Focke Wulf 190 nightfighters - Kurt Welter 5./JG 302

Seen here in Ludwigslust (Mecklenburg) during January 1944 Ofw. Kurt Welter of 5./JG 302 poses for a snapshot in front of his Neptun radar equipped Fw 190 A-5/U2 'Porcupine' with his mechanics. Note the rod antennae of the FuG 217 radar protruding from the upper forward fuselage and the flame damping shields over the exhaust slats.

From Jean-Yves Lorant's interview with Fritz Gniffke (6./ JG 302) in the late 1970s

" ..Welter had downed two Lancasters during the night of 2-3 December 1943, bringing his total to 11, all returned on wilde Sausorties. On the night of 21-22 January he had run into a Mosquito north of Magdeburg, but the English pilot had managed to get away..Welter was our role model - we certainly didn't have any others - there were very few if any other wilde Sau pilots who had managed more than two victories at that time.."






Seen during the spring of 1944 at Werneuchen a FuG 218 radar equipped Fw 190 A-6 of Nachtjagdgruppe 10. (Classic Colours Nachtjäger volume captions this as a FuG 217) Both photos are extracted from Jean-Yves Lorant's Fw 190 Docavia book with the author's permission. On P235 of this volume there is picture of a line-up of Nachtjagdgruppe 10 machines. Most of the pilots and machines seving with NJGr. 10 during early 1944 were seconded from I./JG 300 including Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Müller.  Click on the pics for a better view..



More Fw 190 nightfighters on this blog here, including Klaus Bretschneider's FuG 217 Neptun radar equipped Fw 190 A-7 seen at Rheine during early 1944

Ein Oberbürgermeister fliegt an die Front.

Oberbürgermeister, Kreisleiter Dr. Rickel pays a visit to Lehrgeschwader 1 in September 1941. LG 1 was then operating over Greece and north Africa but had been based in peacetime in Greifswald. In this shot, taken during his trip home, the camera-ship is flying in close formation with the Ju 88 flown by the Geschwaderkommodore Major Friedrich Karl Knust.

Walter Wagner's 'white 11' II.(Sturm)/JG4 - January 1945

Technicians of the 404th FG examine Gef. Walter Wagner's 'white 11', a Fw 190A8/R2 belonging to II.(Sturm)/JG4 seen here shortly after the hapless German pilot force-landed on the airfield at St. Trond on 1.1.1945 during the Bodenplatte operation. These are screen 'grabs' from rare US footage that was aired on a German TV programme. Click on the images for a slightly larger view.

FalkeEins - more about this blog author - last edit December 2017

I have had a number of articles published on Luftwaffe subjects including a 15-page feature on the Sturmgruppen and a couple of 'Aircraft in Detail' pieces in the old SAM and including two 10-15 page 'Aircraft in Detail' features on the Fw 190.

My feature on Jaguar pilot Alain Mahagne's Desert Storm experiences appeared in the September 2011 issue of Airfix Model World and see the June and July 2014 issues of " Model Aircraft " for my "wilde Sau und Moskito Jagd" feature. This has subsequently been republished by Morton Jessen's Air War Publications as an eArticle in revised and expanded form.

My main interests are WW II aviation, especially the Luftwaffe, although I'm interested in just about any flying object. I grew up on the base at RAF Marham ( my Dad worked on Victors..) and after university I worked in France and Germany before taking up a post at London Gatwick airport with a 'major European airline' in flight dispatch..(primarily B737, F100 and A320 types). I stayed there for eight years. Son no. 2 flies with BA..Liverpool FC fan since 1970

I have worked on the following titles for Erik Mombeek, Lela Presse, Eagle Editions, Red Kite and Classic Chevron at the invitation of Robert Forsyth, either translating or copy-editing or part-authoring.

1. JG 300: A Chronicle of a Fighter Geschwader In the Battle for Germany by Lorant & Goyat  2 vols (Eagle Editions**)

"..The acclaimed unit history in two volumes - according to Rowan Bayliss in Scale Aircraft Modelling features 'some of the most gripping accounts of air combat ever written' - chock full of exciting personal accounts and rare photos. Translated by Neil Page"

**NEVER AGAIN

2. Barbarossa: The Air Battle July-December 1941 by Christer Bergstrom

"Revised, updated edition of the classic Black Cross- Red Star books at half the price of the Eagles Editions books. Copy-edited by Neil Page"

3. Messerschmitt Me 210 / Me 410 Hornisse (Hornet) by Werner Stocker

"Photographic and production history. Text examines the machinations behind Luftwaffe procurement policy - copy-edited and a section authored by Neil Page"

4. In The Skies Of France A Chronicle Of JG 2 Richthofen Vol 1 1934-1940 by Erik Mombeek

" Vol I of a superb new history of JG 2 Richthofen vividly brought to life through many rare first person accounts.. Translated by Neil Page"

5. Nachtjagd War Diaries Vol 1 An Operational History of the German Night Fighter Force in the West, September 1939 - March 1944 by Dr. Theo Boiten

"Superb new history of the Luftwaffe's night air war. Vivid personal accounts -amounting to around 75 pages of text- translated by Neil Page!"


6. Storming the Bombers A Chronicle of JG 4 The Luftwaffe's 4th Fighter Wing Vol 1 1942-1944 by Erik Mombeeck

"For the first time in English, a mission-by-mission, day-by-day history of the Luftwaffe's fourth fighter wing. Translated by Neil Page. See the author's web-site for ordering http://www.luftwaffe.be"

7. JG 27 in Action: v. 4 (Air Miniatures) by Marek Murawski

"Part IV of the Kagero series devoted to JG 27. Translated accounts by Neil Page"

8. Nachtjagd War Diaries Vol 2 An Operational History of the German Night Fighter Force in the West, April 1944 - May 1945 by Dr. Theo Boiten

"Vol II of Theo Boiten's Nachtjagd War Diaries - moving & dramatic personal accounts by Neil Page!"

9. JG 11 (Air Miniatures) by Marek Murawski

"Probably the best title in this Kagero series on a unit which has received little coverage. Plenty of first person accounts especially translated for this book by Neil Page"


10. Stalingrad - The Air Battle: 1942 through January 1943 by Christer Bergstrom

"Vol II of the new, revised, updated BC-RS. Highly detailed text, proofed, corrected and re-written in English by Neil Page"


11. Focke Wulf FW 190: v. 2 (Monographs) by Krzysztof Janowicz

"Vol II of four produced by Kagero devoted to the Fw 190 - great photos & artwork and a detailed operational history. The majority of the English section was written by Neil Page"

12. Luftwaffe Seaplanes - three volumes (Les hydravions de la Luftwaffe, published by Lela Presse

"..Luftwaffe seaplanes and flying boats played a major role during WW2. Volume I describes the history of the Arado 196, Dornier 18, Heinkel 60 and Heinkel 59 and is replete with photos, colour profiles & technical drawings. The most comprehensive and detailed works yet published on these types. Volume III features nearly 200 pages on the Dornier Do 24. English language photo captions augmented with text extracts translated by Neil Page.."

More info at http://www.avions-bateaux.com

13. Curtiss Hawk H-75 by Lionel Persyn (Lela Presse)

"The Curtiss H-75 was among the most effective fighters of the Armée de l'Air during WW 2, highly manoeuvrable & able to take on and beat the Me 109 Dora in combat as the events of 6 November 1939 proved - five Doras of JGr 102 shot down for no losses. It equipped the "crack units" of the French Air Force throughout the Phoney War and the May-June 1940 campaign, achieving a considerable tally of air victories. This book relates the career of the American fighter in France, from the negociations to buy it until its retirement post-war. Features detailed day-by-day coverage of the activities of the various Groupes de Chasse equipped with the Hawk and rare combat accounts, loss and victory lists. Approx 500 photos with detailed English-language captions augmented with translated extracts from the text by Neil Page.."

14. Luftwaffe Gallery series by Erik Mombeeck  - including three "unit specials" on JG 77, JG 26 and the latest release, JG 54 (December 2017). English text by this blog author from original German-language accounts and author Erik Mombeek's French.

15.  Luftwaffe Fighter Aircraft - Profile book No. 6 by Claes Sundin 
" The reader must acknowledge that this book is the result of a team effort - I would like to thank my friend Neil Page (FalkeEins) who is well-known for his expertise in this field.." Reviews here

16.  An as yet unpublished series on Luftwaffe fighters - due in 2018 - TOP Secret!


Some published reviews of my book translations. The latest reviews here are published in the April 2010 issue of Aviation History magazine by (Dr.) Richard Muller.



Published in the November 2009 edition of Aviation News (book translation by Neil Page).  The typo in the IPMS piece below made me chuckle... 'Chris Gross'    

Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen

Aviation Elite Units No. 20
Review by Neil Page

During the spring and summer of 1944 the USAAF daylight strategic bomber offensive over Germany was at its height. The Luftwaffe was forced to evaluate any number of desperate solutions as it sought to counter the massed fleets of B-17 Fortresses and B-24 Liberators pulverizing cities and industry throughout the Reich. In late 1943 Major Günther von Kornatzki -a former Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG52 during the Battle of Britain and married to one of Göring's secretaries- dreamt up the concept of the Sturm fighter. Dare-devil young volunteer Luftwaffe fighter pilots were organised into elite bomber destroyer units (see my article Sturmgruppen 1944-Bomber Destroyers in SAM, March 2001) The Sturmgruppen were to carry out stunning offensive actions in large battle formations flying heavily armed and armoured variants of the latest Focke Wulf 190 fighters. Their mass attacks were flown to within close-range to make certain of a ‘kill’ and their 3 cm cannon were deadly - just a handful of shells was enough to start a fire in a B-17 or B-24. On a number of occasions the Fw 190s of the Sturmgruppen did great execution among the bomber formations – the thirty or so B-24s of the 445th BG shot down on 27 September 1944 representing something of a macabre record during the air war. Fortunately for the US bomber crews, the slow and unwieldy Fw 190s –laden with armor protection for their pilots and encumbered with their heavy cannon– were no match for an omnipresent and massively numerically superior fighter escort and by late 1944 the original Sturm concept –to meet mass with mass– was no longer tenable.
This is another Osprey ‘potboiler’ from John Weal. As usual it is a nice read and constitutes a good introduction to the subject. Yet while I have a certain amount of time for Weal’s skills as a writer, the amount of research behind this volume appears cursory – although sources are admittedly hard to come by. After all – and in fairness - the Lorant/Goyat history of JG 300 published by Eagle Editions – appearing at the same time as Weal’s volume - was some twenty years in the research and writing. As far as Weal's text is concerned the treatment here is adequate; the mission summaries are curtailed and concentrate rather too much on losses with little information on victories or even the bomb group the Sturm units came up against. The story lacks first person accounts to bring the text to life and unfortunately repeats many of the old myths that have grown up around these units – von Kornatzki did not interview volunteers for the Sturmstaffel in his Berlin office. There is reasonable photo content –but no new pictures and a number of inaccurate captions and misidentifications. That is not Oskar Bösch sitting on the wing of his A-6 on P34 – but both Mombeek and Rodeike got that one wrong too. My main criticism is reserved for Weal’s artwork- there are a number of errors eg the well-known ‘schwarze 8’ of Willi Maximowitz (IV./JG 3) did not have a red/yellow spinner, it was black/yellow. Blue 13 does not have the white fuselage band with black wavy line- that was ‘black 13’. The JG 4 emblems are poorly drawn. Gefreiter Wagner’s ‘Weiße 11’ did not have outboard Mk 108's; they were 2cm weapons, the white 11 is incorrect. The profile of Gustav Salffner’s ‘white 6’ is incorrect and the machine did not have outboard Mk 108's either but 2cm weapons. Walter Loos did not serve in IV. (Sturm)/JG 3 but flew the Bf 109G-6 with the Br 21cm rocket launchers in the old IV./JG 3.
The text is inadequate beyond September 1944. The Sturmgruppen had virtually ceased to exist by November 1944, except for II.(Sturm)/JG 300. The story of how this unit – in concert with JG 301- lost ninety fighters over Berlin on 14 January 1945 is incomplete here and there is no information on JG 300’s deployment along the Oder front during February 1945- the Russians closing in fast from the East ensured that combating 8th AF bomber formations was no longer a priority. The last sorties against the bombers were in fact flown on 2 March 1945 and the story of the Sturmgruppen ends there to all intents and purposes… The closing chapter ‘From Sturm to Ramm’ deals with the Sonderkommando Elbe mission of 7 April 1945 - which was not flown by the Sturmgruppen. It was a suicide mission of light, unarmed Bf 109s flown by pilots of little or any combat experience - the antithesis of the Sturm concept. In conclusion, I find it difficult to recommend this wholeheartedly – however it is virtually the only work in English providing an overview of the history of these units and as such should be welcomed.

More Sturmgruppen links here

Willi Unger IV./JG 3 - Fw 190 Sturmbock

 IV./JG 3 - Fw  190 Sturmbock deployed briefly to Normandy with the 'Krebs' rocket launcher

The Sturmgruppen 1944 - Bomber Destroyers (Fw 190 Sturmbock)

A brief look at one of my first published articles. Having corresponded with a number of Sturmgruppen veterans, I put together a fifteen-page article for Scale Aircraft Modelling which appeared in Vol 23, no. 1 (March 2001) I also illustrated the feature - never again! To create my rendition of Dahl's Fw 190 I took a scale plan and coloured it in using Micrografx software - five hours work. Like most magazines, SAM pay a pathetic contributors fee, something like £20/page - or at least they did. While I supplied plenty of decent photos for the article the then-editor took it upon himself to go and scan in some additional Bundesarchiv images from books - I knew nothing about it until I saw them in the article.