Monday 19 November 2018

Exito Decals order arrived ! "Gustavs over the Balkans" and "Wulf Pack" - Luftwaffe models



We first mentioned Exito Decals of Poland earlier this month on the Luftwaffe blog. My first order via their website just arrived! The web site itself is very easy to use and payment options include Paypal which makes the whole process even more straightforward. My order arrived in a stout A-4 card sleeve and the decals are backed by thick card. The placement instructions feature on one side of each A-4 sheet  and include colour three-views and photos of the actual machines on one side while high quality profile artwork  (both sides of the machine) from one of the leading artists in the digital environment is printed on the other - that's each decal subject on a separate thick card sheet. These are bound to become highly collectable! If the company manages regular releases these artwork sheets will build into an pretty neat album. The only downside I can see is that it seems a shame to start cutting the decals up, but as I particularly wanted a JG 77 G-6 on my shelves it will have to be...

http://www.exito.site

Exito Decals enters the market with two sets available both in 1/48 and 1/72 scale. The decal sheets are printed by industry leader, Cartograf of Italy, which ensures top printing quality and ease of application. These are complemented by instructions that differ from the plain market standard. What you get are essentially high quality posters with accurate and inspiring illustrations created by Janusz Swiatlon. Each subject is presented on an A4-sized sheet, with large side aircraft profiles printed on the front, and the remaining artwork, photos and all necessary information laid out on the rear side. This way you not only get some cool decals for your model kit, but also attractive posters to adorn your man cave, at the same time!

The first decal set I ordered is entitled “Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6, Gustavs over the Balkans” and covers three quite unusual machines:
  1. Bf 109 G-6, ‘White 12’, flown by Uffz. Anton Riemer of 7./JG 77, Mizil, Romania, January 1944.
  2. Bf 109 G-6, ‘Black 5’, 2./JG 53, Borovo, Croatia, May 1944.
  3. Bf 109 G-6, W.Nr. 166133; flown by Capt. Constantin “Bâzu” Cantacuzino, San Giovanni near Foggia, Italy, 27th August 1944.



The second set is entitled “Wulf Pack Vol.1” and includes markings for three different early Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, just in time for the recent Eduard kits:
  1. Fw 190 A-3, ‘Yellow 7’, flown by Oblt. Detlev Rohwer, Kapitän of 6./JG 1, Woensdrecht, the Netherlands, late spring 1942.
  2. Fw 190 A-4, W.Nr. 0799, coded ‘SK+OU’, probably belonging to I./SG 101, France, 1943.
  3. Fw 190 A-5, ‘Yellow 5’, flown by Fw. Karl ‘Charly’ Willius of 3./JG 26, Dno, Soviet Union, early April 1943.
None of these aircraft have been available in decal form before. ‘Yellow 5’ is the only documented Fw 190 with victory markings that served on the Eastern Front. Decals include bonus ‘Andrehkurbel’ stencils, which are missing from the majority of kit and aftermarket Fw 190 stencils.

Sunday 18 November 2018

Ju 87 Stuka He 111 Bomben Beladung - Ebay photo find #296



..die Maschinen wurden aufgetankt, mit neuen Bomben beladen und flogen zurück zu ihrer tödlichen Mission....














Saturday 17 November 2018

Herbert Huppertz, Josef Puchinger JG 2 September 1943


Following my post on Herbert Huppertz (see below) two correspondents have already taken the trouble to contact the Luftwaffe blog.  Thank you!


 " Dear Neil, ... please find attached another image of Herbert Huppertz, taken in September 1943 by PK-photographer Harry Gehm with Oblt. Werner standing on the right hand side, apparently a non-flying officer. This photo is part of an impressive PK-series which is currently on auction at Ratisbon’s for a starting bid of € 10 K, also comprising substantial photo and Propaganda text material covering Army units in Russia in 1942/43 and a couple of shots showing a/c and pilots of I./SKG 10 and III./JG 3 in Normandy in June 1944, although unfortunately only one well known image of a Bf 109 G-6 from III./JG 3. The JG 2 lot comprises some 20 very nice and mostly unknown shots of Fw 190s from Stab I./JG 2 with numerals between „20“ and „26“ as well as some images from III./JG 2, among them two well known shots of Wurmheller and his Fw 190 with the victory tally on the rudder. Another sequence shows Egon Mayer inspecting a downed B-17; some of these images can be found in Paul Müngersdorff’s album. Also part of this lot are several contact stripes containing negative size images, including some very interesting ones but it’s difficult to come to reasonable results from them. I have attached one sample for you to see what I mean...."




..and another correspondent writes;

   " .. finally, after a long wait, a photo of Hptm.Josef Puchinger. Puchinger was posted MIA on 17 December 1944 over Upper Silesia as a member of the Stab IV./JG 300. He was likely shot down at the controls of Bf 109 G-14/AS 'blue 3' countering a 15th AF raid on the Blechhammer and Odertal petroleum refineries in the vicinity of Breslau. He is still listed as missing. This photo where he is in the life jacket I have had for a long time, but it was not certain he was the only person mentioned, that he was an unknown Leutnant...."

Wednesday 14 November 2018

Herbert Huppertz JG 2 6-8 June 1944, Jean-Bernard Frappé's revised "La Luftwaffe face au débarquement " published by Heimdal


from the publisher's blurb - a Luftwaffe blog translation

" ....More often than not nowadays it is a celluloid version of history that determines how we may perceive real events! Who has not seen the now-famous scene from Darryl F. Zanuck's film "The Longest Day", when two Luftwaffe fighters, alone and confronted with a huge Allied naval and air armada, came in low for a brief firing pass along Sword Beach, leaving several hundred startled Tommys as dumbfounded as they were amazed, before heading back home eastwards unscathed to their base north of Paris. For many years this enduring image has helped to condition the idea that the Luftwaffe was particularly absent from the skies of Normandy on 6 June 1944 when the liberation of France and the annihilation of the armies of the Third Reich were at stake....

In 1999 Heimdal published a superlative history compiled by Jean-Bernard Frappé -"La Luftwaffe face au débarquement "- detailing the actions of the Jagdwaffe in the skies of Normandy and the Ile de France region around Paris and then again in Provence, after the Allied landings on the Mediterranean coast. With a wealth of detail and photos the book presented an exhaustive panorama of events. And while compared to the 15,000 sorties flown by American and British aircraft during D-day itself, the Luftwaffe had only been able to organize a little over 300, four days later no fewer than 1,300 Luftwaffe machines, including nearly 500 fighters belonging to some 20 fighter Gruppen were able to mount combat sorties. With the Wehrmacht in headlong retreat the largest number of Luftwaffe fighter sorties on the Normandie front was recorded on 20 August with 580 Focke Wulf 190 A and Messerschmitt 109 Gustavs present. Fighting against overwhelming odds of 10 to 1, German fighter pilots paid a heavy price in blood for their interventions - more than a thousand of them were shot down over the course of many hundreds of air battles against USAF Mustangs and Thunderbolts and RAF Typhoons and Spitfires. In return for these terrible losses, these same German pilots carried out their duties to the limits of physical and mental endurance - more than 1200 claims for victories were filed between June 6 and August 31, testifying to their determination and courage.

The success of the first edition of  Jean-Bernard Frappé's tome "La Luftwaffe face au débarquement " - June 6, 1944 to August 31, 1944 - found a ready readership and nowadays has become difficult to find at a sensible price. Therefore, some twenty years after the first printing Heimdal Editions have chosen to offer to a new generation of readers, a revised, corrected and expanded reissue, with extensive photo coverage - some images previously unpublished-  enriched with dozens of colour profiles representing the Focke Wulfs and Messerschmitt 109s that saw action during that terrible summer of 1944....."




Kommandeur III./JG 2 at the time of the Normandy 'invasion' this is Herbert Huppertz on the left. Photos of this pilot appear to be quite rare aside from the usual RK portrait. To the right is Josef Puchinger. Note Huppertz is wearing the officers Fliegermütze or side capknown more colloquially as the Jaegerschliff ...





Hptm. Herbert Huppertz was Gkr. III./JG 2 on 6 June 1944. He was one of those veterans that David Clark in his history of the Normandy air battles "Angels eight" qualified as a 'super-ace'. Having claimed his first victory, a Spitfire, over Dunkirk on 28 May 1940 with 6./JG 51 his victory total at the start of June 1944 was around 70 confirmed.

Below; Huppertz (right) with JG 51 on the Channel coast.."..am Kanal gegen England "



 At noon on 6 June 1944, Obstlt. Kurt Bühligen (who scored his 100th victory on 7 June 1944) and Huppertz participated when 29 Fw 190 attacked at least 24 Thunderbolts (of US 365 FG) and Typhoons (of RAF 183 Sqn). The Germans claimed to have shot down six Allied fighters - including two Typhoons in less than two minutes by Huppertz - for a single loss. Actual Allied losses in this engagement were five (two P-47s, three Typhoons). (Clark, “Angels Eight”, p. 42.) That same evening, Huppertz caught eight Typhoons of 164 Sqn and shot one down, with F/O Roberts KIA. (David Clark, CD “Daily Data tables of the Normandy Air War Diary”, 6 June 1944.)

In the course of another sortie late on 6 June, Huppertz engaged the numerically superior formations of Allied aircraft which by that time filled the skies in the area (on 6 June 1944, the USAAF and RAF conducted 14,674 sorties over the Normandy area - against only 319 Luftwaffe sorties). During this single mission, Huppertz was entangled in combat with several Allied fighter units, involving both Mustangs and Thunderbolts, but in spite of the odds he claimed a Mustang and a Thunderbolt. David Clark has identified the former as one of the 352nd FG’s losses.

Huppertz thus returned five victories in a single day, 6 June 1944.

8 June 1944 was a black day for III./JG 2. At around 0915 the Gruppe was airborne with around ten machines and were engaged by Mustangs and possibly Thunderbolts around Caen. Hptm. Wurmheller claimed one Mustang, while three Fw 190s were shot down - two of the JG 2 pilots were killed  - including Gruppenkommandeur Huppertz. The WASt. loss report gives the time of this action as 10:30.

 (JfV Teil 13/III Einsatz im Westen 1.1 bis 30.9.1944 Prien/Stemmer/Bock)

Also on this blog;

Seine bridgehead 22 August 1944 - the Jagdwaffe vs. US anti-aircraft artillery at Mantes
SKG 10 - first Luftwaffe unit in action on D-Day
Two pilots in Normandy - Hans-Ulrich Jung III./JG 3
Priller's Jutta - Fw 190 A-8 'black 13'

Friday 9 November 2018

Ritterkreuzträger Ernst-Christian Reusch Fw 190 F-8 Kommandeur II./SG 1 -ebay photo find #296







Several 'undoctored' images from the Ritterkreuzträger II./ SG 1 Ernst-Christian Reusch photo series last seen one year ago on ebay. The F-8 of the Kommandeur was 'double chevron A' (small letter'A' just visible in the small chevron) with wing-racks faired over, universal wing (outer wing cannon bulges, no outer wing armament fitted). A single click on the image to view LARGE.






More 'new' and informal images on offer here. Reusch on the right in the second and third photos below.





Exito Decals - "Gustavs over the Balkans" and "Wulf Pack"



Ever heard of Exito Decals?

No, me neither. It appears that Exito Decals is the new 'baby' of profile illustrator Dariusz Światłoń who has taken over from Thierry Dekker as the artist entrusted with illustrating the next volume in Erik Mombeeck's 'Luftwaffe Gallery' series which is due soon ( as usual English language text by this blog writer )

Exito have just launched a superb new line of Luftwaffe fighter decals. Taking subjects seen in previous " Luftwaffe Gallery Special " unit volumes from Erik Mombeeck each sheet features three mostly new and occasionally unusual machines with high-class profile illustrations featured on an A-4 sized 'fact-sheet' for collectors. A step up from the market standard.

Decals are printed by Cartograf.






Thanks for the heads-up to Adam at the 72nd scale blog here

Exito decals are here

For news on the latest forthcoming 'Luftwaffe Gallery' go to Erik's site http://luftwaffe.be 


Thursday 8 November 2018

film footage of the Junkers Frontbetriebreparatur (FBR - advanced maintenance facility) in the Nord Aviation factory at Méaulte, France 1940







Some neat footage of a selection of Ju 88s (note KG 51 badge in evidence) from the Junkers Frontbetriebreparatur (FBR - advanced maintenance facility) in the Nord Aviation factory at Méaulte in the Somme region of northern France seen during 1940. 

Following the French  defeat and subsequent armistice in June 1940 the Vichy French authorities had very quickly opened negotiations with their new German masters.  On the table was an offer to produce spares for German aircraft manufacturers and establish overhaul and repair facilities for aircraft operating from French territory and in so doing preserve industrial capacity in aviation and preserve employment and some of their manufacturing base in France. In making themselves useful to the Germans, the French authorities hoped to avoid all their workers being drafted east to work as 'Auslandarbeiter' in German aircraft factories. Their offer was quickly taken up and led to the establishment of so-called Frontbetriebreparatur or FBR plants - advanced overhaul facilities. With Ju 88s, for example, operating from no fewer than thirty eight aerodromes throughout France at the height of the Battle of Britain the French had quickly gained a certain amount of expertise on the type.  The Vichy Government thereafter concluded the so-called Wiesbaden Agreement with the Reich to bring the French aircraft industry fully into alignment with German production, with one aircraft or engine out of every three being retained for Vichy, the other two going to Germany. Certain types, such as the Messerschmitt Bf.108, Siebel Si.204 and Fiesler Fi.156 Storch were intended for wholesale transfer of their production to France. And indeed, even the Focke Wulf Fw 190 was intended for this move (and the post-war Armée de l'Air was briefly equipped with home-built Fw 190s, known as the NC.900). While some would argue that the French were not constructing war machines for the Germans, it is nonetheless the case that producing large numbers of transports and seaplanes enabled German industry to concentrate on fighters and other offensive weapons.

Today the Méaulte factory is home to Stelia Aerospace who turn out nose sections for Airbus.

The factory scenes appear in the first five-minutes of this 7-minute clip. A single click to view here.






gear-up landing Fw 190 A-7 - ebay photo find #295



Late variant Fw 190 - note though the mid-wing position of the pitot tube





on offer here

Below; more recent Fw 190s on ebay













Monday 5 November 2018

Bf 109 Friedrich JG 52 Schipol pre-Barbarossa - detail close-up walkaround - ebay photo find 294




New Friedrichs for JG 52, possibly II. Gruppe (Balken just visible in lower photo) pre-Barbarossa in the Netherlands, May 1941. No signs of the engine cowl covers which is strange- probably in the paint shop being sprayed yellow overall..






via Marco Meyer at koelsch333 Ebay sales here