Captured Butcherbirds - Fw 190 F-8 "JFE " May 1945 - edited January 2017

Fw 190 F-8, WNr. unknown, captured by the British according to 'Captured Butcherbirds' on a Deutsche Lufthansa assembly line at Travemuende and test-flown during May 1945. It was eventually marked 'JFE', the initials of the CO of 127 Wing, Wing Commander J.F. Edwards

..and received recently from Dave Fleming;

"I don't think that is JFE, as in addition to a few differences in markings etc, those pics originate in an album from a South African pilot attached to 3 SAAF.."

A stunning album and thanks for the corection Dave!

http://saafww2photographs.yolasite.com/cecil-golding-1.php

Messerschmitt M.35 - German pre-war aerobatic champions

 An interesting photo series depicting a decorated pilot in and around a BFW M.35, more usually known as the Messerschmitt M 35, a twin-seat radial-engined sports and touring aircraft of the early 1930s. The M.35 is particularly interesting as the last of a line designed by Willy Messerschmitt. It was an aircraft that led directly to the Bf 108 Taifun.

BFW had declared bankruptcy during June 1931 following a second crash of its M.20 'airliner' in April 1931. The previous October an M.20 had crashed in Dresden on a flight to Vienna with the result that an order of ten of these aircraft from DLH under Erhard Milch was cancelled. Messerschmitt resurrected his old company Messerschmitt Flugzeugbau GmbH (Ltd) to continue his design work.

Over the period 1927-33 Messerschmitt designed a series of six sports aircraft, the single seat M.17 and M.19, and the two-seat M.23, M.27 M.31 and finally the M.35.With the exception of the M.23, none sold in large numbers. They were all single-engine low-wing cantilever monoplanes with open cockpits and fixed undercarriage. The M.35 kept the extended fuselage of the M.27 and combined it with an undercarriage of single leg, spatted form. 

 

Two different engines were used. The M35a had a 112 kW (150 hp), seven-cylinder radial Siemens Sh 14a and the M.35b a 100 kW (135 hp) four-cylinder inline inverted air cooled Argus As 8b. The former was the shorter and faster of the two. The aircraft first flew in 1933. The aircraft was first shown to the public and potential buyers at the 1934 Aerosalon in Geneva. In that year, Rudolph Hess won the Zugspitz trophy in an M.35. Assuming that the pilot in the flight suit in these pictures is not Hess, is it perhaps Will Stor who won the German Aerobatic Championship in an M.35 in 1934-35. In 1935 the women's prize was taken by Vera von Bissing in a similar machine.

Despite these successes and strong performances at other venues in the late 1930s, only 15 M.35s were built, 13 registered in Germany, one in Spain and reputedly one in Romania. 

 

Bv 222 V-4 X4+DH Tobruk/Tripoli resupply flights September 1942

source; expired Ebay auctions. Some of these images now in my own collection.

Bv 222 V-4 X4+DH somewhere in the Med, possibly off Tobruk - note the HD 151 gun turret above the cockpit and the Viking ship badge of the LTS (See) 222 below the cockpit. Between September and October 1942 X4+DH made some 25 landings off Tobruk flying from southern Italy -regular pilot during this period was Oblt Walter Blume a former DLH Flugkapitän with some 53 crossings of the Atlantic in his logbook. During October 1942 X4+DH flew back to Travemünde for maintenance and overhaul just prior to the British El Alamein offensive. On 24 November 1942 Bv 222 V-6 X4+FH was shot down by Beaufighters north of the island of Linosa while on 10 December a Kette of three Bv 222's including the V-4 X4+DH en route to Tripoli from Pantelleria was also set upon by Beaufighters of 227 Sqn who sent the V-8 X4+HH into the sea in flames with the loss of all nine crew. Pilot Blume who survived this encounter wrote a report two days later that was very critical of the enormous seaplanes's defensive capabilities; " the B-stand has not the slightest value when attacked from the rear since, as was the case two days ago, attacking aircraft are able to fly some two metres lower than the Bv 222.."

Fieseler Fi 103 R-4 Reichenberg piloted V-1 flying bomb - photo call at the Lashenden Air Warfare museum, Headcorn, Kent

It has been an exciting few days for Luftwaffe enthusiasts based in Kent, England. The Dornier Do 17 Z salvage and arrival onshore in Ramsgate harbour has of course received enormous media coverage. Perhaps just as exciting and unfortunately less well publicised was a rare photo call for the Lashenden Air Warfare Museum's superb Fieseler Fi 103 R-4 Reichenberg based at Headcorn, north of Ashford.. 

You may be aware that this unique aircraft was restored by the Auktionshaus für historische Technikon in Germany  and came back to the UK earlier this year. It is not actually due to go on display until a new display hall is built and as such is still in storage. Subject to planning permission and a good summer, it was hoped to have the extension built by August 2013 but the museum still needs to raise £40,000 to complete the hall. The project suffered a setback a while ago with the theft of the steel uprights that were to be used in the construction of the building. However, the aircraft will make an appearance at the Combined Ops Weekend at Headcorn Aerodrome on 17/18 August if the building is not ready by then.According to curator Trevor Matthews this will be the first opportunity to view the restored cockpit, which is more or less complete save for the harness..

In the meantime donations are of course welcomed. You can donate online at the museum's website www.lashendenairwarfaremuseum.co.uk or by sending a cheque to Lashenden Air Warfare Museum, Headcorn Aerodrome, Shenley Road, Headcorn, Kent TN27 9HX made payable to LAWM. All donations will be acknowledged on a sponsor's wall within the new building. Pictures reproduced here with the kind permission of LAWM curator Trevor Matthews, seen below in the high-viz jacket doing some of the donkey work. 

" .. the Fi 103 R was a piloted FZG -76 V 1 flying bomb test flown by Hanna Reitsch. Modifications include the addition of a four foot (1.2m) belly skid and basic eight-instrument cockpit containing a backless wooden seat and crude headrest. A stick controls the elevators and ailerons, the throttle was made of wood and a button controlled fuel flow. Frightening to fly, surely...."

Michael Bowyer on the RAE German aircraft and Equipment Exhibition, Farnborough, England October 1945

The 'Reichenberg/Leonidas' Staffel was a planned suicide unit set up under the auspices of Otto Skorzeny and attached to KG 200. The Me 328 was initially selected as the aircraft to equip this Staffel but when these aircraft could not be delivered work started on producing a piloted version of the FZG 76/V-1. The conversion work was undertaken by the DFS at Ainring and entailed the provision of a cockpit with instruments and conventional controls. Testing soon showed that the aircraft had to be released from a carrier Heinkel He 111 rather than from the V 1 steam catapult - KG 53 had been air-launching unmanned V-1s against the UK from over the North Sea in similar fashion. In total Fieseler converted some 175 Reichenberg Fi 103s although it would appear that none were used operationally..

Note;  sadly Trevor passed away during the Covid pandemic. On a recent visit his widow was manning the museum. I would imagine the project to build a exhibition hall for the Reichenberg is probably stalled.

Arsenal VG 33

Interesting French fighter type that has featured on the Luftwaffe blog before, including rare views of the machine being tested at Rechlin courtesy of Jean-Yves Lorant.

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/arsenal-vg-33-tested-by-luftwaffe-at.html


The Arsenal VG 33 was the most visible model of a ‘family’ of light, fast and manoeuvrable French fighter types being developed during 1939 - 1940 to replace the Ms 406. In fact many sources quote the VG 33 – of which only a handful of examples approached service due to production difficulties – as being somewhat superior to the Dewoitine D.520 although this judgement is dubious...read more here

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/arsenal-vg-33.html


Two views -new to me- of an Arsenal VG 33 still under French ownership (judging by the beret-wearing figure in the lower image) courtesy of Kurmark Antik and shown here courtesy of the seller Oliver Rogge - click on the images for a full screen view..

Note the alternative ventral radiator configuration in the lower image - this prominent feature may have made operations from grass strips somewhat problematical

Kurmark Antik's current Ebay sales listings can be viewed here

http://www.ebay.de/sch/kurmark-antik/m.html?item=390605754676&pt=Militaria&autorefresh=true&hash=item5af1ead134&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Battle of Britain KG 3 Dornier Do 17 Z arrives in Ramsgate harbour

Thought to be a machine of KG 3, the wreck of a Battle of Britain Dornier Do 17 Z - brought to the surface yesterday off the Goodwin Sands in the English Channel - has now arrived in Ramsgate harbour (Kent,  England). The Dornier Do 17 Z was the most elegant looking of the Luftwaffe's three Battle of Britain twin-engine medium bombers and the only one powered by air-cooled radial engines. An account of the salvage operation appears elsewhere on this blog

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/dornier-do-17-wreck-recovery.html

While access to the quayside was impossible, one of the best vantage points was on West Cliff Promenade over looking the harbour- in the first picture above a tug is seen easing the GPS Marine barge into the quayside. One of the team's first tasks was to direct jets of water at the wreckage, prior to the wreck being dismantled and the parts hoisted onto trucks for the journey to Cosford. I ran into the Getty Images photographer Peter Macdiarmid processing his shots outside the old Trans Europa Ferries building - check out these links

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/sea-water-damaged-engine-part-of-a-world-war-ii-dornier-17-news-photo/170332610

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/the-wreck-of-the-german-world-war-ii-dornier-do-17-plane-is-news-photo/170332779

This was the biggest salvage operation of a WW II aircraft to take place in British waters. It was fascinating to see the still-inflated tyres - after nearly 73 years under water. Elsewhere Alex Medhurst, General Manager of the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford laid a wreath at the grave of Heinz Huhn, one of the two KG 3 crew members known to have perished from Willi Essmert's KG 3 crew in the original crash landing of the Dornier. Huhn is buried in Cannock Chase cemetery. 

Meanwhile Andy Saunders appeared on the BBC's regional news programmes to state that he was doubtful that this machine was indeed Essmert's KG 3 machine - indeed the identity of this aircraft remains to be confirmed.....

One of the best places to see images of the wreck is on the RAF museum's Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/rafmuseumcosford

Below; currently on offer via Kurmark-Antik on ebay.de and shown here courtesy of seller Oliver Rogge - Dornier Do 17 Z at Villcoublay, France, a similar aircraft to the one brought ashore on 11 June 2013 at Ramsgate, Kent, England

http://www.ebay.de/itm/D573-Frankreich-Flugplatz-Paris-Villacoublay-Flugzeug-DO17-super-Technik-Fotos-/390609200721?pt=Militaria&hash=item5af21f6651

More on the Do 17 Z sub-type on this blog
http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/dornier-do-17-z-5-of-1kgr-606-over.html

Dornier Do 17 Z of KG 2 (Geschwaderkennung U5)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380656903458&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123&autorefresh=true

Focke-Wulf Condor D-AETA Westfalen

 Images from Focke Wulf Bremen currently on offer from Ebay.de seller pateschke, including a rare view of the factory Fw 190 Werkstaffel for aerial defence of the plant. View his current listing here 

Focke-Wulf Condor D-AETA Westfalen

Above; Focke Wulf Fw 200, Führermaschine , Wintertarnlackierung, Kennung KE+IX