last issue of Batailles Aériennes (no.116) - Legion Condor fighters

 

"...Dear readers, Here it is - the latest -and final -issue of your magazine *Batailles Aériennes*(issue no. 116) dedicated to the fighter aircraft of the Condor Legion, written by Jean-Louis Roba. If I am not mistaken, these 116 issues represent 29 years of publication, which is not bad at all! Of course, all this work – the research, the writing, the illustrations (colour profiles) – is the result of a collaborative effort. I would therefore like to thank all the authors and illustrators who have contributed over the years to producing all these issues of Batailles Aériennes. In recent years, the number of authors has fallen dramatically… to just Bernard Baeza and Jean-Louis Roba. I would like to thank them warmly, for without them we would not have managed to reach issue 116. Rest assured, they are continuing their work, which will be published as special editions of AVIONS magazine. But this will be less difficult to manage as it will be irregular, without a quarterly schedule. Finally, I would like to thank all the readers who have followed us over the years; without you, none of this would have been possible! So a big thank you to everyone. Enjoy this final issue and see you soon for other projects..."    Michel Ledet 

  A photograph taken from a period magazine shows the first six German fighter pilots in Spain. From left to right: Lt. Gerhard Klein, Lt. Ekkehard Hefter, Oblt. Hannes Trautloft, Oblt. Herwig Knüppel, Oblt. Kraft Eberhardt and Lt. Wolf-Heinrich von Houwald. Half of this small detachment would perish in Spain.

On 27 September Lt.Ekkehard Hefter’s He 51 clipped the tower of the town hall in Vitoria - having just got airborne - and crashed into the town’s main square, killing the pilot. Engine trouble was cited as the cause. However, malicious tongues whispered that Hefter had celebrated his first victory a little too heartily the night before, whilst others suggested that he had been performing aerobatics for the locals (he had taken a course at Schleissheim). Probably a bit of all three.

Also on 27 September the He 51 detachment received an unexpected but welcome reinforcement: six aircraft and ten pilots: Oblt. Dietrich von Bothmer, Oskar Henrici and Günther Radusch, Lt. Kurt von Gilsa, Paul Rehahn and Hennig Strümpell, as well as Uffz. Willi Gödecke, Kowalski, Ernst Mratzek and Erwin Sawallisch. As was 'customary’, all these volunteer pilots had left Germany and travelled as 'civilians'. According to Strümpel; 

 ‘..I went out to Spain with, amongst others, Günther Radusch, whom I had known since Döberitz. We travelled to Berlin in civilian clothes to report to the Ministry. Then came the train journey to Hamburg. At the station, a man was waiting for us and we followed him. We were taken by bus to the port, where we boarded a small boat that took us to a ship. Once on board were issued with our kit. Near the Spanish coast, we were almost intercepted by a vessel, but we were protected by the Deutschland. We were flying, in principle, for HISMA (Note: the ‘front’ company ostensibly employing the volunteers). We then arrived in Tablada..”

It was decided to keep seventeen aircraft, enough for the fifteen pilots. The surplus He 51s (in fact the two or three oldest ones) were handed over to the Spanish, who accepted them reluctantly; they hardly used them as fighters and quickly transferred them to ground support units (or to training schools).

An impromptu lunch in Vitoria. Oblt. Knüppel is leaning over in the foreground. Behind him is Uffz. Erwin Sawallisch, who had recently joined the unit.