Herman Graf III./JG 52 Friedrich

Currently on sale on Ebay here

http://www.ebay.de/sch/05wiking/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

30 year old Frog Heinkel He 219

Difficult to believe that this is a 30-year old build of the Frog Heinkel He 219! Posted by 'yankymodeler' on britmodeller.com

Eric F. aka Yankymodeler writes ;

" ...This He219 is a bit of a mutt, combining the airframe of the Frog kit and the landing gear, radiators, exhaust and propellers of the Revell, a stretch-formed canopy was used over a basic cockpit. About the only thing of note is my first attempt at what I would consider a complex paint scheme, and the markings (except for the "G9) are painted with home made stencils. Paints used where enamels from the Pactra and Testors line, mixed via the TLAR method and shot through my dad's Paasche H airbrush. A custom display base and a snazzy Dymo label completed the project! "

Freeman field air show footage September 1945

A selection of still images from a superb video compilation of two films shot during the September 1945 airshow at Freeman Field. The aircraft seen both in the air and on the ground are nothing short of spectacular. Many of the remaining captured aircraft have yet to arrive. The original Freeman Army Airfield Museum video has been posted on Facebook here

The footage opens with a sequence of the Junkers Ju 290 landing and taxiing in. The story of this machine's transfer to the US and subsequent 'display' career is covered on this blog at the following link

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-celebrated-junkers-ju-290-alles.html

Film footage of a captured enemy aircraft display held in Moscow is posted on this blog at the following link

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/05/wartime-colour-film-of-catured-german.html

Torpedo bombers of KG 26, JU 88s of KG 77 and Stab./JG 53

More excellent shots offered on Ebay from my good friend Michael Meyer. Michael's ebay.de sales can be found here

First up is this nice clear shot of a Me 109 E belonging to the Geschwaderstab JG 53 seen in the autumn of 1940 on the Channel coast. The pilots with brief bios are identified as follows from the left; Lt. Ernst Klager - around 22 Luftsiege, taken captive on 3 July 1942, Oblt. Kurt Brändle - RK on 1.7.1942, EL on 27.8.1842, total victory tally 180 Luftsiege, KIA on 3.11.1943 after downing two P-47s west of Amsterdam, body later recovered from the sea,  Kommandeur of II./JG 53 Hptm. Horst Bretnütz, RK on 22.10.1940 with a total of 37 Luftsiege, KIA on 22.6.1941 over Jubarkas/Lithuania, Hptm. Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, RK + EL, 162 victories, and lastly Lt. Erich Schmidt, RK on 23.7.1941 for a total of 47 victories, missing since 31.8.1941 after a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire in the vicinity of Dubno.

A selection of nice Ju 88 images from I./KG 77. Note the white winter finish applied even to the prop blades in the lower picture

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 Kühn is seen saluting the departing aircraft.

II.(Sturm)/JG 4 on the Eastern Front, February 1945, Fw 190 Defence of the Reich

Above;  'Yellow 8' of 7.(Sturm)/ JG 4 assigned to Hans Gerd Neuhaus being replenished with fuel and munitions at Neuhausen during February 1945. Note the black-white-black Reichsvertidigung fuselage bands and the snow on the ground..

By late January 1945, when the Soviets reached the Oder just sixty miles from Berlin, the Sturmgruppen suddenly had more pressing concerns than shooting down USAF bombers.  ALL three Gruppen of Fw 190 bomber destroyers were deployed to the Eastern Front in short order, where their heavily armed and armoured Fw 190 A-8/R8s were committed on hazardous low-level strafing and bombing attacks on Soviet troops as the latter prepared their all-out assault on the Reichshauptstadt.

During early February 1945 the 48 pilots and 38 aircraft of II.(Sturm)/JG 4 were located at Neuhausen in der Lausitz under Major Gerhard Schroeder flying operations in defence of Cottbus and the surrounding area. The results of operations flown from this field during the first week of February were mixed to say the least. While the Fw 190s ventral racks now toted 250 kg bombs and their 20mm and 30mm cannon could inflict heavy losses on soft-skinned vehicles, horse-drawn columns and even tanks, it was often difficult to pick out valid targets on roads clogged with refugees fleeing westwards ahead of the Soviet advance. Soviet columns also quickly adopted the practise of using refugee Treks as human shields. Facilities for the Sturmgruppe at Neuhausen were rudimentary and the runway track was pitted and rutted and covered in puddles which grew ever-larger in the melting snow, resulting in a number of accidents.

During the week or so that the Sturmgruppe was based there, a constant round of  ground-attack sorties was flown for which its pilots had received little or no training. From the cockpits of their Fw 190s the pilots could see Russian columns that stretched away to the horizon, their progress marked by columns of smoke. There was little evidence of German troops on the ground- just devastation, " as though the entire Steppe was unfurling over Germany.." Ogfr. Adolf Held of 6. (Sturm)./ JG 4 wrote in his diary;

" ..our runway track is little more than a lake which has already resulted in seven landing accidents over the last few days and further takeoffs have been prohibited. As the Soviets are now no more than kilometres away we have been given instruction on how to handle Panzerfaust bazooka rocket launchers.."

The picture above is taken from the album of Hans Gerd Neuhaus, formerly a nightfighter pilot who joined JG 4 during late 1944. The images from Neuhaus' album were published over three issues of the German magazine 'Flugzeug Classic' during 2010 and the image here is reproduced with the kind permission of FLUGZEUG CLASSIC editor Markus Wunderlich. Back issues and a chance to view an on-line sample of the current issue are available at the link.

STOP PRESS -  images taken down since originally posted they have subsequently been secured for Volume II of the JG 4 history currently at the printers !

Arado Ar 96 gunnery training variant

While it often mounted a cowl MG 17 firing through the prop, the famed Luftwaffe Arado Ar 96 trainer typically had no provision for a rear gunner or a lateral or rearward firing MG. However at least three prototypes, the V7, V8 and V9 featured a rear cockpit and canopy modified for gunnery training. Here is a rare view of the Arado Ar 96 V8 D-IXWP (WNr. 2074) with its cut away rear gunner's compartment. Below is the V9 WNr. 2075. It is believed that these variants were built for export and that the V9 may have gone to Bulgaria although its ultimate fate is unknown. (via Michel Ledet and Avions magazine)

more on Gefr. Walter Wagner's "white 11" 5. (Sturm)/ JG 4 Bodenplatte victim - PHOTO EDIT 28 OCTOBER 2011

Lovely model build by 'Brad' on britmodeller of the DML kit (ex-Trimaster). Brad writes " the cowling fought me hard and I couldn't live with the incorrect stance of the landing gear so I cut the retraction struts and added about 1mm of plastic to get the right angle on the main gear. The prop was scavenged from a Tamiya 190A-3 as the prop fitted when repaired was a metal one. Decals came from a variety of sources (now also featured on the new Karaya 'Captured Butcher Birds' decal sheet) and gunze gloss red was used.."

Wagner forced landed this aircraft on 1.1.45 close to St. Trond (home to the 404th FG) during the Bodenplatte raids when Allied airfields across Western Europe were hit in the Luftwaffe's so-called grosser Schlag (big blow). Wagner's Focke Wulf 190 A8-R2 was recovered and repaired to running condition.

The 404th's CO Colonel Leo Moon wrote re this machine;

" the aircraft was painted red by a crew who had overheard me saying that I had always wanted to own a red airplane ..the OO*L code was placed on it because we had created an 'imaginary' fourth Squadron in the Group, and as in the 508th, we used the first initial of the pilot's name as the last of the three code letters. Since I agreed that we should try and get the 190 into flying condition everyone considered it my aircraft and added the 'L' accordingly..when it was ready I taxied it at all speeds up to near takeoff speed but we had no clearance to fly it from the Anti-Aircraft. After taxiing in I found the tires soaked in hydraulic fluid and they were so deteriorated I felt that they were unsafe..we spent considerable time looking for new tires without success. Then we had to move on and left the Fw 190 at St. Trond. I regret that I wasn't able to get that 190 in the air - I had even learnt the 'offs' and 'ons' of the switch labels in German but I don't feel too bad about not flying it. I did get to fly the Bearcat which I believe was more or less a copy of the 190 -although no-one ever admits it..."
 

Click on the images to expand. Note the yellow fan and prop tips and the red gear legs. The Sturm armour plate on the cockpit sides had been removed for the mission has had the upper cowl MGs.

Below; a rare view of the machine prior to the application of the OO-L codes

and some nice stills from rare film footage of the 404th inspecting Wagner's "white 11" elsewhere on this blog;
http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2009/10/walter-wagners-white-11-iisturmjg4.html