Both 'Avions' and 'Aeroplane' are running the same feature in their current issues - Holger Ziehm's interview with K-H Ossenkopf. Ziehm is a former Bundesluftwaffe F-4 pilot while Ossenkop arrived at the front following the D-Day landings and saw combat with the latest and best Allied fighters at the controls of his I./JG 26 Fw 190 D-9. He even managed several victories until he was shot down and hospitalised by an RAF 80 Sqd Tempest on 17 April 1945.
Both the 'Avions' and 'Aeroplane' magazines feature Fw 190 D-9s on their covers and fairly random and well-known images of Doras inside to illustrate their lay-outs. The less said about the 'Aeroplane' cover illustration the better. As Keith put it;
"..why am I looking at a hideous Typhoon/Tempest mash-up? Why has the production team let this through the net? The fuselage is flat sided behind the cockpit which is wrong and the wings are definitely Typhoon, why? It seems such a shame to tarnish what is still a leading publication for aviation history.."
Not to mention the poor translation; ".. D-9 in the end times." (!!) .
Meanwhile Graham Boak noted on britmodeller;
The 'Avions' cover on the other hand features an Eric Schwartz profile described as depicting K-H Ossenkop's regular machine during the period February-March 1945, a 'black 8' W.Nr 210968 of 2./JG 26.
Ossenkop describes the events of 17 April 1945 when he was shot down over Lake Schwerin.
" ..my wingman Uffz. Karl Fröb was sticking close to me. My 'black 8' was not available that morning so I had been assigned 'white 2', a replacement crate, but something of a lame duck. [..] I closed on the Spitfire, one of the latest, most powerful models, most probably with a well-trained and experienced pilot at the controls. He hadn't seen me. I checked my rear, then opened up. Pieces of debris flew off the enemy aircraft, he rolled over and dove. I could see a banner of smoke streaming from him so knew that he was probably on fire. I had no time to watch his fate - enemy fighters were now on our tails. We dove into the mist just above the surface of the lake. Visibility was poor but at least we had escaped the Spitfires. Then, in a split second, I saw a fountain of water erupt from the lake. My inexperienced wingman [Fröb] had just gone straight in!..."
Attempting then to rejoin Oblt. Dortenmann who was leading a formation over Lubeck, Ossenkop ran into some aggressively flown 80 Sqn Tempests. It would be his last action of the war. Ossenkop was forced to bail out and was injured colliding with the tail of his Dora. So according to Ziehm, Ossenkop was shot down in 'white 2' (sic!) on 17/4/45. 'Black 8' WNr. 210968, the pilot's usual a/c, was u/s.. but was nonetheless lost on that same sortie with Uffz. Karl Fröb at the controls! Elsewhere Caldwell doesn't have any details on Ossenkop's loss at all, while he confirms that Fröb, flying as Ossenkop's wingman, was downed in 'black 8' - which Ossenkop himself states was u/s. Something doesn't add up! Answers on a post card please..
