Wednesday, 12 February 2025

II./JG 3 over Canterbury on 26 August 1940


" At 11.30am on Monday August 26, 1940, a large raid, including 12 Dornier Do 17’s and 40 Heinkel He 111’s, escorted by over 80 Messerschmitt Bf 109’s and Messerschmitt Bf 110’s approached Dover. While around 70 Hurricanes and Spitfires fought the Heinkels and their escorts, from Dungeness to Maidstone, the Boulton Paul Defiants of No.264 Squadron were directed alone onto the Do 17s, in the vicinity of Herne Bay. As they attacked the bombers from below, the Bf 109s immediately dived to protect the Do 17s..." (Hawkinge Battle of Britain museum FB page)

Among the Me 109 escorts over the coasts of north Kent was II./JG 3. Uffz Willy Finke of 4. Staffel JG 3 pressed home an attack on a Defiant but was spotted by P/O Kenneth Marston of No.56 Sqd. Marston opened up from close range (70 yards) sending Finke's Me 109 E-4 down. Finke crashed on the Chislet Marshes, south of Grays Farm near Reculver at around 12:30. In fact Finke was Marston's second Emil that morning - he had already also shot down Uffz. Fritz Buchner of 6./JG 3. Most sources have Buchner coming down in the sea (see below). Posted missing over the Thames estuary on 26 August 1940, Buchner's fate was only confirmed 44 years later when his Emil was excavated at Westgate on the north Kent coast..

"..During 1984, this crash site was the subject of a major excavation. The main wreckage was discovered at a considerable depth (between 35 and 40ft) and within the compacted tail section and cockpit were found the remains of the pilot. Evidence from the excavation, in the form of Uffz. collar tabs found on the uniform, an embroidered handkerchief with the initials "FB", a lucky charm and serial plates indicating the identity of the aircraft, seemed to provide compelling proof that the pilot was Unteroffizier Fritz Buchner, who had been officially listed as missing 44 years previously. However, it took a further two years for British and German authorities to agree on his identity. He was finally laid to rest, in the presence of surviving members of his family, with full military honours in the German War Cemetery at Cannock Chase on the 8th May, 1987.."   (dunkirk1940.org)

 Now that certain relics of Buchner's E-1 have been given to my local museum I was asked if I knew anything about his machine. The quick answer was not a lot! The loss listing does not reveal much about his Bf 109 aside from the variant and Werknummer. No Kennung given. Extract from the now-digitised Bundesarchiv "GQM Verluste und Unfälle" file RL 2- III/1574-75 covering the period Jun 40-Jan 41. See line 11. (Click to view full screen)



From the Breuer/Waiss " Heinz Sannemann -Ein Jagdfliegerleben in Berichten, Dokumenten, Fotos" (Helios, 2018)

 " Flug 924 am 26.08.1940. Start mit Bf 109 um 12:25 Uhr in Wierre au Bois. Landung um 13:50 Uhr in Wierre au Bois, 'Begleitung Do 17 Sauterborg, Defiant abgeschossen.."

On 26 August 1940, II./JG 3 were up from Wierre au Bois (12 km south-west of Boulogne on the Channel coast) to escort bombers raiding London. Gruppe TO Lt. Heinz Sannemann flying as Rottenflieger to the Kommandeur recorded in his 'Gefechtsbericht' that he shot an RAF fighter off the tail of his Kommandeur as the latter was downing a Defiant. It was Sannemann's second victory claim. A trail of white smoke streamed out behind the British fighter as it dove away heading back over the Kent coast. In a letter to his wife sent the next day, Sannemann wrote;

" Gestern haben wir über der Themsemündung eine Mords-Luftschlacht gehabt. Berstende Maschinen, Rauchsäulen und Fallschirme über Fallschirme!. Es is schon schoen, nur die armen Bomber sind dabei zu bedauern. Die müssten alle das EK I haben. Wir waren schon wieder in unserem Wigwam!  " 

.." Yesterday we had a hell of an air battle over the Thames estuary. Exploding machines, columns of smoke and parachutes upon parachutes! Everything's fine now, but the poor bombers are having a hard time. They must have all earned the EK I. We were already back in our wigwam!.."  (pilots accomodation 'Villa Wigwam' in Le Touquet that Sannemann shared with von Werra, until 5 September of course..)

After the chaos of the clash over the north Kent coast/Canterbury area that morning Sannemann spent the afternoon paddling a dinghy in the canal in Le Touquet and swimming with Simba the lion cub. Pfundig! ..just great!

Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Oblt. Heinz Schmidt 6./JG 52 - ebay photo find #386

 


This next 'find' is arguably more 'rare' than the previous image but 'only' sold for 121 euros; Heinz Schmidt, StaKa 6./JG 52, on the cockpit sill of his Gustav after returning with his 150th 'kill' on 12 August 1943 barely one month before he was posted missing. He had been awarded the EL for 102 vics in September 1942 at Pitomnik during the assault on Stalingrad - raising his 'score' from 50-100 in less than one month that summer. On the morning of 5 September 1943 he 'scored' victories 172 and 173 according to the Abschussliste in Barbas ('Geschichte der II. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52') but failed to return and was reported 'Nach Luftkampf vermisst, bei Kotelwa-Senkow, SU'. According to Barbas he was likely flying a 'yellow 7'. Lipfert replaced him in charge of 6. Staffel from mid-September 1943




Monday, 10 February 2025

Fw. Eugen Wintergerst 4./JG 77 - ebay photo find #385

 

Expired ebay auction



Bf 109 E  "white 8" belonged to Fw. Eugen Wintergerst, ace of II./JG 77.  Note 'Seeadler' emblem just forward of the cockpit. This image dates from August 1941 and shows his rudder scoreboard with some 14 Abschussbalken. He had filed seven claims following a single sortie on the early evening of 12 August 1941 on what was supposed to be a straightforward Werkstattflug or air test from Zebrikowo, north-west of Odessa. Wintergerst subsequently found himself single-handedly pursuing a Russian bomber formation of nine SB-3. When he returned to Zebrikowo, a 'higher-up' was waiting to congratulate him. Wintergerst was reluctant to get out of the cockpit of his Messerschmitt because of his (lack of) attire -  he had got airborne clad only in swimming trunks...(see Jochen Prien's JG 77 Vol 2, p 749 pp). He quickly gained six further victories before colliding with Lt Zuzic's Bf 109 to become a POW on 24 September 41. 

This image sold in December 2024 for nearly 500 euros...

Thursday, 30 January 2025

Luftschraube Uhrzeit 12:30 - setting the propeller pitch in the Bf 109 Emil

 

In his 'Inside the cockpit - 'Messerschmitt Bf 109 E' video, Chris from the 'Military Aviation History' channel describes the dials on the instrument panel of the Deutsches Museum Emil. One small 'clock-like' indicator on the bottom right of the panel is marked "Luftschraube" - 'propeller'. All we see is a clock dial with no numerical markings but divided into hours and minutes.  This simple instrument relates to engine management in a 109 by aiding the pilot in selecting propeller pitch. This is the propeller pitch control indicator on early Emils - in early Emils there was no automatic propeller pitch control.





Simply put, the pilot set the pitch manually  - degrees of either 'fine' or 'coarse' according to the rpm - by selecting a 'clock time' - the  "Luftschraube Uhrzeit " as seen on performance charts. The Luftwaffe fighter pilot would have to learn the rpm and associated 'clock' settings to manage the engine at its most efficient settings and avoid 'over-speeding' the engine.

 Below; an extract from a wwiiaircraftperformance Bf 109 engine settings chart for 'Sperrflug'  or 'patrol'. From left to right , 'Altitude', 'RPM' 'Manifold pressure' and 'Prop pitch time' (Luftschraube Uhrzeit). Note the low rpm settings for increased endurance (lower fuel consumption).



Note: the sentences under the 'Sperrflug' table refer to later Bf 109 variants with auto pitch control and/or earlier variants with retro-fitted auto pitch control - which could be disengaged as required, eg takeoffs, landings or as here, when in the 'Sperrflug' regime - 'switch off' (ausschalten) the 'autocontrol' and adjust (einstellen) pitch either using the thumb control (Daumenschalter) on the throttle or the lever on the instrument panel' . The power settings given in the table give very low fuel consumption, perhaps about 100 ltr/h.

The electric VDM system was produced to compete with the American Hamilton standard 'hydramatic' pitch propeller control system and was different from most other propeller hub and pitch control systems - the centre of the hub was hollow so that it could be fitted to engines with centrally mounted engine armament such as the DB 600 series of engines. This resulted in the need for the propeller pitch control system to be remotely located as opposed to being located in the hub as it was in most other systems. 

 Below; prop pitch control mechanism on the side of the DB 601 engine in the Emil.



Prop pitch control lever on an Emil instrument panel

 When flying the Me 109 the pilot did not really need to know the exact degrees of the propeller's pitch, just what indications on the instrument related to the selection that was required; there were essentially two options, to 'coarsen' or to 'fine' the pitch. This corresponds to the two options available - "größer" moving the lever up and "kleiner" moving the lever down (in the same way a modern Airbus pilot does not need to know what exact degrees of flap and slats he is selecting - he just needs to know when he needs flaps one or flaps two) 

In early 109s (including the Emil) the control 'switch' was a lever attached to the instrument panel but as it became clear that flying an aircraft in combat and having to move your hand off the throttle (or the stick) to change the prop pitch was not a good idea, a rocker thumb switch was added to the top of the throttle. From this point on all the pilot had to do was move his thumb up or down to increase or decrease the prop pitch. 

A decrease in engine rpm means an increase in propeller pitch or coarsening the propeller blades and an increase in engine rpm means a decrease in propeller pitch and a 'fining' of the propeller blades. Thus there are no markings on the face of the 'Luftschraube 'clock'. It is read just like a clock - higher rpm means that the clock needs to rotate clockwise to its maximum reading of 12:30 which is fully fine on the prop pitch ( about 22 degrees). For lower rpm the clock should be rotated all the way round anti-clockwise to 4:30 which indicates the propeller is now fully coarse. (blade pitch about 70 degrees) .. 

The "Bf 109 Mecanik" youtube channel explains how this worked in both early (DB 601) and later (DB 605) variants of the Bf 109 in this short video.


Also on this blog

Tuesday, 28 January 2025

new from Lela Presse - KG 54 Death's Head Geschwader history in two volumes, Luftwaffe in Romania

  


New from Peter Taghon through Lela Presse is a two volume history of the Death's Head Geschwader, KG 54, one of the Luftwaffe's most 'famous' bomber wings.  Volume I covers the Polish campaign to France and the Battle of Britain. Gruppen of  KG 54 were deployed on the Eastern Front, against Malta and in support of Rommel's Afrika Korps. A 16-page PDF extract is available on the publishers web site here. This superb 398-page large format volume was released at the end of last year with volume II due on 31 January. Free postage if ordered before the publication date...



Volume II opens with the Totenkopf facing the Allied invasion of Sicily before undergoing various withdrawals in mainland Italy. The Totenkopf left the Mediterranean for good at the end of 1943 to return to the West. The Geschwader was then deployed to operate over the UK as part of the bloody ‘Steinbock’ operation. Casualties were so high that II./KG 54 was disbanded in April 1944. Two months later, the Geschwader - now comprising just two Gruppen - faced the Allied landings in Normandy on missions that were just as costly in terms of men and equipment.

Fighting tooth and nail, KG 54 returned to the Reich where, in September 1944, it became a fighter unit equipped with the famous Me 262 jet. However, the jet still suffered from serious ‘teething issues', and KG (J) 54 (despite having been reinforced with a second Gruppe) was barely able to inflict more than pinpricks on the vastly superior Allied air forces. The unit was decimated. On 8 May 1945, the surviving personnel of the skull and crossbones Geschwader surrendered, their numbers then being mainly dispersed in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Volume II is another near 400-page volume with over 650 photos, 17 colour profiles and period documents. Table of contents follows..



The latest issue of BATAILLES AÉRIENNES has arrived! N°111 covers the history of the Luftwaffe in Romania, covering units such as JG 52, JG 77, JG 4, JG 301, various short and long-range recce units, SG 2, NJG 6 and NJG 100, all deployed at various intervals to cover the Ploesti oilfields. The artwork is by Eric Schwartz - the cover profile shows Kommandeur Ubben's III./JG 77 Gustav. This 96-page A-4 issue features around 200 photos, 8 high quality profile artworks and is also available as a digital download in PDF format. Just 10 euros! (for the downloadable version). Go here to order..

 

Monday, 27 January 2025

Messerschmitt Bf 109 V-13/14 - AZ Model 1:72nd

 

 Me 109 V-14 D-ISLU. Click on the image for a full-screen view..






The Me 109 V-14 was a 'racing' prototype powered by the new DB 601 engine. It is easily distinguishable by its large 'cylindrical' supercharger intake. The V-14 was coded D-ISLU and flown and crashed by Udet at Dübendorf in  Switzerland in 1937.  Devoid of all military equipment the V-14 was probably not built from an Emil airframe, unlike AZ's model in 1:72nd scale! AZ do mould new fuselage halves and make a reasonably good job of it, although leaving the modeller to undertake some filling and filing work; most notably on the upper cowl MG troughs and the lower wing cannon bulges - which was a surprise as their E-1 kit comes with two sets of wings, one of which does not have the lower wing bulges. Unfortunately, this is just one of a number of modifications required to make a proper V-14 : spinner, air intakes, landing gear covers and bays all really need some attention. Note that all the cooling louvres are of different shape and position than on an Emil. The lower cowl oil cooler may be larger than AZ have made it  - simply cut off and substitute a normal Gustav radiator. Colour was 'weinrot' - not blue.. 

Model built by Michel Wilhelme. Photos of the V-14 scanned from the Van Ishoven archive. Click to view full screen.










Saturday, 25 January 2025

Eduard Bf 109 G-6 as Kurt Gabler's 8./JG 300 'Moskito-chaser'




 Here's a great looking interpretation of Kurt Gabler's 8./JG 300 'Moskito-chaser' in 72nd scale!

" my first completion for 2025, wrapping up the 1/72 Eduard Bf-109 G-6. So impressed with this kit, but found room for some extra detailing with the cockpit, wheel wells and wheels, prop/spinner and aileron mass balances from the Brassin sets. The kit canopy was replaced with a Falcon vac-form, added the Fine Molds brass pitot and the seat belts were scratchbuilt using an old Model Technolgies buckle set. I have tried to follow some of the conventional wisdom that this Mosquito-Jager flown by Kurt Gabler of JG 300, had its fuselage paint removed, leaving a heavily worn natural metal finish. To try to capture this, the fuselage was covered with oxidised pieces of aluminium foil (mainly Reynolds wrap), then painted RLM 75 and gently sanded off with 4000 grit and steel wool to leave the worn finish and paint remnants in corners, around the panel lines and rivets, which was the effect I was looking for. The photos probably exaggerate it in the close up shots, but I am quite happy with the effect in real life. MRP and SMS paints were used with some very subtle oil paint weathering on the painted surfaces added and oil paint washes. The decals are from the EagleCals set, however, I also added the scribble on the rudder using a home made decal. Cannot praise this kit more, it’s a great model to build and I feel it really captures the look and sit of a 109..." Paul from 'Glossy Kits' on FB..








Below; the original Gabler 'red 8' pic here published over two full pages in a two-part feature I compiled for the now defunct 'Model Aircraft' magazine which appeared in the June and July 2014 issues. Entitled "Wilde Sau und Moskito Jagd" the 6000 word article featured the recollections of JG 302, NJGr.10 and NJG 11 pilots Fritz Gniffke and Walter Schermutzki over 12 pages in the two issues with some great artwork by Anders Hjortsberg. Osprey have a new title 'Wilde Sau' title in their combat units series (Streetly, 2024) but Gabler is not even mentioned. Nor are other JG 300 wilde Sau aces such as Wischnewski - while pilots that never flew 'wilde Sau' (eg the WWI vet Lindenberger) are featured in the 'Pilot bios' section...

 

Gabler flew both day and night sorties. For his account of downing the first Mosquito to be shot down over Berlin see the Casemate 'Day Fighter Aces' volume.. 


" As an Osprey book addict, I was quite impressed with this volume. The focus is less on detailed encyclopedic knowledge and more on interesting anecdotes and rare insights into the world of the late-war Luftwaffe. There are excerpts from memoirs long out of print and never printed in English, which are, to my knowledge, impossible to find anywhere else. I enjoyed the small handful of beautifully illustrated aircraft profiles and the attendant descriptions of the stories behind the aircraft.

As someone who collects books of this type, I'd say this is one of the best. A volume I return to again and again. Do get the printed version instead of the kindle version though. With the best will in the world, the formatting of this book does *not* lend itself to a kindle's screen, and you will just get frustrated with it..."

Review by Wolfgang Mercer