Focke Achgelis Fa-330 Bachstelze autogyro

The Focke Achgelis Fa-330 Bachstelze (Wagtail) specially developed for use aboard U-boats - in effect replacing the mast as an observation post - was a simple autogyro weighing little more than 75 kg. The 'pilot' or 'observer' sat under a free-turning three-blade rotor mounted on a vertical pylon attached to a simple framework and controlled a rudder and horizontal stabiliser mounted on a tubular boom structure. Connected to the U-boat by cable and winch the 'rotor kite' was designed to be towed behind a surfaced U-boat, the observer communicating by telephone. A German Air Ministry conference report referred to the engine-less contraption as a "witch's broom"..
About 200 Bachstelze were built although only a handful were used operationally and then only in the Southern Atlantic and the Indian Ocean where aircraft patrols were infrequent. In an emergency the pilot could jettison the rotor and deploy his parachute although at least one successful pilot recovery was recorded following autorotation after a towing cable snapped. According to Coates in "Helicopters of the Third Reich" there was only one recorded sinking by a U-boat following a sighting from a Bachstelze when U-177 sank a Greek coal freighter south of Madagascar in July 1943.

Captured Luftwaffe Fw 190 - 1426 flight in colour

Screen grabs from private footage - enemy types seen touring USAAF fighter bases during the spring of 1944. Ex-SKG10 machine FW 190 A-5 PN 999 (W.Nr 2596) seen in Dark Earth and Dark Green scheme - flyable enemy aircraft were repainted in these uppersurface colours even after the RAF had switched to grey and green for temperate fighter camouflage. Note that Kecav in "Captured Butcher Birds" indicated that the colour scheme was green and grey as seen here on the Bf 109 VX101.

The Ju 88 is either A-5 EE205 or HM509 probably HM509, ex M2+MK. Both VX101 and HM509 were written off on 19th May 1944




British Fw 190s

PN999 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A-5/U8 - W.Nr.2596 - "White 6" of I./SKG10 - despatched to unknown destination July 1946

PM679 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A-4/U8 - W.Nr.5843 - "Red 9" of I./SKG10 - used for spares July 1944

MP499 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A-3 - W.Nr.313 - single chevron of III./JG2 - SoC September 1943

PE822 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A-4/U8 - W.Nr.7155 - H+ of II./SKG10 - crashed October 1944

NF754 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A - W.Nr.unknown - unknown unit - fate unknown

NF755 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A - W.Nr.unknown - unknown unit - fate unknown

AM 27 - Focke-Wulf Fw189A-3 - W.Nr.0173 - coded 3X+AA of unknown unit - scrapped 1947

AM 29 - Focke-Wulf Fw190F-8/U1 - w.Nr.584219 - "Black 38" of unknown unit - static display RAF Museum, Henson

AM 36 - Focke-Wulf Fw190F-8/U1 - W.Nr.580058 - coded "55" of unknown unit - not delivered to UK

AM 37 - Focke-Wulf Fw190S-1 - W.Nr.582044 - coded "54" of unknown unit - crashed November 1945

AM 111 - Focke-Wulf Fw190F-8/R15 - W.Nr.unknown - uncoded - scrapped 1948?

AM 230 - Focke-Wulf Fw190A-8D/NL - W.Nr.171747 - coded "13" on rudder on ferry flight to JG26 - fate not recorded

Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain - Classic Modelling Guide

New from Classic/Ian Allan (spelling guys !) is the first of what is promised to be a series of modelling guides. This 'visual reference' comprises 96 pages between A4 soft card covers and features a series of builds of some of the latest 'super' kits out there along with reference photos and profile artwork of the subjects. The authors involved (Green, Robertson, Haggo) are among some of the best known modellers out there and as if the kits themselves are not 'cutting edge' the 'after-market' and detail sets that they incorporate into their builds are probably the last word in detail, accuracy ...and expense! However if you've got most of these kits in the stash, as I have, you will no doubt find this book immensely useful.

Kits covered in build form are

Eduard’s 1/32nd Bf 109 E-4
Tamiya’s Bf 109 E in 1:48 scale
Eduard’s Bf 110 C in 1:48 scale
Dragon’s 1/32 scale Bf 110 C-7
Revell/Hasegawa 1:48 scale Junkers Ju 87 B-2 “Stuka”
Hasegawa 1:72 scale Heinkel He 111.
Revell 1:32 scale Junkers Ju 88 A-1.

unidentified Jagdflieger - B-17 shoot-down on 29 August 1944

The following photos from Czech enthusiast Roman Susil show a successful Luftwaffe Ofw. or Ofhr. pilot posing with the wreckage of a downed B-17 on 29 August 1944 (B-17G 42-32048) at the crash site in the vicinity of Krhov (Kreis Zlin). But who exactly was he ? The victory lists for the day on the German side which saw all four Gruppen of JG 300 in action comprised the following:

Fw. Karl Schauenberg, 4./JG300- HSS
Fw. Konrad Bauer, 5./JG300
Fw. Walter Vogel, 2./JG3- HSS
Uffz. Rudolf Hennersdorf, 1./JG300- HSS
Fw. Walter Loos, Stab/JG300
Uffz. Jürgen Wellhausen, 7./JG300
Uffz. Afred Büthe, 3./JG300
Fw. Willi Unger, 15./JG3, 2 Abschüsse
Uffz. Heinz-Julius Uchdorf, 16./JG3
Uffz. Klaus Neumann, 16./JG3
Oblt. Eberhard Schade, 6./JG27- HSS
Uffz. Hannes Schmitz, 1./JG300
Uffz. Paul Mang, 9./JG53
Uffz. Willi Reschke, 1./JG302- HSS
Uffz. Herman Heck, 9./JG53
Ofw. Adalbert Koch, 6./JG300
Ltn. Werner Hermann, 10./JG53
Uffz. Herman Pusch, 11./JG53
Oblt. Karl Ritter, 11./JG53
Ltn. Josef Törfer, 5./JG27
Ofw. Heinz Nevack, I./JG302, aber eher Ofw. Heinz Weuack, I./JG300
Ofhr. Gerhard Piel, 5./JG300- HSS
Uffz. Hansotto Nehls, 11./JG300- e.v.
Flg. Fritz Weinzierl, 11./JG53
Fw. Rudolf Zwesken, 6./JG300
Ltn. Lutz-Gottfried Hengst, 9./JG300
Ofhr. Otto Köhler, 9./JG300- HSS
Ofhr. Rolf Heidemann 9./JG 300

Luftwaffe Spitfires (1)

AZ-H was a Mk. 1 of 'A' Flight, Red Section 234 Squadron. On the evening of 15 August 1940 it was damaged in combat over the Channel and made a forced landing near Cherbourg, P/O R. Hardy being taken captive. From the following shots it appears that AZ-H landed wheels down. Some souces state that AZ-H was brought down by Oblt. Georg Claus of III./JG53. Note the damaged area behind the cockpit - this may have been the result of the Luftwaffe pilot's fire or was caused by the demolition charge activated to destroy the radio equipment. AZ-H was later transferred to Rechlin for testing and received the code 5+2.

Heinkel He 177 Greif - Heinkel's strategic bomber - Classic book review

I was half-expecting authors Creek and Smith to rehabilitate the He 177 in their Classic Publications tome devoted to the He 177 - according to the author of the Warpaint monograph the He 177 was 'designed with a touch of genius' and 'ruined' by political interference. Needless to say Smith & Creek have other ideas - the type actually is as bad as the mythology would have us believe. In fact they describe it at one point in their text as "completely useless " - so much for German aeronautical engineering prowess, especially when compared -as the authors do over the first twenty pages of their Classic Publications text - with concurrent heavy bomber developments in the US & UK. The prototype He 177 first flew in late 1939 (three of the first five machines crashing & burning) and the type wasn't cleared for operations until mid-1943. Less than a year later the He 177's operational career was effectively over; from page 39 the book is one long litany of failure. Engine fires, diving & stalling trials, the poorly designed & weak wing, all killed many skilled crews as the Luftwaffe struggled to bring the He 177 into service. Over one thousand were built; less than 200 flew combat sorties. As for political interference... Göring appears to be one of the saner, more rational voices in the whole sorry business, but rather like AH & the Me 262 the scientists and engineers weren't listening to him. The increasing frustration among the higher ranks of the Luftwaffe with the delays and failures soon led him to demand a conventional four-engine type to replace this "ramshackle old tin can". The various plans to replace the coupled engines with four single engines, and/or create a new aircraft based on it such as the He 277 or the high-altitude He 274 are also covered.

The brief late war service of the He 177 is of considerable interest, in particular the reminiscences from a KG 100 missile technician - operations with guided anti-ship weapons such as the Fritz-X and Hs 293 are described in some detail. While Ulf Balke is credited with some photos, some pilot accounts from his KG 100 book would have been useful here - his father flew the He 177 with KG 100. In the west the type flew sorties in the 'mini-Blitz' against London (Steinbock) and attacked shipping off the D-Day beaches, while on the Eastern Front some strategic bombing raids were flown along with suicidal low-level sorties against Soviet tank formations. By now the design had "matured" into the He 177A-5 sub-type, strengthened and re-engined, potentially a capable bomber if well trained crews and (importantly) maintenance support had been available. But they rarely were. The British and Americans each flew a captured He 177 at the end of the war and there is a chapter of pilot impressions (Capt. Eric Brown and Col. Harold E. Watson) - 'a real clunker of an airplane'. There is also a lengthy set of appendices & more importantly for the modellers a nice reproduction of the type handbook with lots of clear images.
To sum up, well produced, copiously illustrated and very readable. Comparisons with the Griehl book published by Airlife are probably inevitable... in some areas Griehl has more detail (French service) but Smith & Creek tell the story of the He 177 in a much clearer & a more 'entertaining' way. Unfortunately many of the photographs are the same in both books but reproduction is better in the Classic volume. The Classic colour artworks are an additional feature of course and are well done, but the book has to be turned up the other way to view them. I'd also liked to have seen more pics from those expensive French archives such as the one below which does not appear in the book - the He 177 saw most of its service in France - but then I guess you can't have everything.

He 177 A-5 probably of KG 100 (via Lorant)



He 177 A-1 VB+UN photographed on the compass swing platform at Rechlin during 1942 from an aircraft taxiing alongside



A selection of Bundesarchiv/Wiki Commons images that are free for re-use on the web

Junkers Ju388 in 1/48th scale

Excellent build of the Heritage Aviation Junkers Ju388 conversion set by Arnold Cremers who kindly sent through these pictures. The Ju388 was the last of the line and the apex of Junkers Ju 88 development. Developed primarily as a high- altitude heavy fighter to counter the Mosquito and the B-29, with bomber and reconaissance variants also planned, the Luftwaffe placed high hopes in the Ju388 and by the summer of 1944 it was one of the five main types cited in Delivery Plan 226 to fill all planned roles for the Luftwaffe during 1945. However aside from a pressurised cockpit and remotely controlled defensive armament the Ju388 offered no real adavantages over the later versions of the Ju88G series and fell victim to the hopeless economic and military situation in that latter months of the war and the prioritisation accorded the Ta 152 programme. That said at least 75 of the type were built but most were used only as test beds for the somewhat temperamental BMW 801 TJ powerplants.
Arnold's model was built using the Revell/Dragon Ju 88 C6 with the Heritage set.
Arnold reports that the resin parts of the Heritage Aviation set are very good, the only setback encountered was the vacu-formed cockpit canopy which proved to be too big for the resin front cockpit part. To solve this problem Arnold glued the canopy to the front with some wood glue and after a day to dry he put some 2 part epoxy glue around it to create a strong bond followed by some putty and sanding. Super work Arnold !








Ju388 L-1 WNr. 340 083 seen in September 1944 at Merseburg and coded RT+ KC. This was the first Ju388 to leave the factory equipped with ram air intakes. In the background is WNr. 340084. EADS photo from Christoph Vernaleken and Martin Handig's superb Schiffer Junkers Ju 388 history which reconstructs for the first time the complete story of the Ju388 and is highly recommended by this blog!