An Eagle's Odyssey - Johannes Kaufmann (trans. John Weal), Messerschmittt Bf 109 Air War Archive - new Luftwaffe books

Johannes Kaufmann enjoyed a long and diverse flying career in the Luftwaffe. He spent the first two years of the war as an instructor before flying his first combat sorties in July 1941, having retrained as a Bf 110 Zerstörer pilot with SKG 210 and ZG 1. He participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union (Barbarossa) and as a ground-attack pilot flew low-level strafing and bombing sorties against Russian tank and troop concentrations. His war ended at the controls of a Bf 109 escorting JG 4 Selbstopfer ('self sacrifice' or suicide) pilots flying against the Oder bridges. He also managed to return twelve victories including a Thunderbolt over the Ardennes and a Shturmovik in the final days of the war over the ruins of a shattered Berlin. That he survived is testament to his flying skills. His memoir 'Meine Flugberichte' ('My flight log') first appeared in German in 1989 - the cover photo depicted him being presented with a wreath to mark his 100th combat sortie in Russia. Brief extracts from his book are featured in the Classic Pubs Zerstörer volumes - and elsewhere on this blog. His career thus spans most of Hitler's war and highlights the ever-changing demands made on the Luftwaffe's pilots. In his role as a ground attack pilot in Russia he had no experience, little training and developed his 'tactical awareness' in the unforgiving apprenticeship of combat. From low-level bombing and strafing sorties, he flew at Stalingrad and subsequently went on to maritime operations over the Atlantic with KG 40, before 're-training' as a Bf 109 fighter pilot thrown into the desperate efforts to stem the Allied bomber offensive. Unfortunately while Kaufmann's account is fascinating, the original text was a 'difficult' if not to say somewhat dull read, with timings for takeoffs and landings repeated throughout, written almost exclusively from the point of view of Kaufmann's logbook. Hence the title no doubt. However translator John Weal is well aware of this and this new English edition -  revised and enlarged from the original - attempts to rectify that situation by cutting out some of the detail and incorporating more context and background information on campaigns, locations and units. So whereas, for example, Kaufmann did not fly his first sorties with JG 4 until late summer 1944 - having seen his Ju 88 ZG 1 Gruppe disbanded and reconstituted as III./ JG 4 - the translator provides an account of this JG's establishment and early history. While Kaufmann had done little combat flying with KG 40 and ZG 1 (chapters are devoted to both units) he saw rather more action flying Reich's defence sorties against the massed formations of US bombers, clashing with Mustangs on the 27 September and 02 November missions which saw heavy losses inflicted on JG 4. 

Below; cover of Johannes Kaufmann's " Meine Flugberichte " (lit. 'My flight reports..' ). 

And while Kaufmann  did not fly on the 1.1 45 Bodenplatte operation, Weal includes an account of JG 4's participation on the New Years Day attack on the Allied air forces and the subsequent changes in command at the head of III./JG 4 resulting from the charges of 'cowardice' filed against Kommandeur Eberle.

Notwithstanding the fact that the translator's 'voice' comes to the fore throughout, the result provides a good insight into the life and times of an 'ordinary' Luftwaffe pilot. While there is a good deal of 'background' on what life with a front-line combat unit was actually like, 'political' comment is notable by its almost total absence and the 'neutral' tone adopted throughout is a little disconcerting- there is no commentary whatsoever on the evolving war situation, nor is there any sense of impending defeat and chaos. Kaufmann does at one point attend one of Hitler's rallies and listens to the three-hour speech with 'rapt attention' while during a fighter leaders training course during March 1945 Kaufmann makes the point that lectures covering the German war economy and 'post-war' diplomacy are still being delivered.. Weal's writing is always a pleasure to read and if you have any of his previous translated personal accounts such as Hanning's 'Luftwaffe Fighter Ace' then this is worthy and interesting book. Rather unfortunately perhaps there are no photographs in this new edition. If you are going to add good chunks of text a photo page insert would have rounded the book out considerably.

The latest Chris Goss-compiled Luftwaffe photo book in the Frontline 'Air War Archive' series has arrived. ' Messerschmitt Bf 109 - the latter years ' covers the period 1941-1945, with a chapter devoted to each year at the front of the book and several chapters thereafter organised according to the theatre of operations, Africa, Eastern Front etc, with a brief look at Jabo operations, foreign operators and 'Captured' machines bringing up the rear.  With a page count of 178 the book represents good value with some decent images reproduced large with comprehensive captions. The main body of the work is preceded by a 19-page look at the capture by the British of Pingel's Friedrich by way of introduction. Units covered primarily include JG 1, JG 2 and JG 26, with coverage chiefly given over to JG 27, JG 53 and JG 52 for the 'theatre' chapters.  I noted just a single photo from JG 300 in the book but highlight for me is a series of very nice images of III./JG 2 Friedrichs and a number of photos of interesting JG 77 machines that were new to me.

Captured G-6s in unusual camo finish, WNr. 20790 visible on the tail fin. See pages 84-85 of 'Bf 109 - the latter years'..seen at Fassberg according to the book caption, although A.I.2(g)/131 via Michael Balss states Wunstorf.

Bf 109 F-4/B WNr 7629 10.(Jabo)/JG 2, Oblt. Frank Liesendahl admiring his rudder scoreboard May-June 1942. Liesendahl was shot down and killed on 17 July 1942 and was awarded a posthumous RK. Compare with the image reproduced on page 98 of  'Messerschmitt Bf 109 - the latter years'..

Thanks to Pen and Sword for the review copy.

Air War Archive- Focke Wulf Fw 190 - The early years - operations in the West compiled by Chris Goss (Frontline, Pen & Sword) New Luftwaffe book review

In late August 1943 PK photographer Engelmann was in Vannes, France to take pictures of Oblt. Josef Wurmheller posing alongside his new Fieseler-manufactured Fw 190 A-6 (WNr. 530314) "Yellow 2". Note the last four numerals of the Werknummer above the swastika on the tail fin and the 78 victory bars on the yellow rudder scoreboard - his 78th was a Spitfire shot down during the evening of 22 August 1943.

This is the first of two volumes in this photo series by Chris Goss that will be devoted to the 'work-horse' of the Luftwaffe - the Fw 190. The book comprises a 12 page Preface, Introduction and Glossary and 172 pages of well-captioned photographs. Some of these are pilot portraits or group personnel images but the majority cover the aircraft. Subtitled 'The Early Years - Operations in the West' there are seven 'chapter' headings. After 'Training' chapter 2 is entitled 'The Pembrey 190' and comprises some 22 pages of images of Oblt. Faber's JG 2 machine- both inside and out. The circumstances surrounding this aircraft and how and why the pilot put down in south-Wales are described in an introductory text describing the event itself. Some pages have a single image, others feature two photos - some are a little dark and blurry - while the images showing the machine being tested by the RAF over five pages are clear and sharp. Chapter 3 is simply entitled 'Jagdgeschwader 2' and obviously covers all the aces, Wurmheller, Hahn, Schnell, Mayer etc and their machines - or more especially their rudder scoreboards. There are four pages of images of Bruno Stolle Staffelkapitän 8./JG 2 preparing for a sortie in his 'white 24'. Stolle took over from Egon Mayer as Kommandeur III./JG 2 in June 1943 - at the height of what was the 'Focke Wulf summer' over the Channel Front. While the Focke Wulfs of III./JG 2 racked up large numbers of Spitfire 'kills' a new adversary was increasingly appearing in the skies of France - massed formations of heavily defended four-engine bombers that the Jagdflieger would find a much more difficult proposition. One of the 'unidentified' 8./JG 2 pilots on page 54 is Uffz. Friedrich May. May returned his first victory on 10 June 1942 when he claimed a Boston. His 6th was a B-17 on 30 December 1942 during a raid by 1st Bomb Wing B-17s on the U-boat pens at Lorient. He was KIA on 20 October 1943 in the vicinity of Rouen in combat with Spitfires (Fw 190 A-6 470047) as an Ofw. with 3./JG 2. With at least 21 victories on his scoreboard May was awarded a posthumous DKiG. On page 73 there is a nice photo of Fähnrich Heinz Liebick of 9./JG 2 who had his Fw 190 shot-up on the ground on 17 March 1944 at Chartres by marauding P-51s but recovered from his injuries and went on to make two claims on 5 and 11 July 1944. There are a mere 25 pages in Chapter 4 devoted to 'Other Jagdgeschwader in north-west Europe' which is mostly JG 26 and JG 5. This chapter also includes views of the Melsbroeck 'blue 6' (sic) over a number of pages from 1944.  Chapter 5 entitled 'Jabo' features around fifty pages devoted to the Jabo Staffeln of JG 2 and JG 26. Content here is heavily weighted towards the Schnellkampfgeschwader and includes the well-known West Malling and Manston machines in detail. These units featured heavily in the Luftwaffe's so-called 'tip and run' campaign against southern England and London during 1942-43. On 20 January 1943 during a massed daylight raid on London Lt. Hermann Hoch flying Fw 190 A-4 WNr. 2409 'black 2 +'  was hit by anti-aircraft fire as he approached the south coast and brought down near Capel. As he crash-landed he hit the top of a hill, somersaulted some 200 yards ploughing through a coppice before coming to rest. Although injured (!) the pilot was able to evacuate the aircraft and set off the demolition charge. Unfortunately the author does not tell us what became of the pilot - but there is not much left of his aircraft ! The last two chapters cover over thirty pages those Fw 190 units performing short-range recce, with good coverage of Nahaufklärungsgruppe 13, while there is a small section on the Fw 190 in the Mediterranean. As the author explains in his Foreword many of these images come from Alfred Price's archive and have been specially scanned for this series. However it does not appear that they have been 'tidied-up' in any way and some are reproduced a little too large and might be a little indistinct as a consequence. But if you are looking to add a good quality and inexpensive Fw 190 title to your library then this is it. Volume 2 should be equally as good. Thanks to Pen and Sword for the review copy. The title is currently available from the Pen and Sword web site with a nice discount. Note also the cover image currently shown there (and above) differs from the actual cover which features Faber's Fw 190 at Pembrey..

Images shown below feature in Chris Goss's latest title in the Air War Archive series;

Above; Fw 190 A-2/3 "gelbe 11" (probably WNr. 2187) of 9./ JG 2 features the stylised eagle wing with an Adlerkopf (eagle's head) on the cowling. Note the small bulge on the gun cowling, a feature of Arado-built Fw 190s. "Yellow 11" was the usual aircraft of Ofw. Fritz Hartmann - the rudder featured at least eight Abschussbalken by the time Hartmann handed the machine over to 8. Staffel later that year where his victory markings were removed. See also the photos on p176 in Erik Mombeek's superlative " In the skies of France " (Vol 3)

Fw 190 A-5 of 2./Nahaufklärungsgruppe 13. This unit was equipped with the Bf 109 G and Fw 190 A, and commanded by Oberleutnant Walter Erhard was sent to Cuers a few weeks before the Allied Landings in Normandy..

below; Uffz. Paul Ebbinghaus of 3./ Schnellkampfgeschwader 10, shot down and killed by friendly fire near Beauvais on 8 May 1943

Junkers Ju 88 Aces - a selection of Ju 88 'ace' photos - Helbig, Hogeback, Storp, Fischer , Schweickhardt

Hptm. Erwin Fischer (right of the sign) with Glas Sekt on the occasion of the 3000th Feindflug  of Aufklärungsgruppe 121. Note the white swan emblem of the unit, Ju 88 D coded 7A + NH

Despite having published at least three volumes on Junkers Ju 88 Kampfgeschwader in their 'Combat Units' series, Osprey editor Tony Holmes decided we needed at least one Ju 88 volume in the 'Aces' series. However on the evidence of this volume I would say to him that we probably need a few more of these as well. This is an excellent volume on the Junkers Ju 88, presenting an overview of the aircraft and the men who flew it in each of the roles it undertook; bomber, intruder, night-fighter, long-range day fighter and reconnaissance. Many of the more 'famous' Ju 88 pilots are covered such as Baumbach, Helbig, Herrmann and Heinz Rökker along with some of the lesser known. The profiles are some of the best I have seen in an Osprey book and the content highly readable and informative. However, it is not strictly an "aces" volume as it does not specifically look at those who claimed 5 or more kills whilst flying the Ju 88. If you are thinking of buying it because of the title, you may perhaps be disappointed. That being said, if you have any interest in the type and the exploits of its crews then buy it - it is a taster or as Robert himself referred to it " a toe-dipper". To cover all noteworthy Ju 88 "ace crews", in all the roles in which the aircraft undertook, would take several similar sized volumes. For example, Hermann Hogeback is only mentioned in a couple of photo captions and he would certainly qualify as the Ju 88 bomber "aces of aces" (with 500+ operational sorties and being one of only three Ju 88 pilots to receive the Knights Cross with Swords). Erwin Fischer is the only reconnaissance pilot to receive the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves (as far as I am aware) and he is not even mentioned in the text...

Above; Ju 88 A-4 WNr. 142338 coded 'F1+GS' flown by the Gruppenkommandeur III./KG 76 Hptm. Heinrich Schweickhardt. The coat of arms of the city of Heidelberg recalls Schweickhardt's birth place. He was flying this aircraft when he went missing during a transfer flight on 9 January 1943.

Hptm. Heinrich Schweickhardt (1914-1943) awarded the RK as Staffelkapitän 8./Kampfgeschwader 76, (Ritterkreuz 04.02.1942, Eichenlaub (138) 30.10.1942)

Appointed Kommandeur III./KG 76 in March 1942 Schweickhardt and his crew went missing during a flight from Catania to Athen-Tatoi on 9 January 1943 after a radio message from about noon saying he was having engine trouble. This was after combat about 100 km west of Zakynthos or Zante. The aircraft was a Ju 88 A-4 WNr. 142338 coded 'F1+GS'. Posthumously promoted to
Major, credited with around 400 missions.



Below; Junkers Ju 88 A-6 1./(F)123 (4U+SH) after a recon mission flown by Ofw. Bach, Perugia Italy. Chased by Allied fighters the pilot flew so low over the sea that the propellers struck the water and shattered. Fortunately the wooden propellers broke evenly which allowed the engines to keep running and Bach made it back to his base in Perugia at a some what reduced speed..

Two views of I./KG 77 machines. Note the white winter finish applied even to the prop blades in the lower picture

below; torpedo-carrying Ju 88 of I./KG 26 taking off from Bardufoss in March 1945 to attack a Murmansk convoy. Note the Schiffssuchradar - shipping search radar FuG 200 Hohentwiel. To the right of picture Oberst Ernst Kühl is seen saluting the departing aircraft. 

Chris Goss has a different caption in his Frontline " Junkers Ju 88 - the twilight years"  which reads as follows;   A Ju 88 of I./KG 26 taxying out at Bardufoss to attack an Allied convoy, RA 64, on 20 February 1945. In the crew is Oberst Ernst Kühl who had recently been given command of a Fliegerdivision based in Narvik. He was holder of the Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub and had flown 315 combat missions, most of them with KG 55.

Below; interesting cockpit views and a rare portrait of Werner Baumbach at Munich Riem during 1942..

Junkers Ju 88s of KG 26 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.

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.

Below; Kommandeur I./LG 1 Hptm. Joachim Helbig seen in Catania, Sicily during 1941. He was awarded the Eichenlaub during January 1942 after some 200 sorties..

Deployed early on in the Mediterranean, LG 1 would soon prove to be one of the most formidable and feared opponents of the Royal Navy. Under the orders of Kommandeur Helbig, the "Helbig flyers" of I./LG 1 as they were dubbed were responsible for sending many Allied ships to the bottom. Notable actions included the sinking of three large transport vessels Clan Campbell, Clan Chattan and Rowallan Castle from the convoy MW 9, during attacks on 13–14 February 1941. On 22 May 1941 during the Battle for Crete, LG 1 Ju 88 pilot Gerd Brenner finished off the RN cruiser HMS Fiji with heavy loss of life. III./LG 1 also damaged the Australian destroyer Waterhen on 9 July 1941, sinking it on 11 July. The Geschwader supported the Afrika Korps effectively in Libya and Egypt until 1942. Bombing raids were made on the Suez Canal, Cairo during this time. On 11/12 May 1942 I.(K)/LG 1 again led by Helbig were responsible for sinking HMS Kipling, HMS Jackal and HMS Lively in the Gulf of Sollum. Helbig below on the right..

Below; Iro Ilk Staffelkapitän of 1./LG 1 during 1943 and bomber ace at the controls of his Ju 88. Both Ilk and his close friend in LG 1 Gerd Stamp were awarded the Knight's Cross with I./LG 1 for audacious attacks on British shipping in the Med, before going on to fly single engine night fighters with the wilde Sau. Ilk was shot down and killed by Spitfires as Gruppenkommandeur III./JG 300 on 25 September 1944. Post-war Stamp achieved high rank in NATO and married Ilk's widow.

Having carried out intruder attacks over Britain with some success for almost a year, the Ju 88 Cs of I./ NJG 2 were transferred to the Mediterranean and the western desert of North Africa in late 1941.  Ju 88 C-4 " R4+EL" (3./ NJG 2) came to grief during the transfer flight to Sicily and made an emergency landing near Naples. Crash landed by Flugzeugführer Fw Robert Lüddecke (front) on 22 November 1941 at Capodichino-Naples. Lüddecke had returned three night victories - Nachtluftsiege - at the time of the incident.

Below; seen far left Ritterkreuzträger Hptm. Hermann Hogeback, Kommandeur III./LG 1 on the occasion of a commemoration of the 5000th sortie flown by the Gruppe, Stalino, September 1942.

Three bomber aces of KG 6 with around 1,000 sorties between them, Hptm. Rudolf Puchinger, Staka 8./KG 6, Kommodore Walter Storp and Kommandeur III./KG 6 Hermann Hogeback.

Partial view of a formation of V./KG 40 Ju 88 C-6 heavy fighters seen over south-western France during early 1943. Nearest to the camera is Ju 88 C-6 "F8+RY" with Oblt. Kurt Necesany at the controls, while behind this aircraft is "F8+NY"

Diving Eagle of KG 30 seen on Herrmann's Ju 88 A-4. Early in World War II, Herrmann flew bombing missions in the invasion of Poland and the Norwegian campaign. By 1940 he was Staffelkapitän 7./KG 4 re-designated 7./KG 30 at the end of the Battle of Britain. In February 1941 his Gruppe was transferred to Sicily, from where it attacked Malta then fought in the Battle of Greece. In one attack Herrmann sank the ammunition ship Clan Fraser in the port of Piraeus. The explosion sank 11 ships and made the Greek port unusable for many months. He was appointed Kommandeur III./KG 30 and flew missions against Russia. He was a controversial figure in 'right-wing' circles post-war.

"..Herrmann was one of the most deadly Luftwaffe pilots of the Second World War and one of its most innovative air tacticians; a committed Nazi determined to fight to the end, he even formed a special unit of fighter pilots whose task was to ram Allied bombers out of the air..."

 ..from his obituary published by the British 'Daily Telegraph' in 2010. Read it in full here

The above is intended to serve as an introduction to the two Ju 88 photo volumes compiled by Chris Goss in Frontline's 'Air War Archive' series..while Volume one focused on the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, Volume two, "the Twilight years- Biscay to the Fall of Germany" covers the activities of Ju 88 Gruppen in Russia and the Mediterranean and looks at reconnaissance and torpedo operations. Heavy fighters also receive a chapter  - 'Battle over the Bay' covers the little-known ZG 1 - and there is a small section at the end on the Misteln..

new Luftwaffe books - " Alarmstart", "Ju 88 Air War Archive", Luftwaffe Gallery, Air War Publications, Osprey etc etc

Lots of super new releases either imminently or expected - look out for some of these.

Peter Taghon's French-language history of Lehrgeschwader 1 - reworked from Taghon's German edition with additional material by Jean-Louis Roba and artwork from Thierry Dekker. Click on the image to go directly to the Lela Presse website.

A brief look at Chris Goss's new Fw-200 book published by Crecy.


" ...my first "open" of the book, looks really good' says James Stewart who took these snapshots..

via Chris Goss

" ..my first photo books for Frontline are now available with the remaining books in the first part of this series following in the next few months. Bit of a departure for me but they wanted to do a series along the lines of what Bryan Philpott did for PSL in the late 1970s The idea of this series is based on Bryan Philpott's BA books from the late 1970s but with decent sized photos and full captions (which was what the 70s books lacked). Photo quality was insisted on. The trouble with many of the early 109 photos is that quality wasn't that brilliant. Feedback from the 109 and He 111 books has been good I should say..."

These two volumes look at the early variants of the Bf 109 and the Ju 88 - with extensive coverage of Battle of Britain units. The captions are mostly very detailed. While some are a good half page in length, others though offer merely a handful of sentences; for example on page 99 of the "Emil" book ; " Major Adolf Galland in his Bf 109 E-4 of JG 26. The nose appears yellow and the aircraft carries the Schlageter shield, his personal Mickey Mouse emblem and the Kommodore's chevron". And for a photo book which will perhaps stand or fall on the quality of the image reproduction, some images are not as clear as others, but doubtless included due to their rarity. Some photos are reproduced over an entire page, others get half a page. Photo selection is interesting - although perhaps less so if you have the author's previous works covering JG 53 for example and/or are familiar with Michael Payne's archive. I was impressed with the page count, which is around 170 for each volume in this series which represents good value for money.

New from Amberley books - "Alarmstart " by Patrick G. Eriksson.

Leon Ventner writes;

"..I'll add another huge thumbs-up for "Alarmstart". I wasn't expecting much when I ordered it, but I was thoroughly impressed when it arrived. Eriksson includes personal accounts provided by 108 Luftwaffe veterans, with ranks ranging from Gefreiter to Oberst. He weaves them into well-researched potted histories of the major campaigns in the West, from Poland to the defence of the Reich in June '44. He also includes some OOBs and interesting analyses in the form of tables and charts that are reminiscent of Williamson Murray's fine work. It's rounded out with a good selection of photos, extensive footnotes, and a bibliography and index. The cherry on top is that two further volumes are planned: one devoted to the Mediterranean and the last year over Germany, and the other covering the Eastern Front, the German victory claims system, and pilot training. I'm very much looking forward to these..."

Erik Mombeek's latest Luftwaffe Gallery is due back from the printers soon. Some page samples can be viewed at Erik's site here. 'New' personal accounts translated by Neil Page (blog author)

Morton Jessen at Air War Publications has released a new eArticle entitled 'wilde Sau und Moskitojagd' compiled by this blog author. Features rare personal accounts with some excellent images from the collection of Jean-Yves Lorant who deserves our gratitude, not only for making this a quite exceptional eArticle for AWP in my humble opinion, but for enabling this publication to go ahead. For just a handful of euros you get rare photos, accounts and some exclusive Hjortsberg artwork. Download the 19-page PDF for your tablet or print it out.

Two former wilde Sau pilots of JG 302 and I./NJG 11 describe some of their hair-raising experiences in single-engine fighters at night in the cloud-banked and freezing skies over Germany during the winters of 1943 and 1944. Text and pilot interview translation by Neil Page. Photographs and pilot interviews, Jean-Yves Lorant. Artwork and additional caption commentary by Anders Hjortsberg.







Seen on Osprey's Twitter feed - the first look at a new Forsyth 'Aces' title due before the end of the year.

Available via Tony Holmes at Telford next weekend

...and another quick mention for Claes Sundin's superlative 'Luftwaffe Bombers' profile artwork book, below. Note that this is far more than a book of profiles- there is a decent text providing an historical overview of the Luftwaffe bomber arm along with comprehensive caption information for each distinctive machine illustrated. Contributors include acknowledged colours expert David E. Brown. I received this copy directly from Claes for my own contribution to this volume. Thanks Claes! Check out the reviews and order your copy here

Well Done, Claes! Your "Bomber-Book" arrived Yesterday. What a variety of Camouflage patterns, Great. The colors are awesome. As well all the Details and of Course the "background" information about each plane. Bravo. 

Fritz Braun/Germany