" die lange Ju 88 " - the Junkers Ju 88 H

First published in Jet & Prop 6/96 this image depicts a rare Ju 88 H-1 with extended rear fuselage. Conceived for long-range recce sorties, the H-1 - including this particular example DO+FS (?) WNr. 430931 - was deployed operationally with 3.(F)/123 during the first half of 1944 over the French Atlantic coast. Operating variants of the Ju 88 D, the Aufklaerungs (recce) unit flew typical Ferne sorties, roaming over the the ocean on convoy-hunting sorties in concert with Luftwaffe bombers and the U-Boote, additional fuel cells mounted in the rear fuselage providing extended endurance. WNr. 430931 was lost on 31 July 1944, shot down over the Atlantic by a Mosquito of 248 Squadron. 

Flugzeug magazine (issues 1 & 2/90) featured an article compiled by Oliver Thiele entitled 'Die lange Ju 88' - unfortunately I don't have access to it. Two more Werknummern 430841 and 430941 are H-1s positively identified according to this article. A 4th H-1 WNr. 430 898 was lost on 6 April 1944 on a test flight shot down by Typhoons over Rennes where 3.(F)/123 was based at that time (Thiele in Jet & Prop 6/97).

According to some estimates Aukl.(F)123 had five or six of the H-1 variants equipped with remote cameras. Defensive armament comprised a twin MG 81 Zwilling and/or two MG 131 13mm machine guns fitted in the upper rear canopy. As the profile below suggests a single forward firing MG was also carried. The lower gondola was absent.

Also operating under the umbrella of Aukl.(F)123 was the Luftwaffe's 'cloud-chasers' Wekusta 2, a Brittany-based weather & long-range recce unit established during 1940 on the He 111 and then the Ju 88 D-1 and D-5 up until early 1944 when the unit received sixteen He 177s. These heavy bombers were deployed during July 1944 following the Normandy landings in ground-attack sorties against Maquis camps in the Gers! (see Pierre Babin in 'Avions' magazine May/June 2008)
 

For Hitler and Kaiser - The memoirs of General der Flieger a.D. Alfred Mahncke

It goes without saying that this blog applauds each and every new publication conceived and published by Robert Forsyth. I am looking forward to reading this new work from Robert's latest imprint 'Tattered Flag' distributed by Casemate Publishing. Having already dipped in and out of the book for the purposes of this brief introduction I can report that Mahncke's memoir is a well-written, fresh and fascinating account from a Luftwaffe General of the pre-war rise of the Luftwaffe and the re-building of German air power under Nazi command in the first instance. From page 150 the book turns to Mahncke's involvement in the war against Russia with new insights into the Luftwaffe's defeat in the East and in Italy. His accounts of the chaos of the Stalingrad re-supply operation and the 'fighting' withdrawal through Sicily and Italy which Mahncke directly managed are particularly interesting. I think the book works less well when the author reports on events that he was not implicitly involved in. He also admits to having lost his diaries covering the period from November 1944, but this amounts to only some 30 pages at the end of the book and is pretty minor league criticism. Recommended !

The memoirs of General der Flieger a.D. Alfred Mahncke are the first from a former General of the German Luftwaffe to be published in the English language since those of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring in 1953. Since then, thousands of books have been written on every aspect of the Luftwaffe’s history, development, personalities, aircraft, campaigns, operations and ultimate defeat. But the historiography has lacked a fresh, detailed and personal insight into the leadership and command of the Luftwaffe from its earliest years through to the period of crisis which ensued after the tragedy of Stalingrad. Alfred Mahncke’s For Kaiser and Hitler rectifies this omission, providing those with an interest in the history of the German military machine with an absorbing, detailed, highly readable and evocative account of life within the Luftwaffe at senior command level. Yet Mahncke’s account is much more than that – for as he states, his is a story spanning ‘…the national autocracy of the Monarchy and the unsuccessful parliamentary democracy of the Weimar Republic, to the failed National Socialist dictatorship.’
It is also a chronicle of the very beginnings of military aviation. Mahncke was among the first German military aviators and flew with the Kaiser’s fledgling air unit in 1911, witnessing and experiencing the exhilaration – and dangers – of flying in some of the earliest military planes. He met the Kaiser, the German Crown Prince and various members of the Imperial royal family, as well as Hindenburg and many prominent German political and military figures. He flew in an early Zeppelin airship. By the outbreak of the First World War, Mahncke was an experienced pilot and he flew subsequently over the Western and Eastern Fronts, before assuming staff positions in France and Russia where he controlled tactical air operations. He went on a dive in a German U-boat in 1915 and later traveled to Palestine. He also suffered, and describes in highly graphic and emotional terms, the carnage and horror of the trench warfare on the Western Front in 1917.


In the ‘dark years’ of the interwar period following in the wake of the Versailles Treaty, Mahncke served in senior positions with the military police and his writing offers a valuable insight into life in the Weimar Republic and of the uncomfortable rise of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler – whom he first met in 1933 – from the viewpoint of the German conservative middle classes and the military. He met Charles Lindbergh and attended the controversial 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as well as the Nuremberg rallies where he shared a podium with the Führer.

In 1935, he joined the fledgling Luftwaffe, experiencing – from his position as overseer and champion of air sport in the Third Reich – at firsthand the politics, personalities and measures of stealth used to rebuild German air power under Nazi control. He witnessed, and describes vividly, the emergence of an awesome – but not flawless – new force in aviation and its eventual deployment in Hitler’s invasion of Russia in June 1941, culminating in the drive into the Caucasus and Crimea and the advance on the Volga. Mahncke was deeply involved in Luftwaffe operations at Stalingrad and later in the Kuban in 1943, before moving to Italy, where he coordinated the desperate German air defense of Sicily ahead of the slow, tenacious defense and ultimate retreat through the Italian mainland throughout 1943 and 1944.


Mahncke met and worked with Göring, Udet, Milch, Kesselring, Jeschonnek, von Richthofen and many other senior commanders of the Luftwaffe and German armed forces. He describes their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their vision – or lack of it.


For Kaiser and Hitler is unapologetic, honest, readable and engaging. It provides an intriguing insight for those with an interest in the air power and military history of the First World War and the Third Reich and forms an important resource for scholarship.


Translator Jochen O.E.O. (John) Mahncke was born in Königsberg, East Prussia in 1926. While attending high school in Berlin, he was conscripted as an anti-aircraft auxiliary in the Flak defense of Berlin from February 1943 to mid-1944. He joined the Wehrmacht as a Panzergrenadier in 1944 and was dispatched to Italy where he served as an NCO (Officer Cadet). He was taken Prisoner of War by American forces in May 1945 and handed over to the British later that year and was shipped to North Africa. He was held in various PoW camps at El Dabbah, near El Alamein, until 1947. In mid-1947 he was moved to Cairo and then to the Suez Canal Zone where he served in a guard unit intended to protect British troops in their camps. By the time he was repatriated to Germany at the end of 1948, he was working as an assistant paymaster for the British administration at Port Said/Port Fouad.

Luftwaffe modelling - Karaya decals Captured Butcherbirds (based on Kecay books)

I have just returned from the 65th Koksidje international airshow in Belgium with some new decal sheets from Karaya (Poland). These superb sheets, based on the Captured Butcherbirds books published by Kecay and reviewed elsewhere on this blog, cover some very colourful captured Fw 190s in 48th and 72nd scales with more sheets devoted to Soviet and Yugoslav (partisan) machines, including a very striking Focke Wulf Fw 190 F-8 of the Kommando Seydlitz with its "Freies Deutschland" titles across the lower wing surfaces as seen in Kurland, April 1945. Two rather more well-known aircraft are captured US machines- Col. Leo Moon's red Focke Wulf Fw 190A-8 W.Nr.681497  and Focke Wulf Fw 190F-8 W.Nr.583234, 511th Fighter Squadron / 404th Fighter Group USAAF, Kitzingen, May 1945.

Go here for much more on Leo Moon's red 00-L
http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-on-gefr-walter-wagners-white-11-5.html

Rather than list the entire contents of the sheets why not visit http://karaya.pl/ directly for more info and ordering details.

More aces of 5.Staffel JG 51

Two admittedly rather indifferent views of the Bf 109 F flown by 5./JG 51 Ritterkreuz holder Ofw Willi Wilhelm Mink during the summer of 1942 in Russia. Mink was awarded the RK on 19 March 1942 and was KIA on 12 March 1945 over Hadersleben. Mink achieved at least 64 Luftsiege

Above, seen with Mink on the left of the picture is Fw Hans-Hermann Frank, KIA on 31 July 1942 after a single victory, alongside him, Mink with RK obscured, and right of Mink, Ofw later Lt. Albert Walter, at least 37 victories, KIA on 13 July 1943.

Below; Me 109 F "red 6" of 5./JG 51 in Orel 1942

Above,  Me 109 Emil flown by Hermann Segatz seen about to climb down from the cockpit following a sortie. Seegatz returned around 40 Luftsiege and was KIA on 8 March 1944.

Below, Otto Tange seen in front of his Me 109 F "rote 3" in December 1941 in Brijansk/Russia. Otto Tange was awarded the RK on 19 March 1942 but was KIA with approximately 68 Luftsiege on 30 July 1943 when his Fw 190 took a direct hit from anti-aircraft fire south-west of Bolchow, the aircraft going down in flames on a Russian village.

A small selection of some of the very interesting images from Michael Meyer's current Ebay sales here.

Link to 5./JG 51 in the Battle of Britain

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/06/5-staffel-jg-51-battle-of-britian.html

Blohm and Voss Ha 139 catapult launch (Nordmeer, Nordwind, Schwabenland)

During the late thirties Lufthansa explored the feasibility of launching a regular transatlantic postal and passenger air service utilising the Ha 139 seaplane. The Ha 139 V-1 was the first Deutsche Lufthansa Zweischwimmerflugzeug -twin float aeroplane conceived for the transatlantic mail route. The Ha 139 V-1 was conceived by a Blohm and Voss subsidiary, the Hamburger Flugzeubau (HFB) under the design leadership of Dr. Richard Vogt. The frontal view below enables an appreciation of the aircraft's very distinctive profile with its parallel chord inverted gull wing.

 The Ha 139 V-1 , later to be coded D-AMIE and named Nordmeer, was photographed by Life magazine on the catapult of the Schwabenland during testing, probably in the port of Hamburg. The aircraft has yet to have its registration applied. Despite its large size this aircraft could carry 'only' 450 kg of postal freight.

Below; catapult launch taking place on the Schwabenland. This catapult-equipped vessel sailed with the Ha 139 Nordmeer seaplane into the North Atlantic before launching the aircraft for the last stages of the journey to New York. HFB test pilot Helmut Wasa Rodig recalled one such takeoff;

" 24 September 1937, time 06:10 GMT, the place Horta, the Azores - the Schwabenland is steaming full ahead, catapult into the wind. It is still dark, clouds are low and the seas heavy. Ha 139 Nordwind is on the catapult. The crew, Walter Diele from Lufthansa and myself as Kapitän and chief pilot at the controls, run over final checks with the radio operator and flight engineer. On the weakly uv-illuminated instrument panel a bright red light indicates that the catapult's compressed air cyclinder has reached full pressure. After a final check of the instruments and with engines running at full power, the "Klar" signal is given to the catapult operator. The red light goes out. With body and head braced into the seat and arms on the armrests, control column at neutral, we count down the three seconds , "21-22-23" before we feel the punch of the thrust, which, even though expected, still surprises. With a force of more than 4g we are launched into the darkness. As soon as the Nordwind is free of the catapult we lose height slightly, the crests of the waves momentarily visible in the light from the ship. Slowly, slowly the heavily laden Ha 139 climbs for altitude. Soon the first tufts of cloud stream past and over the navigation lights."

The second Ha 139, the V-2, was named Nordwind and carried the civil registration D-AJEY. The aircraft differed slightly from its predecessor, most notably in the area of the tail fin and rudder assembly which were wider and larger, a modification that was adopted after initial testing of the aircraft. The Nordwind made its first transatlantic crossing on 24 August 1937 and would prove relatively eventful as pilot Helmut Wasa Rodig recalled;

" Kapitän Diele and myself alternated an hour each at the controls and we had our hands full. Even at 500 metres altitude we were in the clouds on instruments, the automatic pilot disengaged because of the turbulence and strong squally gusts of wind. Flying over the weather was out of the question since our diesel engines did not perform well at altitude. Our radio link with the "Schwabenland" was excellent and plotting our position via their tramissions indicated our heading was correct. We estimated the winds at gale force eight which were impacting considerably on our ground speed, increasing our flying time and were another reason for maintaining as low an altitude as possible over the waves, taking advantage of whatever 'ground-effect' we could, helping to off-set the headwind. After six hours flying time our flight engineer reported falling oil pressure in engine 3 - here we were, north of the south American shipping routes and well south of the North Atlantic routes - in a completely dead sector- having to stop engine 3. Even the range of our radio equipement was limited here. For some three to four hours neither the "Schwabenland" off the Azores nor the "Friesenland" off Long Island would be in radio contact. Although they had been planned, rescue or weather ships were not yet at sea. We climbed slowly to 1,700 metres on three engines, a height at which we would have more time to take any necessary decisions or sight any ships. The rather tense mood on board finally lifted a little when the "Friesenland" responded to our radio calls. In discussion with them we decided to re-start engine 3 and kept it under close observation. We finally landed at 20:45 GMT after 14 hours and 35 minutes flying time..."

Translated from contemporary accounts for inclusion in the two volumes devoted to Luftwaffe Seaplanes published by Lela Presse.

http://www.avions-bateaux.com/

A resin 1/144th kit is available from Peter Hawkins

http://www.petersplanes.com/models/germany.htm

Ju 188 conversion/aftermarket set for Revell Ju 88 1/32 AIMS John McIllmurray

Having contributed to the research for the decal options on this superb new set, it is time to blog John McIllmurray's long-awaited Junkers Ju 188 conversion set for the Revell Ju 88 kit. Not that that I expect to ever build one. The price is £135.50 and it contains a new cockpit, engines, extended wings and new vertical fin/rudder, plus a multitude of new parts. Click on the images for a closer view or head over to John's site for more, link at the bottom of the page....

Junkers Ju 188 artwork profiles

And some of John's new Ju 88 decal sheets - this particular example 'Early Ju 88s in the Med' is a work of research in its own right and references the superb German-language photo albums of Paul Stipdonk and Michael Meyer reviewed on this blog.   As it happens I have just finished working on the captions for Vol 5 of this series which hopefully will appear later this year..


 Click on the images to read John's text  -  note the German word for 'ace' is Experte

http://www.aimsmodels.co.uk/html/products.html

"One summer, two Messerschmitts" 'black 6' - Russ Snadden

I can't imagine that readers of this blog are not aware of this superb DVD, but just in case you aren't - from the flyingmachinestv.co.uk website

" ....One summer there were two Messerschmitt 109 G’s in residence at Duxford airfield, Cambridgeshire, England. " Black 6"  a Bf 109 G-2, one of the worlds most authentic aircraft restorations, and 109 G “Black 2” flown by the Old Flying Machine Company. This DVD takes a look at both aircraft on the ground and in the air. The DVD features interviews with some of the team behind “Black 6” as well as an interview with a pilot who has flown both Spitfires and a 109. Highlights of the DVD include a stunning 109 vs Spitfire dogfight sequence, very nice air-to air footage of “Black 6” and an in-cockpit camera. Featuring minimal commentary and maximum sound FX this is not a history of the Bf 109, but an up close and personal look at how these legendary aircraft are rebuilt and operated. If you’ve never been lucky enough to see a 109 fly, this is the next best thing. Available in both PAL and NTSC, you will automatically be sent the correct format for your region. Picture Format 4:3 Running Time: Total 78 minutes / Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0....."

A single click to view here - purchase the DVD from the Flying machines TV web site

http://www.flyingmachinestv.co.uk/DVD%20Store/DVDStore.html







http://www.flyingmachinestv.co.uk/DVD%20Store/DVDStore.html




 Above;  top-quality walkaround footage of the G-2 'black 6' on display at Hendon and, below, walkaround still compilation from restoration/maintenance/museum footage

More Luftwaffe walkarounds on this blog
http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2010/10/bf110-g-do-335-he-111-p-ju-87-d.html

and to complete today's update a lovely shot of a JG 52 G-2 (?).