Hptm. Wilhelm Balthasar and Major Walter Oesau (Kommodore JG 2)

Balthasar climbing down from his 'Green 1' possibly as Kommandeur III./JG 3 (appointed 1 September 1940). He was injured on 04 September over Kent. The image below is previously published in Jochen Prien's history of III./JG 3, taken late September 1940 at Desvres in France and Balthasar is seen in conversation with the Kommodore JG3 Günther Lützow.

In February 1941 a new Kommodore was appointed to succeed Helmut Wick at the head of JG 2. Hptm. Wilhelm Balthasar (above left) was an ace who at the time enjoyed almost as big a reputation as Wick's having been one of the leading Luftwaffe fighter pilots through 1940. Born in 1914, he had been orphaned following the death of his father on the Western Front. Following his enlistment in 1933 and service in an artillery regiment, Wilhelm Balthasar had subsequently transferred into the Luftwaffe and gone on to serve in Spain. Appointed to lead the recce detachment of the bomber arm of the Legion Condor (claiming a single aerial victory), he had  subsequently moved to J/88 (the fighter arm in Spain) and added a further six Luftsiege to his score. Kapitän of 1./JG 1 in Poland and during the offensive in the West, Balthasar had been awarded the Ritterkreuz on 14 June 1940 having achieved twenty three victories. In August 1940, the young officer headed up III./JG 3 during the air battles over England. He had added to his tally during the Battle of Britain but sustained injuries on two occasions. It was not until he returned to flying duties in early 1941 that this experienced veteran was appointed to command the "Richthofen". His tenure would be short-lived. He was killed in action on 2 July 1941 after pulling the tail off his new Friedrich while trying to evade the attentions of Spitfires engaged over northern France .. (cf. Mombeeck "In the skies of France" - a chronicle of JG 2 Vol II). The Luftwaffe.cz web site has him claiming no fewer than five Blenheims on 23 June 1941 during the course of an RAF 'Circus'. His actual claims were 2 Blenheims on 22 June and 2 more Blenheims the following day. The Emil in the shots is WN.r 1559 ..which Balthasar kept after moving from I./JG1 - III./JG27 (cf. Gruppenemblem under the cockpit )

Balthasar's successor as Kommodore JG 2 was Major Walter Oesau (below left), a veteran of JG 132 (one of the very first incarnations of JG 2) a unit that he had left when he had travelled to Spain with Jagdgruppe 88, the fighter arm of the Legion Condor. He had been credited with ten victories in Spain. In 1939 on his return he had been posted to the Stab I./JG 2 before being moved to the new I./JG 20 and then to JG 51 and JG 3. At the time of his appointment as Balthasar's successor he was Kommandeur III./JG 3 with some 86 victories. Shortly thereafter he became only the third winner of the Swords behind Galland and Mölders. On 'rejoining' JG 2 Oesau was thus reunited with a number of former comrades that he had known back in Döberitz in 1939.

Cyber-Hobby Dragon Wing Tech Bf 109 E-4 Emil 1/32

 Dragon's new 1/32 scale Emil is here hard on the heels of last year's Trumpeter and Eduard releases. In the run up to this release I was asked to comment on the markings and colours options and am very pleased to see that Dragon have acted on the information forwarded to them during the preparation of this superlative looking kit - there is a now a Helmut Wick markings option with authentic 'kingfisher' emblem in the box ! 

Otherwise according to the 'Dragon Models USA' site the kit features the following array of impressively detailed parts and options;

- Newly tooled fuselage for Bf109E using slide-mold technology, fuselage features metal-skinned detail

- Newly tooled rudders can be modelled in different positions

- Two new 7.92mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MG17 machine guns in staggered mount included

- Moveable propeller blades with accurate curved cross-section and true-to-scale thickness

- Slide-molded engine cowling cover w/maximum detail can be assembled open/closed

- Intricate Daimler Benz engine represented by multiple parts, up to after-market standards

- Full cockpit interior details - pilot's seat, authentically detailed instrument panel and radio included

- Pilot's seatbelt upgraded by photo-etched parts

- Three different depths of panel line exhibit astonishing level of detail

- Centerline SG500 bomb and ETC500 bomb rack precisely reproduced under the fuselage, drop tank included

- Strengthened landing gear realistically portrayed

Decal options -  5 colour schemes - all based in France in 1940:

1. Oberst Adolf Galland, JG 26

2. Hauptmann Rolf Pingel, I./JG 26

3. HauptmannGünter Lützow, I./JG 3

4. Oberleutnant Gerhard Schöpfel, 9./JG 26

5. Major Helmut Wick, JG2

A full 'in-box' review is available via Rowan Bayliss at aeroscale.co.uk

Flugzeug Classic issue Feb 2011

Fast taking over from Jet & Prop as my preferred aviation history mag from Germany, the Feb 2011 issue features Mediterranean Ju 88 Torpedo Flieger of KG 26 and KG 77 in action against Allied shipping convoys, part two of a Ju 188 type history covering operational deployment of the type and a nice piece on the Farnborough 1945 'Beuteschau' of captured German aircraft. More at the Flugzeug Classic web site here

Helmut von Zborowski - Heinkel annular wing VTOL 'fighter' design concept

Helmut Philip von Zborowski was an interesting figure in early rocket and jet engine development. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Snecma Coléoptère annular wing aircraft during the 1950s - the subject of an interesting new book by Jean-Christophe Carbonel - which stemmed from Zborowski's wartime research on so-called Ringflügel or annular wing concepts for Heinkel.  A contemporary of Werner von Braun, Zborowski worked on rocket and jet development for BMW during World War II and was director of the BMW factories in München-Allach, where engines were manufactured by a huge work force including many thousands of POWs and some 3,000 Dachau concentration camp internees. Zborowski led the team working on the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket engine and in 1944 was working on rockets as a means of combating the huge bomber fleets operating at will over Germany. With almost continual daytime attacks on its airfields and large scale operations almost impossible, one potential solution for the Luftwaffe was to introduce some sort of VTOL interceptor that could be launched from any open location. Zborowski worked on Heinkel's VTOL design studies as part of their Wespe and Lerche programs. Zborowski's research had shown that performance from a propeller or turbine could be considerably enhanced by the Bernoulli-effect when enclosed in a tube or circular wing, and the Heinkel designs featured "barrel-like" fuselage/wing configurations enclosing the powerplant, surmounted by a small cockpit . The Wespe intended to use a Benz 2,000 hp turboprop engine, but these were not forthcoming and the Lerche used two Daimler-Benz DB 605 piston engines instead. Nothing ever came of either design. Postwar Zborowski went to France and served as a research engineer for the Société d'Etudes de la Propulsion par Réaction (SEPR). Zborowski later founded his own company, Bureau Technique Zborowski. or BTZ which was instrumental in taking his wartime research to a first 'practical' application in the development of the Coléoptère - a type of vertical take off and landing design utilising a ducted-fan as the primary fuselage of the entire aircraft with a small cockpit area suspended above it. Known in English as a "coleopter" Zborowski's machine was designed to take off and land on its tail and carried out nine free flights before crashing. The story of this aircraft and Zborowski's work is related in Jean-Christophe Carbonel's new work on the Snecma Coléoptère annular wing aircraft. More on this work at my blog Jet & Prop by FalkeEins

Klaus Deumling and the sinking of the Roma (KG 100 Wiking, Dornier Do 217 and Fritz X in Flugzeug Classic magazine January 2011 issue)

Dornier Do 217 K of III./KG 100 seen at Istres, summer 1943 (collection Dabrowski, Griehl, Flugzeug Classic)

In early September 1943 the Italians proclaimed an armistice with the western Allies. One of the armistice clauses called for "the immediate transfer of the Italian fleet and the Italian airplanes to those places that will be designated by the Allied Command ". On 9 September 1943 - the same day as the Allied landings at Salerno - an Italian Navy battlegroup, under the command of Admiral Carlo Bergamini, heading for Malta to 'surrender' was attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Asinara by Luftwaffe bombers of KG 100. During the attack, the Roma, one of the most powerful warships then at sea in the Mediterranean was struck, split in two and sunk. The Admiral, along with a great number of officers, petty officers and sailors perished – more than 1,250 men.


Nineteen years old Leutnant Klaus Deumling of 7./KG 100 was flying his first combat sortie that day at the controls of a Dornier Do 217 K and participated in the sinking of the Roma, launching a radio-guided Fritz X flying bomb. His story is related by Peter Cronauer in the current issue of Flugzeug Classic magazine (January 2011) - although unfortunately not entirely in his own words.  According to Cronauer it  was not until Deumling related his account of the attack on the Roma in his memoir '41 Sekunden bis zum Einschlag' (41 seconds to impact - the 'flight' time of the Fritz X) that his participation in the action against the Italian fleet and indeed the full facts of this attack became more widely known. Postwar Deumling had little contact with flying or former members of KG 100. At the end of that day - an Italian battleship sunk and over 1,200 Italian lives lost, just days before hand allies of the Germans - there would be no decorations for Deumling or his fellow KG 100 crews. Ulf Balke in his history of KG 100 credits Kommandeur Jope and Ofw. Kurt Steinborn as being the successful crews in the sinking of the Roma. Deumling's view of this action differs somewhat.

Klaus Deumling (right, below) had been posted to 7./KG 100 in Schwäbisch-Hall Hessenthal after achieving his instrument rating at the Luftwaffe's blind flying school in Belgrade during the early summer of 1943. Here he not only met his new crew for the first time - all of whom were older than Deumling- but encountered a new aircraft type, the Dornier Do 217 K-2 and one of the Luftwaffe's first 'Wunderwaffen', the Fritz X ‘stand-off ’ bomb.

The Fritz X or FX-1400 bomb (or more accurately after its manaufacturer, the Ruhrstahl X-1) had been designed in 1939 by Dr. Max Kramer and was a high penetration 1400 kg bomb, a development of the PC 1400 bomb, now equipped with four small wings or ‘spoilers’ and tail controls for stabilising and modifying its trajectory in flight. It was a weapon that was remotely controlled from the launch aircraft by the FuG 203/230 Kehl-Strassburg very short-wave radio system comprising four frequencies which relayed commands to dive, pull up and manoeuvre left and right via a small control stick operated by the Dornier’s observer. These ‘commands’ translated into movements of the ‘spoilers’ via small servo motors. The radio-commands could be sent up to 15 seconds from the point of launch which partly accounts for the very high launch altitudes of the bomb. Unlike the Hs 293 it did not have any means of propulsion. It was however extremely precise and could thus be launched well out of the range of enemy anti-aircraft fire, taking 41 seconds to reach and penetrate a pinpoint target of only some 5 square metres at its terminal velocity approaching 1,000 km/h from a launch altitude of 7,000 metres. It was both its speed and its armoured casing that enabled it to penetrate the steel plate of some of the biggest capital ships then afloat. It did however require a stable launch platform and clear conditions in order for the observer to guide the weapon onto its target.

Preparing a Fritz X bomb for loading onto the carrier aircraft

While in northern Germany Deumling and his crew trained hard over a period of two months on launching the Fritz X against a 5,000 ton target ship anchored off Peenemünde. They then moved to Istres, near Marseille on the Côte d’Azur for the attack on the Roma. With the major elements of the Italian Navy in La Spezia awaiting confirmation of orders to sail for Malta, Kommandeur Jope had already received top secret instructions from Luftflotte 2 chiefs in Rome to prepare for an attack should the Italians set sail. Shortly before 14:00 on 9 September 1943 individual Do 217s in a first ‘wave’ rolled out to the runway at Istres.

Ofw. Kurt Steinborn in Ulf Balke’s Kampfgeschwader 100 Wiking history reported;

“ it was Gruppenkommandeur Jope himself who briefed us on the details of the attack. Our targets were some 300 kilometres distant. Strict radio silence was ordered. A reconnaissance machine maintained visual contact at all times with the targets and relayed their position to us. Visibility was excellent as we climbed to an altitude of 7,000 metres. From far off we could see the enormous wakes the ships were trailing, indicating that they were steaming at full speed ahead. We were met by heavy anti-aircraft fire but at that height there was no risk of us being hit and we looked on as their shells exploded beneath us..I sought out the biggest vessel and throttled back to 180 km/h. The air was calm and still, our trusty Do 217 perfectly stable. My observer Uffz. Degan launched the Fritz X with his right hand, switched the automatic camera on and guided the bomb into the target. It took just 42 seconds from launch to impact directly amidships...it wasn’t until later that evening that we knew that we had hit the Roma and that she had sunk..”

Deumling and his crew had also arrived over the target area after one hour’s flying time and were at the optimum altitude for launching the Fritz X, some 7,000 metres. With no interference from enemy fighters and cloudless skies launch conditions were ideal – the Italian battle group below must have presented an imposing picture;

Deumling; "..We weren't thinking of the sailors on board those ships. From 7,000 metres they looked like toy boats in the bath. We couldn't make out any details of the individual ships. Having practised launching our 'Fritz X' relentlessly we were under a certain pressure to get this right and it was with some anxiety that we were able to position ourselves right over the fleet out of the range of the anti-aircraft shells exploding below us... "

The fact that the Fritz X were launched with the aircraft more or less straight and level had probably created confusion among the Italians, lulling them into believing that German intentions were not offensive. This mistake was fatal, considering that the Italians were under orders to fight back only if attacked. At 15.45 the Roma was hit on the starboard side. The bomb burst into the sea after having passed through the Roma's 33 metre wide hull and the ship’s speed was reduced to just 10 knots. At 15.50 the Roma was struck again by a second bomb fatally wounding the huge battleship. A column of flames and smoke spiralled upwards one thousand metres high. Turret n. 2 (1.500 tons) along with all of its occupants and the command tower were projected aloft and tilted to the right side. It was the end for Bergamini and his staff. The ship began to tilt to starboard. It was a horrendous show of death and destruction. The majority of the men were burned alive. At 16.12 the Roma turned upside-down, broke into two parts, and sank. With her, no less than two Admirals, 86 Officers and 1264 sailors were lost.

Deumling ; " as we made our way home we realised that we had achieved a good hit and had come away without a scratch. At the time we had no thoughts for the victims - that is why sixty years later I find the pictures taken that day so disturbing..that myself and my crew had not launched the second and fatal bomb to hit the ship was of little consolation...." ( jacket cover photo of Deumling's book below depicts the Roma after the first Fritz X hit..)

For information on the latest issue and a chance to view the contents visit the Flugzeug Classic website here

Storming the bombers - a chronicle of Jagdgeschwader 4 - the Luftwaffe's fourth fighter wing by Erik Mombeek

The fourth fighter wing of the Luftwaffe was initially established during 1942 and committed to operations in defence of the Rumanian oil fields during 1943. I./JG 4 first saw action in combat against a strike force of B-24 Liberators dispatched on the celebrated low level attack against Ploesti on 1 August 1943, Operation “Tidal Wave”. JG 4 was subsequently deployed in the bitterly fought German defensive campaign on the Italian penin­sula during the first half of 1944, prior to being shifted to the Normandy invasion front and then falling back to the frontiers of the Reich in September that year. It was during the summer of 1944 that JG 4 underwent considerable reinforcement with two new Gruppen swelling its ranks. The most effective of these was II. (Sturm)/JG 4, a so-called “Storm” or "assault" wing, built up around a hard core of former Sturmstaffel 1 pilots and an intake of young daredevil volunteers. Committed against the massive USAF bomber fleets pounding the Reich, the Sturm fighters were deployed to bring down the American bombers by any means, including ramming if necessary.



An extract from Chapter 5 - The creation of II.(Sturm)/ JG 4   (my translation from the original German text..)


Uffz. Herbert Chlond -formerly of 2./ZG 1- was now a 5.(Sturm)/JG 4 pilot, as he explained ;
“The pilots transferred from Hohensalza to Salzwedel by train or road. I was soon sent to Giessen to take on charge my aircraft and ferry it to Salzwedel – I touched down there for the first time on 14 August 1944. It wasn’t long afterwards that we welcomed our new Staffelkapitän – Hptm. Erich Jugel. He was a replacement for Hptm. Fulda who we only knew for a few days. We encountered Obstlt. von Kornatzki from time to time as he came out onto the field to check our progress during our period of settling in and training. He seemed to be an officer concerned for the well-being of his men – almost like a father figure, paternalistic and well-liked by all ranks. I do not recall ever having to sign any document pledging to bring home a victory on every sortie – or even undertaking to ram enemy bombers.”

While the new Staffelkapitäne were all experienced pilots, only Zehart – aged 25 years and posted to 7. (Sturm)/JG 4 – had any real experience of fighter combat tactics. The Kapitän of 5. Staffel, Hptm. Wilhelm Fulda – aged thirty-five years old – was a decorated glider pilot and Knights Cross recipient. He was quickly replaced by the thirty year old Hptm. Erich Jugel. Jugel was a former observer with III. (Kampf-)/Lehrgeschwader 1 prior to training as a pilot and subsequently serving as Staffelkapitän of 11./ LG 1.

The Kapitän of 8. Staffel, Major Gerhard Schröder was thirty two years old and also a former observer, prior to serving as Staffelführer with II./KG 55 ‘Greif’ before he shifted to KG 51 ‘Edelweiß’.

Hptm. Manfred Köpke was twenty seven years old and appointed Kapitän of 6. (Sturm)/JG 4. Athough he had initially trained as a fighter pilot at Werneuchen, he had opted for the bomber arm and it was not until the summer of 1944 that he was passed out on single-engine fighters. One of his pilots, Uffz. Josef Weichmann, recalled:

“My Staffelkapitän had suffered a head injury in Russia and since that time had occasional difficulties with his balance. When flying on instruments – for example through layers of cloud – he always required one of us to tuck in closely alongside him to maintain some sort of visual reference, otherwise he quickly became disorientated. He would order us to lead the Staffel under such circumstances and hung on to our tails until such time as visibility cleared.”

Among the more notable pilots of 5. (Sturm)/JG 4 was Hptm. Werner Vorberg – not just on account of his age- although he was thirty-four years old! He had initially been turned down for flying training school and it was only as a result of a mix-up in his march orders – which should have sent him to a paratroops unit – that he had ended up at flying school. By the time the mistake was noticed he had already received his pilot’s qualification. He was subsequently to fly twin-engine glider tugs and saw action in the Balkans, Russia and Italy, prior to volunteering as a Sturm pilot. One of his Staffel comrades was Oblt. Emil Lübenau, who had previously been a fighter instructor at Toul in late 1943 and early 1944.

In 6. (Sturm)/JG 4 – aside from Lt. Rudolf Metz, a former JG 5 and Sturmstaffel 1 pilot who spent a few days with 8. (Sturm)/JG 4 – the pilot complement included Ogfr. Gerhard Kott. Kott had been posted on 27 April 1944 to 10./JG 3 at Salzwedel and his claimed his first victory – shooting down a B-17 – on 19 May. However he had been blamed for the take-off accident that had resulted in the death of Ofhr. Eberhard Nolting on 16 July at Holzkirchen and was subsequently transferred to II. (Sturm)/JG 4 on 26 July 44.

The Staffel also counted Lt. Hans-Heinrich Lehmann (a transport unit veteran) and Günther Kunst on its pilot strength. According to his family, Kunst had undergone his baptism of fire on 14 January 1944, downing a bomber during this same action. Uffz. Josef Weichmann recalled his arrival in the Staffel;

“I graduated from fighter training school in February 1944 and was posted to the Oschersleben Focke-Wulf factory in the Harz as a ferry pilot. As we were not front line aviators I had always imagined that I and my comrades were likely to be the first to be remustered as foot soldiers should the need ever arise. As my duties involved ferrying new aircraft out to front line airfields that were under almost constant aerial attack, I felt a sense of hopelessness and was powerless to intervene. When the calls went out at the highest levels of the Luftwaffe, I therefore resolved to volunteer for duty as a Sturm pilot. I arrived at Salzwedel in June 1944 and thus became one of the first intake of pilots of the Sturmgruppe JG 4. Von Kornatzki was an outstanding man – a real father figure to us. He did his best to prepare us for the forthcoming battles, instructing us in all sorts of techniques for attacking the bombers.”

Gefreiter Heinz Papenberg also arrived at 6. (Sturm)/JG 4:

“As a pilot of Jagdgeschwader 5 since 1943, I was “dismissed” for damaging an aircraft while making a belly landing and was transferred to an Überführungs-Geschwader in Germany."Geschwader" is a big word for a “club” which was barely at Staffel strength. I met quite a few pilots there who had the same bad luck story. Our job was to transfer brand new aircraft from the factories to front-line airfields. After hearing of a call for volunteers to report to a Sturmstaffel, I volunteered with two or three comrades. We were ordered to Werneuchen near Berlin, where Oberstleutnant von Kornatzki personally received us. He was of medium height and very congenial. During our first conversation, he asked me: “Why do you want to join the Reichsverteidigung? You must understand that many of us will be killed. Besides, you are married!” I answered him: “I volunteered because I am married!” – “Das ist ein Wort!” he said - “That makes sense!”- He replied with his typical rolling “r” and shook my hand. My comrades had similar motives – while we were prepared to risk our necks in the search for glory and no doubt believed that the war could all but be won by ourselves single-handedly, we nonetheless wanted to protect our country against enemy bombing attacks. So we signed the Sturmjäger oath. The volunteers in Salzwedel soon numbered some seventy-two pilots.”

Two young pilots, Uffz. Fritz Wetzke and Kurt Scherer, arriving fresh from 1./Ergänzung Jagdgruppe Ost, had also signed up for the Sturmgruppe. Scherer recalled:
“I signed up for a Sturmeinheit – an assault or 'Storm' unit – of my own free will as soon as I heard about them – even though at that stage I had never even flown a fighter aircraft. I wanted to combat the Allied bomber streams whatever the cost – they were reducing our homeland to rubble and ruins, destroying our culture and annihilating our people en masse. The pilots of the Sturmgruppen were not criminals, or murderers, potential suicides or demoted officers as has often been portrayed in the post-war years. I was of sound mind and body and a talented young pilot full of the resolve, courage and motivation required by these elite units. After enlisting I was sent to Bürgünd in Hungary to complete a fighter pilot’s training course. On 1 July I was posted to 1./Ergänzung Jagdgruppe Ost at Liegnitz in Silesia. It was here – at the end of the month – that I received my posting to a Sturm unit. Arriving at Salzwedel our new Kommandeur lectured us about the duties and responsibilities of a Sturmjäger- an assault fighter. We were allowed a day to reflect on the consequences and the dangers of our new assignment – either signing the oath or taking the decision to return to a ‘normal’ fighter Geschwader. No pressure was put on anybody to sign the Sturm declaration of intent although Obstlt. von Kornatzki made it quite clear what our new responsibilities entailed; – should it come down to it, we were expected to bring down a four-engine bomber by ramming it with our own machines. As we expected there was not a single one of us who wished to be transferred elsewhere – we swore to fight in defence of the Reich in accordance with the rules and principles of the Sturmgruppen. We knew – as pilots in the Sturmgruppe – that we might have to lay down our lives to defend our homeland and the German people. We promised that on each sortie on which we made contact with the enemy we would pursue our attacks to the closest possible range – and should we be unable to down the bomber with our fixed armament, then we were to destroy it by ramming. Although each of us had signed this declaration individually, the oath was again read out and sworn in front of the General of the Fighter Arm, Adolf Galland, on the occasion of an inspection visit. During his speech to us he declared that our Sturmgruppe was now a fully-fledged operational unit. Every pilot understood the import and seriousness of this moment- our commitment was embodied in the handshake that the General exchanged with each one of us. The entire Gruppe was then airborne for a flypast – it proved to be a superb demonstration. The day was rounded off with a demonstration of captured American aircraft, in particular a P-51 Mustang – it was stressed that our Bf 109s and Fw 190s were generally superior to this type. We soon realised on our first combat sortie that this statement was not entirely accurate.”
 
 
Despite the appalling losses sustained by JG 4 during WW II, author Erik Mombeek managed to locate around one hundred JG 4 and Sturmstaffel 1 veterans and their personal accounts and photographs bring his history of JG 4 vividly to life and imbue it with a human dimension which many will find moving. The first volume of this two part history covers the unit’s establishment, deployments and combat actions through to Autumn 1944, providing for the first time in English a day-by-day, mission-by-mission study of the Luftwaffe’s 4th fighter wing.
 
http://www.luftwaffe.be/

III./JG52 Bf109 G-2 'black chevron 3' undergoing maintenance