Hans-Martin Markhoff JG 52, JG 4

 

Fw 190 A seen in early 1945 in Welzow. Attributed by Peter Petrick to Oblt. Hans-Martin Markhoff, Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 4. Previously published by Peter Rodeike in 'Jagdflugzeug 190' ...note in the lower image the new (and short-lived) 'rigid' steel drop tank and mount installation developed for 'rough field' operations. See Rodeike p300.

Hans- Martin Markhoff  had flown more than 100 sorties on the Russian Front as wingman to one of JG 52's greatest aces, Günther Rall, prior to volunteering for home defence duties in early 1944. Charged with screening the Kommandeur of III./JG 52, his chances of achieving victories in aerial combat were few and having witnessed a bombardment of Berlin while on leave in late 1943 he decided that his duty lay in defending his fellow citizens back home in Germany. He volunteered to be a Sturm (assault) pilot flying in the 'defence of the Reich'. As an experienced fighter pilot, Oblt Hans-Martin Markhoff was appointed Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 4 in September 1944 and participated in the attack on B-24s of the 445th BG over Kassel on September 27, 1944 – one of the most serious reverses suffered by the US 8th AF during their bombing campaign of Germany. Post-war he trained as an architect.

 Extract from a 12-page letter written in 1979 - Markhoff describes the 'endless waiting around' for the first combat mission of his new 8.Staffel in II.(Sturm)/JG 4. Depending on the weather the fighter pilots existence revolved around different stages of 'readiness' - 'I no longer recall how often we got airborne and failed to make contact with the enemy, usually because they had already turned for home..' Markhoff's Staffel underwent their 'Feuertaufe' or 'baptism of fire' on 11 September 1944 - '..with good direction from the ground we were guided in behind a formation of B-17s over Chemnitz at around 12:10...'

 

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....

Oblt. Werner Schroer Bf 109 G-2 - more ebay senselessness #378

 

So Oliver has gone on holiday and the Petrick archive sale is paused. Time for one particular buyer (no, not me!) to reflect perhaps..The image below apparently sold for well over 200 euros.  Published more than once, a Rotte of 8./JG 27 including Werner Schroer's G-2 trop 'Red 1' . See for example, pages 217-220 of Jochen Prien's  III & IV./JG 27. This image and the series taken on the same occasion are of course available at the Bundesarchiv; in other words the 'lucky' buyer could quite easily have purchased the whole series for a handful of euros. Not 238 !!

Me 163 BV45 'PK+QP'

 

One reason for re-posting some of the better images from Peter Petrick's archive is that they can be displayed at a much larger size than they were ever published  - and usually without the 'moire' pattern too. Presumably one reason why they are also selling for large amounts. 

The following photo of the Me 163 B V45 'PK+QP' just sold for 80 euros. Here it is having its C-Stoff tank filled. Franks states that this was the first pre-production Me 163 airframe known to have been fitted with the MK 108 cannon. Note the retractable tailwheel fairing. According to Ransom it was re-painted in August 1944 as C1+05 and later went to Brandis for armament trials.

Bf 109 Gustav WNr. 20790 in Wunstorf - not a 'one-off'

Captured G-6s in unusual camo finish - possibly late-war 'greens' with an RLM 02 mottle. Below; WNr. 20790 visible on the tail fin of the machine closest to the camera with a second similarly camouflaged machine behind. These are 'rebuilds' of older airframes.

See pages 84-85 of 'Bf 109 - the latter years' (Goss) for more pictures of these machines. Seen at Fassberg according to the book caption, although A.I.2(g)/131 via Michael Balss states Wunstorf.

Anders Hjortsberg profile and camouflage comments here

Me 110 G heavy weapons - ebay photo find #377

Me 110 G of ZG 1 Bad Lippspringe, early 1944. Caption reads, (I think..), 'upper nose cannon have been removed and openings faired over to enable installation of GM-1 ..' Note the folding upper section of the canopy serving as a makeshift deckchair..

Bottom;  ZG 1 Bf 110 with Flak 18 3,7 cm cannon installation.

Dora-9 im Einsatz - Fw 190 D-9 in service with III./JG 54 -ebay photo find #375

 

The dispersal of the Peter Petrick archive continues apace via Oliver Rogge's ebay auction pages (Kurmark Antik). While published in many books that feature the D-9 (since Lorant's 'Focke Wulf Fw 190' first appeared in the early 1980s) this selection features one or two 'new' images. Two of my purchases from Oliver's offers have just arrived and they are pretty decent quality - in fact I'm told they are prints from Ungar's original negatives.

The Fw 190 D-9 entered service with III. Gruppe of JG 54 'Grünherz' during October 1944 at Achmer (12. Staffel) and Hesepe (9. Staffel), where they were deployed to cover Me 262 Kommando Nowotny 'Turbos'. While the first Doras in service undoubtedly piqued the interest of their pilots, according to Fw. Fritz Ungar of 9./ JG 54,  the sole reason for this picture series was to record the Staffel fox terrier mascot 'Struppi' for posterity. There is unfortunately no complete view of either "White 2" or "White 3". "White 2" was WNr. 210015 which was lost over Hesepe on 15 October 1944 after being shot down by 83FS T'bolts. Lt. Fritz Bartak  was wounded but managed to bail out.

Below; another view of 'Struppi', this time in the cockpit of  9./JG 54's 'white 3' with Fritz Ungar. "White 3" was the eighth series production machine (Wnr. 210008). Note the reinforcing strip required by the installation of the Jumo 213 to the 190 fuselage.

'Struppi'  enjoying the attention of the mechanics of 9./JG 54 perched on the horizontal stabiliser of  "White 3". Note the jack/support under the rear fuselage keeping the tail wheel just off the ground.  The aircraft finish again appears highly polished. Note that 'white 2' and 'white 3' have different style fuselage Balkenkreuze..

special weapons for the Fw 190 (1) - ebay photo find # 375

 

The General der Jagdflieger looks on dubiously as he is shown the SG 'Harfe' - unguided 20 mm missile launchers mounted in the rear fuselage on both sides of a Fw 190 - during a visit to Jagdgruppe 10 in Parchim during November 1944. At least one prototype machine had such armament as here presented to Galland.

wilde Sau Gustav - ebay photo find # 374

 

Possibly one of the most interesting schemes to have been seen on a III./ JG 300 wilde Sau nightfighter. This III./ JG 11 Gustav 'white 1' flown by the StaKa of 7. Staffel - with its black/white undersurfaces and white tail - was one of those loaned by III./ JG 11 to the new III./JG 300 at Oldenburg during late 1943 for wilde Sau sorties. The Staffelkapitän 7./ JG 11 was Hugo Frey - there were 18 Abschussbalken on its white empennage at the time of the image. Not 'new' by any means - similar images were also published of course in the Prien/Rodeike history of JG 1/JG 11 and came from the personal album of 7./JG 11 pilot Zick. Last seen on ebay in 2016 and sold then for hundreds of euros! oh dear...

Peter Petrick repro archive sale - Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen, JG 300 - ebay photo find #373

 

many of the repros in the on-going Peter Petrick archive sale are  previously published. Here's a few recent examples of PP auction repros that have been seen before. 

From 'Jet & Prop' issue 4/99, a nice Ju 88 G-1 with the Verbandskennung 'B4+DA' flown by an Ofw. Keilig from the Nachtjagdstaffel Finnland/Norwegen in a feature by Petrick on this unit. This small 'independent' Staffel was assigned to Luftflotte 5 before becoming 4./NJG 3 in 1945. Here the crew are carrying out a pre-flight inspection before a flight to Norway on 7 October 1944. Incorrectly labeled as a 'G-6' on p66 of the 'Jet & Prop' article. Note BMW engines, no Bola and vertical antenna aerials. Not published in the recent 'Axis Wings' feature by Carlsen reprising the 'history' of this same unit. 

 Also published by Peter Petrick in a 'reader's letter' in Jet & Prop 4/99 were these images taken by US personnel at Ainring. I've seen a number of comments online from guys not familiar with these. They show examples of 'Personenabwurfbehälter' (lit, 'people dropping containers ') produced for agent drops by KG 200 as featured in Peter Stahl's 'Geheimgeschwader 200' 

Peter Petrick photo previously published depicting a Bf 109 G-14/AS of the 'Kometen' Staffel - 10. (N)./JG 300.

A paragraph from a piece I compiled for the Eduard Saudämmerung boxing of their wilde Sau late Bf 109 kits;

 " By the late summer of 1944 'wilde Sau' operations were a distant memory for the majority of pilots in JG 300. All night-fighter actvities in the Geschwader had been concentrated in a ‘specialised’ Moskito-hunting Staffel designated 10. (N)/ JG 300. This was the so-called ‘Kometen’ or Comet Staffel, established to combat the almost nightly incursions over Berlin by DH Mosquito bombers of the RAF's LNSF (Light Night Striking Force.). Operating out of Jüterbog, south of Berlin, under Staffelkapitän Hptm. Boettcher, 10. Staffel flew a 'modified' wilde Sau system— guided by two vertical searchlight beams and a ground controller, the unit’s high performance G-14/AS fighters loitered at high altitude (10,000 meters) above the 'corridors' used by the Mosquitoes flying into Berlin.."

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

E Stelle Rechlin exhibition September 1943 - Hs 129 BK cannon -ebay photo find #372

 

Hs 129 with BK 75 cannon seen at the September 3, 1943 Rechlin test centre exhibition (Leistungsschau). Note He 219 visible in the background. (along with B-17 and B-24 tail fins..)

More on the September 1943 Rechlin exhibition on this blog here

more from the Petrick archive sale - Hs 123 - ebay photo find #371

 

according to the original owner's caption the Henschel Hs-123 A-1 (nearest camera) was flown by the StaKa of 3./Fliegergruppe 50 (1938)

More Hs 123 from the Petrick archive..

 

Erich Hondt JG 11 - ebay photo find #370

..this 'repro' photo close-up of Erich Hondt's Fw 190 JG 11 scoreboard just sold for 106 euros. Had the buyer emailed me directly I'd have happily sold him a similar 'repro' for half that amount! While I imagine Oliver Rogge is very pleased, some people surely have more money than sense! 

Erich Hondt’s A-5/U12 was WNr 410 266 ‘schwarze 13'

Me 163 BV 21 VA+SS - ebay photo find #369

Peenemünde-West, June 1943. Me 163 B V21 'VA+SS' with test pilot Heinrich Dittmar posing with the aircraft prior to its first 'hot' flight on June 24, 1943 with Lt. Opitz at the controls. Repros currently on offer from Oliver Rogge.

Also on this blog; 

Dittmar and the Me 163 B V18 - world speed record, July 1944