out the following rare image for inclusion....


Hptm Hannibal Gude was born in Breslau in 1913 and in 1932 volunteered for the German Navy. When the Nazis came to power he trained as a seaplane pilot. At the start of the war he served in north Germany before taking up a desk position at the German Air Ministry (RLM) for one year. Promoted to the rank of Hptm in June 1942 he was posted to Romania to take up a front command as Kapitän of 8. Seenot operating over the Black Sea;

 “ I was surprised at the lack of personnel in this unit which seemed to function in a very adhoc fashion and only had nine aircraft on strength - we were so lacking in airmen that I often flew most sorties, although only at the controls of the He 59 – having spent a year at the RLM I had received no training on the much more modern Do 24 and thus flew on this type only as observer.

On 01 January 1943 Gude was promoted to Maj. In February 1943 he was appointed Staka 2. Seetransportstaffel Sewastopol (to 03.43).The two Seetransportstaffeln were adhoc transport units set up during February 1943 to fly resupply sorties to the encircled 17. Armee in the Kuban. The aircraft often returned to Sevastopol fully loaded with wounded soldiers. Encounters with Soviet fighters or MBR seaplanes were fortunately rare and no losses in combat were recorded.

Elsewhere, this selection of seaplanes and French types currently on offer on ebay.de from Manuel Rauh (engelbubu photos) here


Above; good view of the rather ungainly "nose" of a Breguet 521 Bizerte - a feature which proved very useful for observation tasks while the aircraft was in flight. Note the defensive position to the right of the cockpit. The machine is no longer wearing its French livery but has yet to receive Luftwaffe markings. a task that was hurriedly accomplished as the Germans had an urgent requirement for air-sea rescue seaplanes along the French Atlantic and Channel coastlines. Bizerte seaplanes were sold to the Germans by the Vichy government during the summer of 1940.

The first loss of a Bizerte was SG+FM (N° 11), launched on 16 November 1940 to look for the crew of a KG 100 He 111 and intercepted and shot down by a N° 236 (Coastal Command) Squadron Blenheim.
As of April 1944 the Luftwaffe Seenot Staffeln had just five Bizertes on strength, two with 3. Seenot at Berre (N° 20 and ??) and three with 1. Seenotstaffel (N° 3, 4 and 36) at Biscarosse. With the Allied landings in Provence during August 1944, both Staffeln were ordered back to Germany. At least one of these machines (N° 4) remained in France to be incorporated back into the French naval air arm with 30S post-war.

Unfortunately I have no info on the locations in the images below. Bizerte flying boats were based in Hourtin (Atlantic coast, north of Bordeaux) and Brest among others. It was in Hourtin that Leutnante Klingspor and Unterhorst first arrived on 30 July 1940 with two crews to take possession of Bizertes N° 11 and 34 abandoned on 18 June. Both machines were repainted in German colours and flew into Lanvéoc-Poulmic (Brest, southern Brittany) on 7 August 1940





 Below; Potez M. 36 (?) touring plane in Luftwaffe markings...




Friday 20 June 2014

Fw 190s surrendered at Flensburg - Ebay Luftwaffe find #87


..two pilots of 7./JG 26 seen during October 1944 in Coesfeld on the wing of an FW 190 A. On the left Fw Erich Ahrens, shot down on the Bodenplatte operation on 1.1.1945 and taken captive (shipped to Canada) and Uffz.Heinz "Muli" Meihs, who made two claims before being KIA on 13.3.1945.


More from Michael Meyer's current Ebay sales here




captioned by the seller as 'Flugplatz Westerland' -located on the Sylt peninsula- these are likely to be Fw 190s from II./ JG 4, this Geschwader being one of a handful of JGs to surrender in northern Germany in the area of Flensburg.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/3-Fotos-1945-Flugplatz-Westerland-Sylt-FW-190-11-5-mal-17cm-/161341144485?pt=Militaria&hash=item2590ae7da5





Wednesday 18 June 2014

captured Fw 190 and 37mm cannon-equipped Ju 87 G photographed at Flensburg during May 1945, Luftwaffe trainers Bücker Bü 181, 131 - daily Luftwaffe Ebay find #86


currently on offer via airpics Ebay sales - another view of  a well-known captured Fw 190 previously identified elsewhere as FW 190 A-8 '1 + -', possibly of II./J.G. 1, Skrydstrup, Denmark, and 37mm cannon-equipped Ju 87 G photographed at Flensburg during May 1945, a rare FAGr. 5 Ju 290  A-7 and another Eastern Front Arado 232







http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-Flugzeug-42387-/201109094241?pt=Militaria&hash=item2ed3093f61&autorefresh=true

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-Flugzeug-Airplane-Me-110-mit-Kennung-Tarnanstrich-2-WK-H290-/360900687437?pt=Militaria&hash=item54075b764d



Flugzeug Bü 181 mit Wappen der FFDS A 9 Grottkau im Frühjahr 1944 on Michael Meyer's current sales




Above, instructor and student in the cockpit of a Bü 181 of the FFDS A 9 Grottkau in early 1944. In the cockpit, Fluglehrer Uffz. Meyer and on the right Flugschüler Friedhelm Krägeloh.

Bü 181 WNr.126 mit Wappen der LKS 7 in Tulln 1943


 Bü 131 "PU+AC" mit Wappen der LKS 7 in Tulln 1943.




Bü 131 D-2 "BX+AL" WNR.4202 of the Flugzeugführerdoppelschule A 9 FFDS A 9 Grottkau, early 1944.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/4x-Foto-photo-Flugzeug-plane-air-craft-Kennung-Staffel-Wappen-Windmuhle-maling-/261497330751?pt=Militaria&hash=item3ce2749c3f




Fw 189 on Patrick Ott's Ebay sales

http://www.ebay.de/itm/141321495300?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2649

'new' pictures of a Fw 190 Dora 9 with all female ground crew




..a couple of interesting late-war pictures recently posted on the 'German Warplanes' page on FB depict a Dora being attended to by an all-female ground crew. From the accompanying comments it is apparent that few enthusiasts are aware of the role played by German women in the Luftwaffe, especially in the closing months of the war..when manpower was otherwise all but exhausted..or desperately required elsewhere...



In the case of  leading Reich's defence Geschwader JG 300, during the first two weeks of March 1945 alone, a third of the complement of mechanics and aircraftsmen of the Geschwader were assigned to the Wehrmacht (das Heer) or the Waffen SS in preparation for the defense of Berlin, with the unit's commanders forced to arbitrarily draw up lists of names for transfer to the ground fighting forces. The Werftzug was reduced to a skeleton personnel complement of just six men, including an electrician and two engine technicians. The number of “lame ducks” that went unserviceable as a result of minor malfunctions increased noticeably. In order to make up for these arbitrary reductions in manpower, numbers of young auxiliaries - women - joined the Geschwader. Hastily and sketchily trained, they quickly proved rather inept for the tasks assigned them, with their enthusiasm and determination apparently of little compensation.

 Lt. “Timo” Schenk (Staffelführer 2./JG 300) was at Mörtitz when a contingent of young women for the Gruppe arrived;

"..  They had received heaven-only-knows what sort of accelerated training programme - it certainly left a lot to be desired. We were lumbered with them as second mechanics, but above all else, they simply got in the crew chief’s way and brought a new dimension of drama to our daily routines. When  pilots were injured or failed to return - killed in action - then it proved impossible to get them to hold back the “waterworks”. Staffel leaders took an the new and unwanted role of 'agony aunts', forced to combat excessive sentimentality and attempting to keep our mixed forces on an even keel..."

(my translation; extracted from Jean-Yves Lorant's history of JG 300 published by Editions Larivière ..)

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Heinrich Hackler III./ JG 77 Bf-109 K-4 W.Nr.330196




Lt. Heinrich "Heinz" Hackler (14 December 1918 – 1 January 1945) was a Bf 109 ace who flew with III./ JG 77 in all the theatres where this Gruppe operated from 1941. From November 1943 he flew over Romania in defence of the Ploesti oil fields with III./JG 77. He was awarded the RK on 19 August 1944, the date of the last American raid on Ploesti. According to one list of JG 77 claims his 67th and last was a P-51 over Bucharest on July 3, 1944. (cf. Prien, page 2099). In the period April-July 1944 he may have downed seven B-24s,  two B-17s and two P-51s. Kapitän of 11./JG 77 and leading III. Gruppe in its entirety on the January 1st Bodenplatte operation in his Bf 109 K-4 "Gelbe 10", Hackler was hit by anti-aircraft fire while attacking Deurne airfield near Antwerp and failed to return.

pic via Jean-Louis Roba




Profile artists and kit manufacturers have put their imaginations to work on Hackler's aircraft...


Me 321 Lastensegler (transport gliders) + 1 Ju 90 in Rußland, JG 51 Friedrich JG 77 I./ NAG 12




Three Me 321 Lastensegler (transport gliders)  and what is presumably the towing aircraft in the background, a Junkers Ju 90. Photo taken in the East during 1942/43 and currently on offer via Michael Meyer..




Michael Meyer Ebay sales


Flugkapitänin Hanna Reitsch in Darmstadt-Griesheim, summer 1942


Stab I./JG 51 Friedrich


Me 109 F-2 Winkel Dreieck of the Stab I./JG 51 - a/c assigned to the Gruppenkommandeur Hptm. Wilhelm "Wiilli" Hachfeld, RK am 20.9.1942, 11 Luftsiege. 



Bf 110 D WNr 2654 G9+GP Lt Helmut Niklas NJG 1, Deelen, May 1942



Bf 109 F-4, W.Nr.7073; "Gelbe 1" of Oblt. Kurt Lasse, Staka 9./JG 77, September 1941


JG 77 Emil







Above; 'new' image of Oblt. Heimo Emmerstorfer climbing into the cockpit of his ‘White 14’. Below; celebrating a combat flight milestone in 2./ NAG 12; these 'full size' images reproduced here courtesy of Jean-Louis Roba.