new book from Tim Heath - German Aircraft Weaponry-Machine Guns, Cannon and Aerial Artillery in Luftwaffe Service 1939-1945

 A new book from Tim Heath is due soon from Pen & Sword. Tim has worked with the German War Graves Commission and has written a dozen books on German history 1933-45. I was impressed by his 'history' of the Luftwaffe as told by the bomber and fighter crews in his book entitled "In furious skies" - a recommended read for anyone visiting this blog. His new book further develops the subject of aircraft armament . Visit his author's page at Pen and Sword here

"..hi Neil, I now have the front and rear cover design for my next book German Aircraft Weaponry-Machine Guns, Cannon and Aerial Artillery in Luftwaffe Service 1939-1945. Pen and Sword have done yet another fine job and I can't wait to see this one released. It was such a great project to work on and one I had wanted to do for so many years and have finally done. Thanks to the Pen and Sword Books Ltd team as these books require a team effort to produce and big thanks to Jon Wilkinson the graphics genius for bringing life to the books with his amazing graphics work. This new book is purely focused on the machine guns and cannons plus larger calibre guns including those which only got as far as proposal stage plus experimental weapons. This book also shows in the photos what these weapons could do to a human body. If you liked the brief coverage in 'In Furious Skies' you will love this one. Thanks so much for your kind words.."

 

Sergent-chef Denys Boudard - Bücker Bü 131 D Jungmann 'GD+EG'

 

Denys Boudard was another courageous Frenchman who managed to get to England and join the RAF after the fall of France. On 29 April 1941, Boudard and a fellow countryman, Jean Hébert, had dressed in dark-coloured overalls to resemble German mechanics and walked onto the huge Caen-Carpiquet Luftwaffe airfield, which was, according to one source, home to nearly 400 Luftwaffe machines at that time. The two former Armée de l'Air pilots planned to steal an aircraft and fly it to England. 

From the site of the Prefet du Calvados; 

 "..The two men attempted their exploit on 29 April 1941. It was raining. They slipped on the airfield at Caen-Carpiquet wearing black overalls, as worn by German mechanics, and entered a hangar, where Bücker Jungmann WNr. 4477 coded 'GD+EG' was parked. (The aircraft belonged to the Luftdienstkommando Westfrankreich.) Just as they were about to start the engine, German officers passed in front of the hangar. The two friends opened the cowl cover and plunged their hands into the engine. The Germans move on. Then two French workers stopped in front of the hangar door. When at last the coast was clear, the Germans returned. Disciplined, they stopped to let the plane pass in front of them before taking off. Jean Hébert flew the small liaison machine low over the SNCF station and waggled his wings, a sign agreed with a friend, an SNCF inspector. This was the signal that letters written by the two friends to their families could be posted. After an hour's flight the two former Armée de l'Air pilots arrived over the English coastline, flying over Bournemouth's main street and sounding the warning siren. Shortly afterwards, two fighters patrolled overhead, but did not spot the small biplane. Boudard and Hébert looked for an airfield and landed their plane in Christchurch, where they parked it in front of a hangar. Surrounded by British soldiers, they declared ‘we are French’. After several hours of interrogation, they reached London and were presented to Winston Churchill with Mrs Churchill acting as interpreter..." 

According to Chris Thomas; " the poor visibility that day probably saved their lives. Following the coast to look for an airfield, they had started on a second circuit of the Isle of Wight before they realised it was an island! They eventually landed at Christchurch.." 

It was a Sunday and visibility was presumably much better on the English side of the Channel - the two Frenchmen (Boudard left, Hébert right) were surprised to find the RAF were playing cricket on the airfield..

Fast forward three years- Jean Hébert had been sadly KIA during 1943, but on 18 June 1944 Sergent-chef Denys Boudard was filmed preparing to fly to Normandy in his 340 Sqn Spitfire IX at Merston. The IWM film was shot by the RAF FPU to celebrate Denys Boudard's return to France. He was later the first Allied pilot to land at the recaptured Carpiquet airfield - the same field from which he had stolen his Bücker Jungmann three years previously. 

The Jungmann was allocated serial DR 626, dismantled and sent to London for War Weapons Week display, still in its Luftwaffe markings. It returned to Christchurch on 13 June. However the machine had been damaged by souvenir hunters and was later struck off charge (November 1941) It is not known if it was ever repainted in RAF colours - the likelihood is that at some stage between May and November 1941 it probably was...

Also on this blog;

Clostermann and Demozay - 'modest and exemplary heroes'

Flugzeug Classic Jahrbuch 2024

 

I finally got around to ordering the Flugzeug Classic Jahrbuch 2024 (Geramond, Heft 12). One hundred pages for 13 euros and packed with interesting features; the history of on-board toilets ( seriously..), Peter Cronauer on JG 54 in 1944 (a stalwart of 'Flugzeug Classic', Peter sadly passed away in 2024), stories of the He 59 and the Ju 34, Jagdflieger navigation techniques, the Luftwaffe in Tunisia, the British Me 163 (DH 108) and more..

Two articles caught my eye in particular. The first is an investigation into the circumstances of the crash of a Lufthansa Boeing 720 airliner in the summer of 1964. I've previously mentioned this accident in a post entitled 'The strange post-war deaths of the Luftwaffe aces'.. 

Werner Baake survived the war as Kommandeur of I./NJG 1 and leading ace on the He 219 with around 40 claims. His last three Halifax 'Viermots' were downed on the night of January 5/6, 1945. Post-war he was a blind flying instructor and and had been flying airliners for Lufthansa since 1954 - like a number of other nightfighter aces. His co-pilot on July 15, 1964 was Flugkapitän Hans Zimmermann, also a former Nachtjagd pilot. What the two pilots had planned for their training flight that day though simply beggars belief   - they were going to recreate 'Tex' Johnston's 'famous' barrel-roll' in the B707 prototype in Lufthansa Boeing 720 'D-ABOP'. However the B720 with its MTOW of over 100 tonnes was not quite the same aircraft. Attempting aerobatic manoeuvres ('Kunstflug Figuren') over Ansbach the pilots overstressed the airframe which broke up in mid-air. Transformed into a burning cascading waterfall of fire, Baake plunged to his death with the two crew - he had been on board the airliner as the check-captain!

The second feature of interest "Den 'Duce' im Schlepptau" covers the activities of III./LLG 1 in the lead up to the operation ('Eiche') to 'liberate' Mussolini, then in detention at the Campo Imperatore hotel in the Abruzzo mountains, Gran Sasso, Italy in September 1943. The Gruppe flew Dornier Do-17s, Henschel Hs-126s and Avia B.534s, adapted to tow DFS 230 gliders. This airborne Gruppe was based at Lézignan-Corbières, then at Pratica di Mare (south of Rome). III./LLG 1 (Luftlandegeschwader 1) had been reinforced in April 1943 by four Staffeln and a Stab. The four Staffeln were: 7./LLG1, 8./LLG1, 9./LLG1 and 12./LLG1. On 19 August 1943, 12./LLG1 was transferred to Ottana (Sardinia), then on 11 September 1943 to Pratica di Mare (south of Rome). It was this unit that transported 1./FJR.7 (Fallschirmjäger-Regiment) to Gran Sasso for the ‘liberation’ of Mussolini. This would also have been the same unit that transported German parachutists to Vassieux in the Vercors post D-Day. The article features a neat selection of PK images - although the photo of the Massey-Ferguson tractor seen towing the DFS 230 (below) was taken at an 8./LLG 1 training detachment in Norway (Banak) at around the time of the Mussolini rescue. 

Arado Ar 240 Versuchsflugzeuge - Revell re-release 72nd scale Ar 240

 Ar 240 V-3 'KK+CD'

Here's what the average web site - ie ChatGPT (AI) - will tell you about the Ar 240;

" The Arado Ar 240 was a twin-engine, multi-role aircraft developed by Germany during World War II. Intended to replace the Messerschmitt Bf 110 as a heavy fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, the Ar 240 was designed with advanced features for its time, including a pressurized cockpit, a remotely controlled defensive armament system, and excellent high-speed performance. However, the aircraft suffered from persistent stability issues, poor handling, and mechanical problems during its development and testing phases. Although prototypes demonstrated promising speed and versatility, these shortcomings prevented the Ar 240 from entering full production. Despite its limited deployment and operational use, the aircraft provided valuable lessons for German aviation engineers and remains a fascinating example of ambitious wartime aircraft design.."

 Or in other words, a promising design that failed to deliver. A rare Luftwaffe type, but one that failed to get a production order..

Let's put a slightly different take out there. The Arado Ar 240 was an experimental and test aircraft. In 1937 Dipl.Ing Walter Blume had proposed a twin-engined Zerstörer with both engines in the fuselage driving twin props - a concept rejected by the RLM, who nonetheless recommended that Blume submit a more conventional proposal. A mock-up was produced by March 1939 and in May 1939 the RLM asked for six 'Versuchsflugzeuge' or test aircraft (see Hans-Jürgen Becker, 'Schwere Jäger und Zerstörer der Luftwaffe', p117). The type was never conceived with the idea that it might go into series production. At all. It was designed to the same specification that had already resulted in orders for 3,000 Me 210s - the Ar 240 V1 first flew in June 1940 nearly one year after the Me 210. For more on this see Mankau/Petrick, " Messerchmitt Bf 110, Me 210, Me 410 - die Messerschmitt Zerstörer und ihre Konkurrenten", (Aviatic Verlag, 2001)

'Konkurrenten' means 'competitors' ..but the Ar 240 was never in the race - it was a 'technology demonstrator'.

" Das RLM hatte die Me 210 für die Grossserienproduktion vorgesehen und die Ar 240 in wenigen Exemplaren als Experimentalflugzeug, mit der neue Techniken erprobt werden sollten. Ein Einsatz der Ar 240 war bei der Luftwaffe zunächst nur in Einzelexemplaren zu Erprobungszwecken geplant..."

The Me 210 had been ordered into large-scale production by the RLM who had also ordered a handful of the Ar 240 as an experimental aircraft to test new technologies. Initially, the Luftwaffe only planned to use the Ar 240 in individual examples for testing purposes.

With little prospect of a production order - in the Luftwaffe's planning of 7 November 1938 approx. 3000 Me 210 units were to be delivered up to 1942 - Arado was encouraged to innovate in their design. The company received preliminary approval for the development and construction of six prototypes on 16 May 1939 and began work on a design based on the Bf 110, but with much smaller dimensions. However, the small wings required special high-lift devices. These were provided in the form of automatic leading edge slats, double-slotted flaps outboard of the engines and Fowler flaps inboard of the engine nacelles, along with 'full-span' ailerons on the outer wing. Early examples had tail-mounted dive brakes which were soon dispensed with. 

Following the first flight, instability problems led to extensive redesign work- the V3 pictured here was a rather different beast from the V1. Lengthening the fuselage, relocating the cockpit and enlarging the wing cured the problems - partially. The last line of an Arado report on the instability issue (reproduced in Becker p119) confirmed that " this state was no longer significantly affected by further enlargement of the wing and lengthening of the fuselage. It was considered tolerable, as the instability only occurred with intentional actions or complete removal of the feet from the pedals..." Testing continued on the design. For example, this included development of the pressure cabin and the testing of warm air in a double-glazed canopy to prevent the panes from fogging up for the Arado 234 programme. Elsewhere the Me 210 was in full-scale production - large production orders were a done deal in the case of the Me 210. No such orders were ever likely to have been forthcoming in the case of the Arado - not least because the aircraft did not have a bomb bay. 

In August 1941 the V3 was still at Rechlin being flown by Oberst Siegfried Knemeyer - head of the Amtsgruppe Entwicklung von fliegerischem Gerät - and Oberst Theodor Rowehl. The V4 first flew in June 1941 and crashed on 7 August 1941. The V5  'T5+MH' was powered by two DB 601Es and in March 1942 the Versuchsstelle für Hohenflüge took over the aircraft to test it as an Aufklärer. Initial motorisation with the DB 601 and later DB 603 gave the type relatively good performance - max speed 350-400 mph saw the type deployed over England in the high altitude Aufklärer recce role " with some success". Independently of the Versuchs aircraft 1-6, a further five Ar 240s were built for 'unarmed reconnaissance'- the first of these, the A-01 ('GL+QA'), entered flight testing on 5 June 1942.  

Our good friend Michel Wilhelme has built Revell's re-release of the Arado Ar 240 for this blog. The unit code 'T5' represents a machine of the Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L. (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe) or Aufklärungsgruppe Rowehl..

NJG 2 nightfighters - ebay photo find #383

Above; a 2./NJG 2 Do 17 Z-7 at Gilze-Rijen in September 1940. Finish is all black with white spinner tips and the new Nachtjagd emblem on the nose. The infrared Spanner lamp appears to have been removed from the nose - or not yet fitted. Below; Ju 88 C-6 of 9./NJG 2 in the summer of 1942 at Gilze-Rijen. In the cockpit is Uffz. Günther Riemann, BM (flight engineer) in Ofw. Wilhelm Baier's crew. 

Michael Meyer ebay sales are here

IBG models I.A.R 80/81 in-box review - 'Great Air Battles of 1944' (2)

 

Continuing our look at the IBG models IAR 80/81 kits. In our first post here we looked at the historical background to the IBG Models IAR 81 C 'Great Air Battles of 1944'  (72nd) kit. Now to see what's in the box. As a modeller who has built both the IBG D-9 and PZL. P.11 (see links below) I know that I am going to be impressed! IBG Models kit number 72570 "IAR 81 C- Great Air Battles of 1944" was designed by IAR 80/81 expert Radu Brinzan and features five frames of some 90 finely moulded parts and seven clear parts, a sheet of photo-etch with 17 parts and a decal sheet with four colourful options and full stencil data.

 Above; PK shot of Grupul 6 IAR 81 Cs with the heavy cannon in the wings. 

Below; a closer look at some of the sprues. Construction starts with the cowl gun assembly which locates onto the cockpit sill/instrument panel at the top and the foot rails which plug into the bottom of the seat. The cockpit is well detailed with 14 plastic parts and seven photo-etched pieces, including two types of harness straps. Note the engine parts - including both banks of cylinders -the radial comprising some 13 parts.

Note the recessed panel lines and riveting detail. I'm probably not the only modeller to think that this is a little 'finer' than the surface texture of the IBG Dora series, but I had no issues with those in any case. You really have to get the light on the rivets to notice them. The fabric texture on the control surfaces looks good (below) and note the raised cockpit wall detail. 

IBG have also produced some 3-D printed accessories, including a beautifully detailed seat and wheels/tyres. 

In summary then, this looks like a slightly less complex kit than the Doras, although that may well be down to the radial as opposed to in-line engine which made for a very large internal sub-assembly. The build starts now!

Below; Escadrila 61 commander Dumitrescu (right) describes a recent combat encounter in front of his IAR 81 C No.320, a markings option in the kit. Note the gunsight in the cockpit. The triangle (left) is red, one of two that identifies the Escadrila. The unit's unoffical emblem was Disney's Bambi and the quails. The bigger white triangle (right) denoted the CO's aircraft. (LFT SO F2557 L32)

Also on this blog;

Building the IBG models Fw 190 D-9

IBG Models PZL P.11 in Romanian service

More ECPA-D jewels - Fieseler Storch in North Africa, Instapic #15

 

..I've slightly gone off the 'idea' of posting ECPA-D images for a brief period, 24 hours, a series I call 'Instapic'.. Simply put while it brings in viewers, it doesn't stop people lifting the material and doing whatever with it. As I've pointed out recently to Denys Boudard who encounters the same issues. Anytime he posts, within hours 'his' images appear on other sites - notably a certain forum - to view. Seems that the 'owner'- ever ready to accuse others of 'lifting' material - is quite happy to see his 'members' reposting material they have helped themselves to elsewhere! 

So this may be my final 'Instapic' post. As I've said before, if you want to see lots of lovely unpublished, beautifully clear Luftwaffe images (I mean, literally thousands, hundreds of thousands..) book a week at the ECPA-D in Paris. As I did. You get a great welcome and their staff are really helpful. The images that follow are not even in the 'Luftwaffe' files at the ECPA-D (DAK 294).

Rommel climbing into his machine. A good view of the Kraftstoffstandanzeiger (fuel level indicator) gauge in the lower wing. Two images (bottom) show a Stork's wing tank being topped off from a drum.