Hptm. Rolf Hermichen, 3./JG 26 Fw 190 A-5 'yellow 5' - and a new magazine from Eduard, " Eduard Modeller's Den "

I recently responded to a request for images of the Fw 190 A-5 'yellow 5' flown by 3./JG 26 StaKa Oblt. Rolf Hermichen as featured by Eduard as a markings option in their Fw 190 A-5 kit. 

Seen here perched on the tailplane of his I./JG 26 Fw 190 A-5 'yellow 5'. Hermichen was a successful Bf 110 Zerstörer pilot in the Westfeldzug and went East with 6./SKG 210 before joining I./JG 26. Hermichen led 3./JG 26 on the Eastern Front from late January 1943 out of Dno and Riebiltzi, the Gruppe having 'swapped' sectors with III./JG 54 - and adopted their Wintertarnung camouflage finish for their new Fw 190s. Full story in the April 2003 issue of the now defunct Belgian magazine 'Histoire de Guerre'. Covered by Eduard in their boxing of the Fw 190 A-5. Another photo below..

And while on the subject of Eduard, here's a heads-up for a new 'paid-for' magazine that Eduard are producing called "Eduard Modeller's Den".  This first 'Zero' issue features a lengthy piece by Dan Caldwell on the Schweinfurt-Regensburg raid from the Luftwaffe perspective, illustrated with archive photos and plenty of Eduard artwork. Produced under the direction of the two Jans - Zdiarsky and Bobek - the first issue is available to download for free. As I understand it, the "Eduard Modeller's Den" will be a more 'serious' publication than the regular Eduard 'newsletter' and feature a wide range and diversity of topics, but with less emphasis on the advertising of Eduard and their products. Subsequent issues are 'paid-for' but the small fee will enable the reader to exchange 'coupons' for discounts at the Eduard e-store. Good luck with this new venture guys!

https://emd.eduard.com/en

Kriegsweihnachten 1944 - Letzte Weihnacht während des Zweiten Weltkrieges

 

JG 54 pilots Thyben and Pahl in Courland, December 1944

By Christmas 1944, the war was going extremely badly for the Germans. Since the Allied landings in Normandy and the huge Russian offensive in the East launched in June and July 1944, both Eastern and Western Fronts had been drawing ever closer. Some two months prior to Christmas 1944, the city of Aachen had become the first major German town to be captured by the Allies. The Soviets had driven into East Prussia in October 1944. The Red Army has already liberated two concentration camps, while the SS was already clearing the Auschwitz extermination camp. SS man Karl Höcker was nonetheless photographed lighting candles by the Christmas tree in Auschwitz-Birkenau. In his Christmas speech, Goebbels referenced the on-going offensive in the Ardennes - the last major attack launched by the Germans on 16 December 1944; ‘What German heart would not beat faster with pride in Christendom when I think here of our soldiers who have now been back on the offensive in the West for over a week?' But even on Christmas Eve the Allies flew massive bombing raids, the war having long since returned to the country from which it started - the 3rd BD of the US 8th AF launched nearly 2,000 B-17s and B-24s against airfields in south-west Germany. ‘There were several heavy air raids here during the Christmas of 1944, all of which I survived in a shaky cellar,’ reported one eyewitness from Bonn. The sirens also sounded in Cologne on 24 December 1944. The official statistics record the dropping of 490 high-explosive bombs between 6.15 pm and 7.25 pm alone.....(from a Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR2 radio recording, 'Letzte Kriegsweihnacht')

Gotha Go 242 reference photos for the new IBG Models 1:72 scale kits

Following on from their announcement last Friday (see below), IBG Models are releasing a pdf on Facebook featuring an illustrated history of the Gotha Go 242. This to coincide with the imminent release of their new 1:72nd scale kit. 

There is another option for modellers looking for Go 242 images, especially as I doubt that SAM will be publishing an 'Aircraft in Profile' feature any time soon - the ECPA-D web site has some great images of the type. 

The photos taken by PK reporter Karl Ottahal are of note - his report shows Gothas on Crete en route to North Africa to resupply the Afrika Korps. File reference is DAK 238. 

Ottahal was posted missing on 5 September 1944, flying as the gunner on board an Aufklärungsgruppe 123 Ju 88 coded '4U+KK' that failed to arrive in Crete on a flight from Athens..

 

Romanian I.A.R 80/81 IBG models 1:72 - the 10 June 1944 Ploesti raid (1)

 

IBG Models IAR 81 C 'Great Air Battles of 1944' box-art depicting  IAR- 81 C no. 320 flown by Slt. Av. Mircea Dumitrescu, commander of Escadrilla 61 downing a  15 AF P-38 on 10 June 1944.

The most 'prestigious' achievement of the Industria Aeronautica Romana works during WWII was the IAR 80 fighter of which 450 examples were constructed at a monthly rate of around 10-13 aircraft during the period 1940-43. Construction numbers would have been higher but for shortages of machine guns, gun sights etc. During testing the prototype exceeded 500 km/h at 4000 m altitude. The main armament comprised four Belgian Browning FN (7.62) machine guns. The fighter was powered by the (license-built Gnome Rhone) 1025 hp IAR 14K engine.

Design work which had started in 1937 was to a certain extent based on Polish expertise - Romanian engineers Grosu and Cosereanu conceived the IAR 80 around the modified and strengthened rear fuselage and tail section of a Polish PZL P.24E fighter while the wings were based on the Italian SM 79 reduced in size by 50%;  authors Roba and Craciunoiu in 'Romanian Aeronautics' conclude that " the IAR 80 was an outstanding achievement, perhaps the best example of how to do a job with limited resources.." The machine underwent continuous improvement, resulting in a number of different versions - the first significant variant was the IAR 80 B featuring a  lengthened fuselage starting with aircraft No. 201 (by 70 mm in front of the firewall) and extended wing span of 11 metres starting with aircraft No. 212.

The IAR 81 was an improved fighter-bomber variant, featuring the long nose and wings and bomb racks under the fuselage and wings, while the 80/81 C were heavy fighters equipped with two 20 mm MG FF or MG 151/20 cannon and Browning machine guns. With 150 airframes the IAR 81 C was the most numerous of all versions. The longer fuselage, wide-span wings and engine cowling air filter also made this variant probably the most distinctive of the IAR 80/81 series.

The box art of IBG Models kit number 72570  "IAR 81 C- Great Air Battles of 1944" features IAR- 81 C no. 320 flown by Slt. Av. Mircea Dumitrescu, commander of Escadrilla 61. Dumitrescu claimed two P-38s on the 10 June 1944 raid (see below). His machine features the unofficial Esc. 61 Disney 'Bambi' emblem on the beautiful box-top artwork. Pilot and fighter were captured on film by a PK Berichter in a photo 'reportage' that can be seen in the ECPA-D archive. (sample images below - click on the images to view full-screen)

Following the disastrous 'Tidal Wave' mission on 1 August 1943, the Allied air offensive against the Ploesti oilfields and refineries only got underway again in the spring of 1944, this time from airfields around Foggia, Italy. The raid on 10 June 1944 was notable for being flown not by heavy bombers but by more than 75 P-38s from the 1st and 82nd Fighter groups - the 82nd FG machines being fitted with 300 gallon drop tanks and a 1000 kg bomb. Intercepted at low altitude over the oilfields, Bf 109s from III./JG 77 and I./JG 53 dove on the P-38 fighter-bombers with the 39 1st FG P-38 escorts late on the scene. The usual smoke-screens had not been deployed by the defenders, so 15th AF planners achieved the element of surprise they had hoped for. And in the ensuing combats Lt. Herbert B. Hatch claimed five IAR 80s - mistaking the Romanian fighters for 'FW-190s'. But he was the only 71st FS pilot to return to Italy that day! The 82nd FG lost 8 and the 1st FG a further 14 P-38s. For the loss of four machines the IAR 81s of Grupul 6 claimed 23 P-38s. Needless to say the 15th AF did not repeat their 'Lightning' attack of 10 June..

new tool Gotha Go.244 from IBG Models - 3D renders revealed today - release in late January 2025

 

announced today by IBG Models - a new-tool Gotha Go 244. Due in 1/72nd and to be released in late January 2025, 3D-renders unveiled on the IBG FB page. This blog is a big fan of IBG Models so we hope this will do well for them - we've built their Fw 190 Dora and the PZL P.7/11 elsewhere here and are about to start their fabulous IAR 80/81 series..

 

 Access all IBG Models posts on this blog via this link 

And from the IBG Models FB page;

" Yesterday we've revealed our brand new project - Gotha Go-244 transporter. But it's not all. We've also prepared the Go-242 glider versions, both in multiple configurations! On Monday we'll also publish a pdf with a detailed description of all the production versions of these aircraft!"

Maj. Karl-Heinz Schomann, Gruppenkommandeur I./LG 1 - PK Berichter Hans Gross

 

 Seen here supervising the mechanics working on his Ju 88 A-4, Maj. Karl-Heinz Schomann was a 'veteran' of the campaign in the West (May-June 1940). As Oblt. in 9./LG 1 he was WIA in combat with Spitfires during May 1940. LG 1 carved out its reputation in the Med and North Africa. Operating out of Heraklion, Crete, in support of Rommel's DAK and flying convoy escort as well as night bombing raids, Schomann as Staka 5./LG 1 was again injured on 8 December 1942 off the coast of Libya, his Ju 88 A-4 attacked by an RAF fighter. Schomann replaced Helbig assuming the role of 'acting' Kommandeur of I./LG 1 in January 1943 before being named as Helbig's replacement and promoted to Major in March 1943. He was awarded the RK in October 1943 for his leadership having claimed 29000 GRT of shipping sunk. During July 1944 Schomann was appointed Ia with the General der Kampfflieger and concurrently Inspekteur der Erganzungsgruppen der Kampfgeschwader. In 1945 he held a staff position with the General der Kampfflieger. Schomann survived the war having flown around 265 combat sorties. He passed in August 2006.

The ECPA-D caption gives the location as Greece during April 1944. LG 1 had previously operated from Heraklion between 14 November 1942 and 2 April 1943 and Eleusis between 2 April 1943 and 11 June 1943. Schomann is clearly wearing his RK which was not awarded until late October 1943. Note the Wellenmuster finish applied to the lower surfaces of the Ju 88, presumably in an attempt to 'tone down' the clear lower surfaces for night missions..

Photos by PK Bildberichter Hans Gross, below, wearing his EK 1 awarded in mid-1942. Gross was killed in January 1945 in Belgium - 80 years ago. His images - more than 1000 of them - are thus freely available on the ECPA-D website. Unfortunately 95% of them are landscapes of Greek islands and scenes of local inhabitants in North Africa including camels, which is particularly disappointing as Gross was author of the war-time " Mein Freund Marseille". Post war his various reports were collected together in a book entitled "Als Kriegsberichter im Einsatz"..

Oblt. Kurt Ruppert, Staka 9./JG 26 - Bundesarchiv photo report #8

 

Photographed in late August 1942, this is Oblt. Kurt Ruppert's Fw 190 A-3 WNr. 551 'gelbe 1+I' of 9./JG 26.  I'm assuming that is Ruppert seated on the cockpit being saluted by his comrades. There are 17-18 victory Balken on the rudder. Ruppert had returned his 15th in July and then claimed 3 Spitfires shot down on 19 August 1942 as he led his 9.Staffel over Dieppe flying out of Moorsele, Belgium. Note the high contrast finish and the very light yellow of the aircraft Kennung -  the 'darker' camo colour is either a 'grey-green' or 'green-grey' 74, almost certainly the Graugrün variation of '74'. See the link below for more on this. Claes Sundin's 'Profile book No. 10' has more on Ruppert and artwork. Strangely the only 'Ruppert' to appear in  'Buch 1, Flugzeugführer des Jagdgeschwaders 1939-Mitte 1944' is Ofw. Hans Ruppert. (109 Feindflüge, 2 victories) who, like his namesake, died bailing out of his burning machine. Kurt Ruppert was KIA during June 1943 as Kommandeur III./JG 26 with 21 victories. (thanks to Rudi Kneipp for help with this post)

Ruppert flew with;

3./JG 26 from at least the beginning of 1940 to 11.11.1940, 

9./JG 26 from 12.11.1940 - 06.04.1943 

9./JG 26 Staffelkapitän from 02.05.1942 (http://wp1097868.server-he.de/geschwader/jg26.html) from 01.09.1942 Hauptmann and T.O. (Technischer Offizier?) 

III./JG 26 Gruppenkommandeur m.d.F.b. (mit der Führung beauftragt, ie, he was only a interim commander) from 07.04.1943 - 13.06.1943

Also on this blog;

Richard Goyat on Fw 190 colours