Junkers Ju 188 A-3, III./KG 26, Gardemoen/Norway, May 1945

 

This III./KG 26 Junkers Ju 188 A-3 was photographed in Gardemoen/Norway, May 1945, following German surrender to British forces. Note the WNr. 0326 under the cockpit and what looks to be the variant designation. This Ju 188 was equipped with the FuG 200 Hohentwiel airborne naval search radar. III./KG 26 converted to the Ju 188 A-3 in December 1944 and in early January 1945, with 37 Ju 188s on charge, the unit was transferred to Bardufoss in northern Norway. From here the Gruppe flew a number of attacks against Allied shipping up until late February. Returning to Gardemoen, 30 kms north of Oslo, the unit did not see much action due to fuel shortages. Their final mission of the war was to help evacuate wounded soldiers from the Kurland pocket, after which most aircraft returned to Norway. Reposted from the ongoing Petrick archive ebay sell-off....

Peter Petrick archive sale - Junkers Ju 188s of KG 2 - ebay photo find #372 and archive photo scan #19

 

some nice Ju 188s from the on-going Petrick archive sale via Oliver Rogge. Many of these images were published by Ulf Balke in his German-language KG 2 history -  at FalkeEins the Luftwaffe blog we have scanned a number of them from his archive, now owned by another collector. Note the example in flight below - as posted on Oliver Rogge's current ebay auction and a copy scanned and enhanced from the damaged and dark original.. 

and from a 1962 Heinz Nowarra article;

"..whether it was a 188, a 288 or a 388, it was still an 88.."

Click on the 'archive photo scan series' link just below to see all recent images scanned in for this blog

" Die Laval Affaire " - last flight of the Luftwaffe, July 1945

On 9 April (1945) the Luftwaffe General Italien reported 14 Ju 188 D-2s on the strength of 4.(F) and 6.(F)/122 of which 12 were serviceable, but by 22 April, these two Staffeln listed 11 Ju 188 D-2s on strength all but one of which was serviceable. They continued to conduct intermittent reconnaissance over the Adriatic. On the morning of 2 May, a Ju 188 of 4.(F)/122, apparently devoid of any national markings, flew the head of the Vichy regime, Pierre Laval, out of Bolzano to Barcelona in neutral Spain, effectively marking the end of Ju 188 operations in the theatre.  (Ju 188 Units, Osprey)

On 31 July 1945 -  nearly three months after the cessation of WWII - an 'unmarked'  Junkers Ju 188 unexpectedly appeared above the former Luftwaffe air base in Hörsching- Linz and landed.   The US 79th Fighter Group was occupying the field at the time  - astonished service personnel quickly gathered around the machine (below). And as it turned out, the aircraft had 'explosive' passengers on board: it was the former Vichy Prime Minister Pierre Laval and his wife, who were to be delivered to France from their "exile" in Spain. Laval had twice headed the cabinet of the Vichy government collaborating with the Germans. Not only responsible for the Vichy 'rafles' (round-ups) of French Jews, he had notoriously proclaimed in a speech broadcast on French radio during June 1942 "..Je souhaite la victoire de l'Allemagne, parce que, sans elle, le bolchevisme demain s'installerait partout.." -   I want to see Germany victorious in this war because unless there is a German victory, Bolshevism would become established everywhere tomorrow....

The Ju 188 D-1, WNr.230499, formerly 'F6+DM' of 4.(F)/AufklGr 122 landed in Austria  having flown in unannounced from Barcelona. This was the same machine that had carried Laval to Spain on or around 30 April 1945 displaying the civil registration D-CEDM. Laval was in Spain for three months until his visa expired. De Gaulle wanted him back in France to face trial and the Spanish were quick to give him up. The two pilots who had flown him out to Spain brought him and the Ju 188 into Linz. It was almost certainly one of the last flights of a Luftwaffe aircraft...Laval (along with Petain) was subsequently put on trial, received the death penalty and later executed. De Gaulle commuted the sentence handed out to Petain, his former mentor....

Death of the Kommandeur - Maj. Helmut Fuhrhop I./KG 6 (Junkers Ju 188 E)

 

Above; I./KG 6 Ju 188 E medium bombers were based in Chièvres, south of Brussels for the Steinbock raids over England during the first quarter of 1944.

Just after mid-day on the afternoon of 29 February 1944 (1944 was a leap year) two Junkers Ju 188 Es took off from Melsbroek, north of Brussels, and headed for Dreux, 50 miles east of Paris. They were part of a force scheduled to fly another 'Steinbock' bombing mission over southern England later that day which was transferring to Dreux in small groups. One of the Ju 188s (coded '3E+AB') was flown by the Kommandeur of I./KG 6, Maj Helmut Fuhrhop. An Eastern Front veteran with KG 51, Fuhrhop was an experienced career aviator and RK-holder credited with sinking at least 30,000 GRT of shipping in 250 missions. He had also flown over one hundred sorties at the controls of a Legion Condor K 88 He 111 (Taghon p.49) and was an obsessive athlete who made his crews run around the airfield almost daily! (Taghon, p.166) At the controls of the second machine was Uffz. Wilhelm Mayer of 1. Staffel. Both machines carried five aircrew and a handful of groundcrew, while Fuhrhop had his two dogs, Chica and Ciro, on board. Meanwhile, seven Hawker Typhoon Mk.1b aircraft of 609 Squadron were getting airborne from Manston (Kent) to carry out a fighter sweep in the sector Le Culot-Florennes-Cambrai across Belgium/northern France. Led by Sqn Ldr Johnny Wells the group comprised, in addition to the Englishman, one Australian, one Canadian and four Belgian pilots. They had already strafed barges and tugs when they sighted the two Ju 188s flying south-west past Cambrai at about 1,000 ft. One of the Belgian pilots flying that day, Fg. Off. Charles Demoulin, later recalled; 

 “..We were at 150 ft and had our hands full keeping station in the flurries of snow that alternated moments of zero visibility with sudden clear breaks. Suddenly, two shadows loomed out of the gloom, flitting across our heading, just feet above us, to then rapidly disappear to our left into skeins of broken cloud. But not quick enough to prevent me from identifying them. They were Ju 188s, night fighters (sic!) and medium bombers.."

“ All three of us (the two other Typhoon pilots were Flt Lt Lawrence Smith and Fg. Off. Georges Jaspis) banked into a sharp turn at the same time and at some risk of collision since the other Typhoons did likewise. The chase was on ('C'est l'hallali'!). Throttles wide open and engine screaming we went flat out after the Ju 188s and within a matter of moments come across them in a clear patch of sky.

“In front of me, a multi-coloured ribbon streamed towards my Typhoon and I could see the gunner of the second bomber bracketing my Typhoon with tracer. A little right rudder to correct and the turret fell silent as the body of the gunner slumped in his seat. At that moment the gunner of the first Junkers opened up - his rounds flashed just past my cockpit. Left rudder and gun-button depressed I rapidly shifted target - there were flashes on the grey fuselage and an explosion and the port engine of the Junkers burst into flames. ”

Below; I./KG 6 Ju 188 E "3E+KL" on a transfer flight - these machines were seen only rarely in the air during daylight hours during 1944, usually during transfer flights..

The combat was a slaughter and both bombers were sent down in flames. Meyer crashed at Bohain-en-Vermandois while Fuhrhop’s aeroplane came down three miles further south at Seboncourt, some 20 miles south-east of Cambrai. Everybody on board was killed, including Fuhrhop's long-time observer Ofw. Alfred Schuber.  According to one account, Fuhrhop's wrist watch was stopped at 13:13. The Adjutant of I./KG 6, Oblt. Roters, identified the recovered bodies wrapped in parachutes the following day laid out in a nearby monastery. Fuhrhop's wife and her sister attended the funeral in Mons. Fuhrhop's replacement as Kommandeur I./KG 6 was Hptm. and RK-holder Hans Thurner.

Below; Fuhrhop's widow and her sister in black at the Kommandeur's funeral. To the right in the front row  are, from the left, the Kommodore, Maj. Hermann Hogeback, the Kommandeur II./KG 6, Hptm. Hans Mader and  Fuhrhop's successor, Hptm. Hans Thurner..

Extracted and adapted from Peter Taghon's superb 328-page large-format French-language history " La Kampfgeschwader 6"  published by Lela Presse. Published in June 2021, an 18-page PDF extract of Peter's book is available on the publisher's web site here

Junkers Ju 88 and 188 of Aufklärungsgruppe 33

 

Some rare Aufklärungsgruppe images from a friend of the blog with a new negative scanner! First time these images have been seen by the negative strip owner...

Junkers Ju 88 D "8H+KL" features regularly in the 'history' of recce Staffel 3.(F)/33 as compiled by LdZ/AM on the LuftwaffeData website. 

Two images of "8H+KL"possibly during June-July 1943 at Ottana in Sardinia from where the Staffel flew two or three recce sorties a day watching Allied convoys and warships in the western Mediterranean and in Algerian harbours.

 

On July 11, 1943  Ju 88 '8H+KL' failed to return - no details, 100%, 4 MIA.  

Below; a general view of the grass strip(s) at Ottana, Sardinia, summer 1943. More at the LdZ  Luftwaffe airfields pdf

The Aufklärungs Staffel 3.(F)/33 began conversion training on the Junkers Ju 188 during late 1943 and were still in Gutenfeld/12 km south-east of Königsberg during January 1944.

 
On March 1, 1944 the Staffel reported 12 x Ju 188 F-1 on strength and on March 16 began transferring from Königsberg to Athens-Kalamaki in Greece where the Staffel relieved 1.(F)/122. Here they were assigned to Fernaufklärungsgruppe 4. According to AM's Luftwaffe Data Wiki (compiled by LdZ)   they were tasked with flying routine day and night photo reconnaissance over the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, Egyptian and Libyan ports and also covering southern Italy and Sicily. The rare image below from a Staffel member's album shows a crew in front of their Ju 188 feting a landmark sortie - the 100th, either their own or the aircraft type or flown from Kalamaki (.....possibly) 

 Over the following months  " a bitter rivalry developed between the Staffel and 2.(F)/123, which was considered the better of the two "  According to a PoW, 3.(F)/33 only had 4 operational losses from April to September 1944. Here are two rare photographic records detailing two of them...the crew of '8H+KL' (Ju 188, pilot Lt. Beyer) being killed in a crash on April 12, 1944 and the crew of '8H+AL' (pilot Lt. Haspel) failing to return from an operational sortie on May 15, 1944.

 On September 15 the Staffel transferred from Athens-Kalamaki to Salonika-Sedes.On October 10, 1944 the Staffel transferred from Salonika-Sedes to Skopje/Macedonia on or about this date; still under FAGr. 4, the Staffel had 9(5) Ju 88s and Ju l88s, the former being the high-altitude T-l and T-3 variants.

On October 22, 1944 Ju l88 D-2 (8H+AL) crashed in Greece due to engine failure, or possibly shot down by a RAF Beaufighter, while on a long-range day reconnaissance flight to check shipping between Greece and Crete and then along the approaches to the Dardanelles on the return leg, 100%, 3 KIA and 2 captured.

 (info via Andy Mitchell's LuftwaffeData website)

Siebel Sh 104 Kesselring, Ju 290 Alles Kaputt, Willow Grove Me 262 Beute machines - ebay photo find #344

 

Also on this blog;

  Adolf Galland's Siebel Fh 104 'Reisemachine'

How the Junkers Ju 290 'Alles Kaputt' went to America

Junkers Ju 188 Endkampf - daily ebay photo find #174

on offer here

Ju 188s of KG 6 and KG 200 on this blog here

KG 6 Junkers Ju 188, Ju 88 - daily Ebay photo find # 117

Edit- just sold via ebay.de seller Manuel Rauh at 'engelbubu fotos', are these nice images from a KG 6 album featuring Ju 188s and a Ju 88 Nachtjäger. 
Edit- currently at 350 euros with over two days of bidding still to go. 
Edit 01/06..final selling price on this one image 611 euros! 

Click on the image to view large!

On offer here

along with this nice KG 26 torpedo bomber

Flying the Junkers Ju 188 KG 77, KG 26, KG 6 , Baumbach KG 200

Above; two Hasegawa Ju 188s on display at this year's Scale Model World Telford.

Flying the Junkers Ju 188 (re-post). An account from former KG 77 & KG 26 pilot Diemer Bodo's  memoir  " Überlebenschance gleich Null " (Helios Verlag)

1945 sees Diemer posted to Norway with KG 26 and the chance to fly the Ju 188.

“ ..that day we reported as ordered to the Technical Officer. We were to fly two modified Ju 188s back to Trondheim and ferry them to III. Gruppe. Both machines were standing outside on the taxyway. I told him that we had never flown the Ju 188 and couldn’t be expected to take the aircraft without at least some classroom instruction. His response – we both wore the EK first class so we must be experienced flyers. There were two Bordfunker ready and waiting to make the trip with us. A pilot who had flown the Ju 188 was on hand to show us the ropes – and quickly before the Mustangs put in an appearance and shot the two machines to pieces. Just great! .. with the Russians in front of Berlin and the Western Allies already fighting around Kassel, here we were standing in our entire worldly possessions and now having to make a 1,500 kilometer trip north in a type that we had never flown before. While we had been flying combat sorties we’d dreamt of being able to give up our old lame Ju 88s for the faster more manoeuvrable Ju 188. Now we were getting our wish. The Ju 188 was a machine of 3,500 hp, almost 700 more horses than my faithful old ‘1H+NH’, and a top speed approaching 530 km/h, almost 100 km/h faster than our old crates... the next morning, half asleep, I climbed up into the unfamiliar cockpit, followed by the BF. Much more spacious, not half as cramped as the Ju 88, although the layout of the instruments and throttles was much the same. Run up the engines quickly and then taxy out. The eastern horizon was already getting lighter – time to get going before the P-51s turned up. Essig followed me and we turned onto the runway. Throttles wide open at the same time and we were airborne tucked in alongside each other just like the good old days. Now we were in our element – low level over the Baltic heading north. The biggest danger now was our own flak, and especially the anti-aircraft defences toted by our warships lying off the coast. An intermediate stop was planned in Aalborg, Denmark before undertaking the long flight over the Skagerrak. The Ju 188 was very pleasant to fly. Much easier on the rudder and the aircraft responded quickly to my inputs on the stick. I could sense the much higher speed – this was turning into a joy ride - I waggled my wings at Essig in happiness. He waggled his back in reply...”

Above image surfaced on Ebay earlier this year and aroused a certain amount of interest for the KG 30 badge and the possibility that this was Kommodore KG 200 Baumbach's personal aircraft. Baumbach left KG 30 in December 1942 for a staff position and the Ju 188 E did not enter service in any numbers until mid-1943.

This from Del Davis on this aircraft ; " I am not sure that KG 30 was ever equipped with the Ju-188. Like you I have never seen a Baumbach aircraft where the codes are visible. I think it more likely that he flew this aircraft while with KG 200 in 1944 so the code is more likely A3+-- or or A3+AA..While few if any KG 200 aircraft carried unit emblems this may have been a personal aircraft with his former unit insignia for his use while on the staff or as Komodore of KG 200. As to the code it could just as easily have still been the Stammkennzeichen. Unless some source comes forward with either a photo or a logbook we may never know.."

Ju 188 E-1 codes of KG 200 as reported by Ed North.
260186 (no code given) destroyed 01.03.45 (Ketley "KG 200")
260232 A3+LD surrendered Mulhldorf-Metthenhaim 08.05.1945
260381 (no codes given) 35% in belly landing 23.01.45 (Luftwaffe losses)
260399 A3+LD I/KG 200 missing (100%) unk location (Erfurt-Echterdingen) 02.02.1945 (Luftwaffe losses)
250522* (no codes given) 25% no location given 14.02.45 (Luftwaffe losses)
(*probably typo for 260522)
260542 A3+QD shot down near Diest, Belgium 23.01.1945 (Ketley "KG 200" )
260543 (no code given) strafed Alten-Grabow 01.03.1945 (Ketley "KG 200" )
Further codes for Ju 188s (likely all A-2/D-2s Jumo 213 engines) are A3+RD, A3+OD, A3+TD, A3+BD.

Captured Junkers Ju 188 (Etienne du Plessis photostream on flickr)