Junkers Ju 87 G with Bk 37 cannon 'Kanonenvogel' Academy 1/72 Hans Ulrich Rudel

 My recently completed Ju 87 G with Bk 37 cannon 'Kanonenvogel' from the Academy 1/72 kit in the markings of Hans Ulrich Rudel. I've posted some useful reference video stills of a 'cannon bird' and some further views of my model photographed on Holger Nauroth's German-language Stukageschwader 2 Immelmann history, which is a very nicely done photo history of this unit. The final view below shows the DF antenna in its compartment on the rear fuselage decking, the only image of this installation that I could locate in my Luftwaffe library and which is nicely moulded in the Academy kit.  The kit does not feature the white outline Hakenkreuz and I was unable to source a similar marking from my decal sheets - no great loss; I'm not a 'fan' of Rudel or the HK as one or two of my posts on this blog have hopefully made quite clear. More of the model on my modelling blog here

Below video still captures of a Kanonenvogel. For rare views of Rudel's 1000th sortie and attendant celebrations go here

More Ju 87 'Kanonenvogel' images on this blog from the Bundesarchiv via Wiki Commons

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2010/12/junkers-ju-87-stuka-kanonenvogel.html

Hasegawa 1/72 Junkers Ju 88 G-6 Nachtjäger 'Berlin radar' boxing - last edit March 2016

A new boxing of the Hasegawa Ju 88 G with additional sprues for the G-6 Berlin or Morgenstern radar. Although we were promised a 'compact build review' in the pages of Scale Aircraft Modelling this month (see cover of February 2011 issue) I failed to spot it inside the magazine ! Herewith a selection of photos of the box and contents courtesy of my correspondent Freidarr from the Flugzeugforum.de. This kit retails for a mind-boggling £45 in the UK, but everything is in the box to enable a fine replica to be built.  First pic up shows one of the engine sprues, the earlier G-1 engines are also in the box.The G-series fuselage omitted the A-series' Bola ventral defensive gun position and were fitted with the enlarged squared-off vertical fin/rudder tail unit of the Ju 188, more powerful armament and BMW 801 G-2 radial engines plus additional FuG 350 Naxos or FuG 227 Flensburg homing devices as well as the now-standard FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 90 MHz VHF radar. The G-6 versions  were powered by Jumo 213A inline-V12 engines and often featured one or two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons in a Schräge Musik or slanting mount. Some of the final G-series models received new Jumo 213E engines and, as here, new radar installations, either the FuG 218 Neptun V/R or the latest FuG 240 Berlin N-1 cavity magnetron based, 30 GHz-band (centimetric) radar. Only a small number of these were built...as usual click on the images to get a closer look..Enjoy!

Finished model by Alistair "Mottle Master"

Signed Luftwaffe ace photos Lacy Sutton collection (Glünz, Loos, Christl, Stolle, Seeger)

Signed ace photos in the collection owned by Lacy Sutton and reproduced here with Mr Sutton's kind permission;

                                     Bruno Stolle and Fritz Karch  (JG 2)

Georg Christl, 7 victories. Participated in the Battle of Britain with III./ZG 26. Staffelkapitän of 7./ZG 26 based on Sicily flying Bf 110s in December 1940. In a raid against Tobruk harbour on 9 April 1941, Hauptmann Christl was leading 7./ZG 26 and claimed an RAF Hurricane shot down - his victim was the RAF ace Flying Officer George Goodman (12.666 destroyed and 2.333 damaged victories) of 73 Sqn, who force-landed within the outer defences of Tobruk unhurt. Awarded the Ritterkreuz for his leadership in the desert on 18 March 1942 with III./ZG 26. Major Christl was posted to Parchim in July 1944 to command Jagdruppe 10, an experimental testing unit of specialised anti-bomber weapons, until the end of war.

 

In remembrance of my fallen comrades - Günther Seeger (JG 2)



Flying Heritage collection Fw 190 A5 W.Nr 1227 ( Edited 06 August 2011 with link to video sequences on this blog )

Having flown for the first time in December 2010, Paul Allen's Fw190A-5/U3, WNr.1501227 has just left the paint shop in its new JG 54 brown and green 'scheme'  - in 1943 this would likely have comprised some variation/combinations of Dunkelbraun and Oliv Grun. ( 76 lower and 79/81/82 uppersurfaces)
The aircraft was lost in July 1943 while on the strength of 4./JG 54 (?), found in 1989 in a Russian forest and restored in the UK and latterly the US.  Engine run videos and pictures of the first flight at the link below.

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2010/10/flying-heritage-collection-fw-190-5.html

Flying Heritage Collection's Luftwaffe Day 06 August 2011

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/08/fw-190-bf-109-emil-paul-allens-flying.html

On Monday 19th July 1943 Fw190 A-5 W.Nr 1227 'White A' took off on a sortie carrying a SC250 (550Ib) bomb. Airborne from Siwerskaja in a Rotte on what was probably a hot summer day, 'White A' headed for the front line which was only fifteen or so minutes flight time away. Crossing the front line over the Dvina River, the Fw190 headed East, accompanied by the other machine. Whilst behind enemy lines, in an area called Voibakala, the 'Rotte' attacked an armoured train and reportedly suffered damage from flak. The loss report indicates the Fw190 crash landed due to this damage, although none was located on the airframe. It would appear that the Fw190 suffered a catastrophic failure of the BMW801, caused by a rag -sabotage is suspected as it was a new engine only fitted a few days before. The Fw190 was recorded as being 100% lost in the map reference co-ordinates of Pl.Qu.20124. This grid system based on 1:200,000 maps was used to identify crash sites, possibly for salvage, recovery of missing pilots or as the best way of identifying an area consisting of unpronounceable Russian towns, villages and large areas of forests and lakes. The more numbers the Pl.Qu. reference gives, the smaller the area of the location.

The pilot Feldwebel Paul Rätz survived the crash landed behind enemy lines. He removed his leather flying helmet and retrieved the first aid kit from the rear fuselage and is thought to have headed West back to the front line only a dozen or so miles from the crash site. He was undoubtedly captured by the Russians and interned although the Luftwaffe loss report still classes him as 'Vermißt' (missing) in action.

This article -which has appeared in a number of places over the web uncredited- was prepared by Mark J. Sheppard and is reproduced here with Mark's kind permission.

In addition to documenting the original colours and the early restoration efforts, Mark undertook much research on the pilot (aided by Axel Urbanke in Germany). The pilot survived the crash landing and became a POW – returning to Germany in 1949. Paul Rätz died in 1989. Originally a ground crew member before becoming a pilot, Rätz flew with 1./JG54 and Nowotny  during 1942-43. He had survived three crash landings, returned a number of aerial victories and been awarded the Frontflugspange (Front line or combat pilot's flying clasp ) in bronze, silver and gold for over one hundred sorties flown. He was transferred to 4./JG54 on 9th July 1943 and reported as missing ten days later - the BMW 801 engine having suffered a catastrophic engine failure. The 190 came down in a sapling forest which then grew around the aircraft so that 40 years later "you could not see it from 20 feet away". The recovered airframe was 99% complete including ammunition boxes as well as the remains of the pilot leather skull cap on the seat. It was only missing two MG-17 machine guns, a few instruments and the master compass.

Mosquito hunting in the Luftwaffe (1) - Me 262s of 10./NJG 11 Kommando Welter

During 1944 Staffeln of JG 300 and NJGr. 10 had been tasked with countering the growing threat posed by RAF de Havilland Mosquito units. The radar equipped fighter versions of 100 Group, Bomber Command were taking an increasing toll of the Luftwaffe's night fighters, and the 'Oboe'-equipped Pathfinder and light bomber versions were ranging with quasi-impunity over northern Germany. During late 1944 NJG 11 brought together the various single-seat high speed units into one Nachtjagdgeschwader to unify these efforts. In December 1944 the piston-engined elements of NJG 11 gave up sustained anti-Mosquito operations and confined itself to illuminated target defence night fighting against the heavy bombers of the RAF.
It was during December 1944 that 10./NJG 11 under Hauptmann Kurt Welter, an experienced 'Wilde Sau' ace, commenced operations using a handful of single-seat Me 262 jets. By April 1945 a number of twin-seat night fighter variants, designated Me 262B-1a/U1, were available. To make room for the radar operator fuselage fuel capacity was sacrificed, and a pair of 66 gallon drop tanks were fitted beneath the nose. Following trials with radar fitted to a single-seater the two-seaters were equipped with the FuG 218 Neptun V radar, with prominent aerials on the nose reducing the top speed by about 30 mph. From January 1945 to the end of the war the Me 262's of 10./NJG 11 claimed some 43 Mosquitoes by night and five P-38 and Mosquito photo-reconnaissance aircraft by day - although only a handful of these claims tally with known Allied aircraft losses.


The best source for 10./NJG 11 is Manfred Jurleit's 'Strahljäger im Einsatz' (which translates as 'Jet fighters in Combat' - Transpress 1993) largely exploited by everyone else since, especially Kagero in their 'Me 262 units' (Air Miniatures No. 33). Jurleit lived behind the wall and was able to interview 10./NJG 11 veterans living and working in the former DDR, including Kurt Lamm who flew airliners with Interflug postwar. The first jet Nachtjagd victory over a Mosquito was achieved on 27 November 1944 by Welter flying out of Rechlin-Lärz - a congratulatory telegram was sent from I.Jagdkorps commander Generalleutnant Huth to Oberst Petersen, Kommandeur of the Erprobungsstelle. Fw. Karl-Heinz Becker recalled;


" The first attempts at night-fighting in jets took place during November 1944. Welter had trialed night interceptions over Berlin flying out of Rechlin-Lärz in a single-seat Me 262. He would land at airfields around Greater Berlin at the end of his sortie and would fly back to Lärz during the day. He achieved several victories during these flights. At the time I was at Strausberg with the Ergänzungsgruppe für Tagjagd , the day fighter operational training wing, on a conversion course after coming from 'heavy' nightfighters, but after a phone call from Welter on 13 December 1944 I joined him at Rechlin-Lärz. It was here that the (jet night-fighting) Staffel was being establshed and in January we moved to Burg (bei Magdeburg). It was from here that we flew our first night jet training sorties and from mid-February the first 'sharp' combat flights.."  (..to be continued..)