Monday 31 December 2012

Junkers Ju 88 KG 26, KG 54 on Sicily - Daily Ebay Luftwaffe photo find



Reproduced here courtesy of Marco at koelsch333 Ebay sales, his latest selection includes these nice images of anti-shipping III. Gruppe KG 26  Junkers Ju 88s being readied for sorties out over the Med from Sicily. Note the twin under-slung torpedoes in the first image below, each weighing approx 750 kg, of which 200 kg was explosive. To launch the weapons the Ju 88 pilot had to maintain a speed of 180 km/h at an altitude of forty metres. In theory the torpedo could be dropped up to two kilometres from the target but in practise a more realistic range was barely 800 metres. However at distances such as these the Ju 88  pilots were very much aware they would likely find themselves in a maelstrom of defensive fire.

 Click on the images to see the full picture..






On 22 December 1942, Ju-88s from III Gruppe KG 26 torpedoed and damaged the British troopship Cameronia. Strikes were made all along the African coast. Allied air attacks cost the unit four aircraft on 8 February 1943 when the unit's base at Cagliari-Elmas, Sardinia was bombed. In July 1943 the unit also contested "Operation_Husky", the Allied invasion of Sicily. On 12 August the unit struck at Allied shipping in the western Mediterranean losing 10 machines for little result.




Two images of KG 54 machines. Click on the images to see the full picture..




Legion Condor selection from jupp196400



"..eindeutig und original.." - still a few days remaining to get in a bid, a selection that includes nice quality views of He 112, cockpit views of He 111 etc etc.. I particularly liked the crash-landed Me 109 pictured in the vicinity of Teruel, note the Mercedes truck in the background..


http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jupp196400/m.html?item=261148666448&pt=Militaria&hash=item3ccdac6a50&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562




















http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-Flugzeug-DO17-Kanzel-Legion-Condor-original-/261151263659?pt=Militaria&hash=item3ccdd40bab#ht_710wt_1026





http://www.ebay.de/itm/Foto-Flugzeug-DO17-Legion-Condor-Staffelabzeichen-original-/390522839948?pt=Militaria&hash=item5aecf9a38c#ht_790wt_1026





Thursday 20 December 2012

Daily Ebay Luftwaffe photo find - Bf 110 NJG 1, Fw 190 JG 300




Currently on offer from Ebay.de seller 'lehesten' including a selection of late-war II./JG 300 machines - 'Moidl' was regularly flown by Norbert Graziadei. These are presumably repros as the negatives are in someone else's collection. Note the " vermutlich früher Nachkriegsabzug nach 1945 "  - 'probable post-1945 picture' remark.This may even be Herbert Bethke disposing of a few images, most of which are now well-known. You may recall that Herbert Bethke and Friedhelm Henning were responsible for a rather poor two-volume 'pictorial history' ( I use the term loosely..) of JG 300 published by Struve. That's not my assessment by the way, it's Günther Sinnecker's - a veteran of JG 302 and 3./JG 300. The other Fw 190s appear to be Mediterranean SKG pictures..link to the sale below..













http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/lehesten/m.html?item=110991959164&_uhb=1&pt=Militaria&hash=item19d7a2e47c&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Monday 10 December 2012

Daily Ebay Luftwaffe photo find - Fw 190 JG 26, Galland's Bf 109 Emil WNr. 5819, Willi Nemitz 6./ JG 52 RK award ceremony, Hptm Hans-Karl Mayer I./ JG 53





A slightly different angle on WNr. 5819 - nice image - click to see the full view. Galland took over this machine on 7 September 1940 and returned his 31st victory on 11 September 1940. It was his 'regular' aircraft until mid-April 1941. The 'victory' markings were painted on a pale blue panel either in red or black - see "Galland's Emil" by Michael Payne in Aviation News, May 1992. Over the winter of 1940-41 this aircraft was thoroughly overhauled, repainted in the new grey colours (RLM 74/75/76) and re-engined..


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOP-FOTO-GRUPPE-ME-109-STAFFELWAPPEN-ABSCHUSSE-/330841568573?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123

and two more recent views of WNr. 5819




See these pages elsewhere on this blog devoted to Galland's Emils and Friedrichs

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/adolf-gallands-emil-and-friedrich.html

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/der-reichsmarschall-bei-oberst-galland.html

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/galland-bf109-e-4n.html

 Ofw Willi Nemitz of 6./ JG 52 (7th from the left in the front, first image below) following his Knight's Cross 'award ceremony' held in the field, late March 1943 Anapa/Taman. 4th from the right, wearing the Feldmütze, is Lt. Günther Kurz, an ace who achieved 33 victories and who was KIA on 11 October 1943. The two aces are photographed here with men of the Ungarn (Hungarian) Staffel. Nemitz filed some 81 claims before being KIA -  in combat with Russian fighters on 11 April 1944 eye witnesses saw his aircraft plunge  earthwards out of the cloud deck north of Nishne-Bakanskaja and bury itself deep in the ground. He was given the rank of Leutnant posthumously. The aircraft that serves as backdrop to these images is Bf 109 G-4 "gelbe 3" WNr. 14898, which is the machine in which the ace went to his death....




http://www.ebay.de/sch/m.html?item=380531144984&pt=Militaria&hash=item58996c7918&_ssn=macflly41&_pgn=2&_skc=25&rt=nc

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Foto-Westfront-Flugzeug-FW-190-Focke-Wulf-Kennung-4-11-Flugplatz-orig-/380533737935?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123



Another view of 'brown 4' from II./ JG 26 as featured in Der Adler, May 1942







http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-Fotos-Messerschmitt-ME-109-JG53-Bordkanonne-Charleville-Frankreich-1940-/300829449228?pt=Militaria&hash=item460ad51c0c&_uhb=1



Atmospheric views of Charleville, north-west of Sedan and briefly home to Gruppen of JG 53 during the Westfeldzug..also on offer from this seller, two later portraits of one of JG 53's leading aces during the campaign in the West, Hans-Karl Mayer, subject of a recent Chris Goss Flypast feature. Mayer was awarded the RK during September 1940, but disappeared on a test flight over the Channel during October - he was most probably caught up in a fight with RAF fighters, but according to at least one German-language source had taken off with unloaded magazines. His body was washed up on the beach between Dover and Folkestone and he was subsequently buried in the cemetery at Hawkinge where he still lies, a rare Luftwaffe Ritterkreuztraeger still on British soil...