Zvezda Bf 109 F-2 1/72nd scale 'weisse 12' 7./ JG 53 Ltn Karl Vockelmann

I have virtually finished the Zvezda 1/72nd scale Friedrich, here in the markings of 'weisse 12' flown by nine-victory ace Ltn. Karl Vockelmann of 7./ JG 53. I have still to add a hint of exhaust staining and some stencils. Decals were taken from a variety of spare Academy and MSAP sheets. Vockelmann was reported MIA on 19.5.43 after Luftkampf. 

This is NOT a pantographed down version of Zvezda's 1/48th scale Friedrich by any means - it is the second in their new-ish range of snap-together easy build kits that are designed to be assembled without glue! I was disappointed with the fit in some areas and quite impressed in others. The undercarriage clips in beautifully and the stance and 'sit' of the model are more than adequate.Panel lines are finely engraved and the cockpit is well detailed - but the canopy glazing is far from transparent so most of that effort is wasted. The Zvezda Friedrich kit was a little pricey and a little short on detail options compared to, say, the recent new Airfix Emil - no poseable flaps or separate rudder for example. The large locating lugs on the canopy spoil the overall effect so that the model looks a little toy-like I think..that said, this is still miles better than the Italeri 'F' in this scale and must be VFM compared to the Fine Molds kits..

Moving swiftly on; 

 My recent 'Channel Dash' memorial post has been "+1'd" on google - thanks for that. Here are a couple more close-up views of the memorial itself as photographed in the pouring rain on Dover's sea front Marine Parade. This is me pointing to one of the several spelling mistakes in the text! 'Norwigian' for 'norwegian' 'everning' for 'evening' etc etc...these and more had to be hastily corrected just prior to the unveiling - that's what happens when you commission a commemorative stone in China..although to be fair to the 'Channel Dash Memorial Trust' the Chinese did put in the best bid for the work - or so I believe..

Below;   the 'Channel Dash' was covered extensively in 'Avions' magazine in a three-part feature written by Jean-Louis Roba  (issues 101-103). The photo of the Staka 2./ JG 2 Siegfreid Bethke's Bf 109 F-4 was incorrectly captioned - this is not 'Yellow 1' but 'Black 1', the Staffel number being a black outline only. Note ten victory markings partially visible on the rudder. This image was taken in wintry conditions on or just after the events of 12 February 1942..

Finally for today's post, a couple of views of a very nice Zoukei-mura 1/32 Ta 152 H seen at Euromilitaire recently...

..postscript;

I was surprised to see no response from anyone at all to Peter Achs recent comment on TOCH. Achs was commenting very unfavourably on Eddie Creek's excellent new Junkers Ju 87 book and offered us this;

"...One should have the necessary background knowledge to write German aviation history. One should be able to write German names and places correctly. I miss both in the most books of Anglo-American authors..."

Of course his comment merited the complete silence that it got, but at the very least I felt that someone should have pointed out that 'Eddie Creek' was in fact born Helmut Rudolf Nielinger !

Airfix Blohm & Voss BV-141B in-box build review by Maj. Mike Cocke

Here’s my Airfix Blohm & Voss BV-141B finished mostly OOB as NC#RA (V10) from the Erprobungstelle at Rechlin in Germany in 1941.  I don’t have a lot of information on this particular aircraft.  The other kit option is for GK#GH from Wenzendorf, Germnay in early 1945.  As far as I can tell this one was found abandoned at the Blohm & Voss works at the end of the war.  Some have surmised that because the codes for this particular aircraft are out of sequence with the other BV-141’s, that it may have been the one used for operational trials.
This is pretty honest build.  It was tricky where you’d expect it to be tricky, but even then it wasn’t beyond what an average modeler could handle.  It was my first attempt at large scale rescribing.  I’m not too happy with the new panel lines, but does help the kit look a bit better.  Overall I found the build pretty straight forward.  Airfix has a smart parts breakdown, and the fit is generally good.  Probably the biggest area on the kit that could use some work is the cockpit.  With all the glazing up front a lot of the interior can be seen, and the kit as provided by Airfix is pretty sparse.  I added a few control boxes and an instrument panel up front.  It helps the cockpit look a little more full.  A proper scratch builder could have a field day with this kit.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the fit of all parts was quite good, particularly the canopy sections.  I only used a little filler around one wing join.  The instructions don’t mention it, but you should leave the bomb racks off until after the decals are applied.  If there ever was a kit for an aftermarket canopy this is it.  Don’t get me wrong, the Airfix canopies were fantastic, about as good as you can get from injection molding.  But a nice, thin vac formed canopy would show off the interior even better, and should be considered.  It’s also worth mentioning the small hole in the front of the main windscreen.  It appears that this was for one of the two fixed, forward firing machine guns.  It isn’t mentioned in the instructions at all.  I filled it with a left over .303 barrel, which did the trick. 

Airfix provides a few options for the kit.  As with most Airfix builds there’s a full crew, which is nice for those who want an inflight build.  It has two different tail gunner positions, which is nice.  But the instructions don’t explicitly state which position is for which version.  The open rear area is for the “operational” version while the closed solid cone is for the “non-operational” version.  Since the BV-141 was never truly operational, I assume the “operational” version refers to the aircraft used in operational trials.  If that is the case then it probably should be used on “GK#GH”, but again the instructions aren’t very clear.  As with most Airfix kits if you build carefully you can get the prop to spin.  The BV-141 also has optional parts for retracted landing gear.  That’s a nice touch since the gear doors have a large bend in them when they are extended.  Lastly of course there are the under wing bomb racks and bombs.  As with the open tail gun position, I assume these would be more used on the operational trials version.  Having said that I think they look good on the kit, and I’m glad I added them to the BV-141 from 1941.The decals went on with no problems at all.  They fit great and there was no silvering.  For a kit of this size there are very few decals, and it didn’t take long to complete.  I added the swastikas from the spares bin.  The two build options are really nice.  Airfix must really be commended for finding two different unique decal options for this kit, particularly when you consider how few BV-141s were actually built.  I am a sucker for the German splinter camouflage pattern, so I knew which version I had to choose.  The overall grey version is pretty cool too, I just am not as interested in that colour scheme.  Maybe if I get this kit again. . .The BV-141 is a great little kit.  It’s not easy, but it’s not all that hard either.  The fit is good, the markings are decent, and it adds a very unique aircraft to the display.  Overall two thumbs! Thanks Mike! ..and some hard-to-find detail views of the real machine 

Josef “Sepp” Wurmheller I./JG 2 Dieppe 19 August 1942 - Channel Front aces (5) -Luftwaffe fighter aces

from www.luftwaffe.cz/wurmheller.html

 "   Assigned to 1./JG 2, Wurmheller gained 10 victories during May 1942. In June he claimed another 11 victories. His most successful day came during the Allied landings at Dieppe on 19 August 1942. Despite a crash-landing, during which he broke a leg and suffered concussion, Wurmheller claimed seven victories during the day. The feat earned Wurmheller a promotion to the rank of Leutnant and the award of the Eichenlaub (Nr 146), presented on 20 August 1942. His score stood at 60 victories..."

.. seven victories while flying with a broken leg ?  no, not possible surely? But this 'story' is widely repeated on just about any web page you care to look at dealing with Wurmheller, including wikipedia, asisbiz (no surprise there!) and ww2gravestone.com. At historicaviation.com you can even buy a $32 1/30th scale figure of him complete with crutches! While Wurmheller's performance on 19 August 1942 was widely feted for his seven victories, it was achieved with no more serious injury than a foot in plaster (from a previous 'domestic incident') and a bump on the head. The latest volume 3 in Erik Mombeeck's JG 2 history (in collaboration with Jean-Louis Roba) provides more details from a period newspaper report reproduced below. The caption reads,

".... the day of the Dieppe landing. A broken foot in plaster and his first sortie curtailed by an emergency landing during which he sustained slight concussion, then climbing into another aircraft and dispatching seven opponents; that's Oberleutnant Wurmheller..."

The 'emergency landing' was sustained as a result of defensive fire from a No. 88 Sq Boston (credited to Wurmheller as a Blenheim) which ditched off the coast, Fw 190 A-3 (WNr. 0130 479) suffered 65% damages. Prior to this combat Oberfeldwebel Wurmheller had downed two Spitfires for his 54th and 55th victories..

I have already blogged Volume 3 of Erik's Jagdgeschwader 2 history earlier this year, but this week is the first I've had some time to get to grips with the book. If you have any interest in Luftwaffe fighters and especially in the Fw 190 then you should seriously consider supporting Erik in his self-publishing endeavours and getting this book - even if you only buy one Luftwaffe title this year. Recommended!

The Heinkel He 219 - a research paper

As regular readers of this blog will know Australian historian Ron Ferguson has focused his attention on the He 219 for many years. His self-published research papers will soon be available in updated form as a fully-fledged book, produced to dispel the many myths that surround one of the Luftwaffe's most advanced night fighters. I featured the 2nd edition on the blog at the following link

http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/he-219-research-paper-2nd-edition-by.html

This new, revisited, expanded and updated volume from Simon Parry's team is a scholarly work that probes some lesser-known aspects in great detail and is not an entry-level general history of the He219. It lists and corrects the many errors found in earlier books, including the much more recent Kagero Monograph, as well as providing new and definitive information.

Chapters include: 
The Numbers – Production and Werknummern 
The Ejection Seat
 Versuchs Machines
 The Jets 
The RLM 22 Schwarz Camouflage Scheme 
Engine Air Intakes (Shape)
 He 219 Publications – List of Suggested Corrections

 Appendix 1 – Chronicle of Meetings (Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch) Appendix 2 – He 219 Versuchs Machines Appendix 3 – He 219 Werknummern and Stammkennzeichen Appendix 4 – He 219 Victory Claims Appendix 5 – He 219 Losses Appendix 6 – He 219s taken to the UK and USA in 1945 


"....Hello Neil,

This is to advise you of the release of my new book on the Heinkel He 219.The book will be available 7th October on the Wing Leader website - http://www.wingleader.co.uk/product-p/he219rp.htm

The attached PDFs will give you some info on the contents - more appears on the Wing Leader website. This will be my final "He 219 Research Paper" - there are no plans for a 4th Edition. For those planning on building Revell's soon to be released 1/32nd scale model kit of the He 219, I'm sure the Research Paper will be an invaluable tool in obtaining historical accuracy to the subject. Sales of the book will help a good cause - any royalties I might be entitled to will go to charity for homeless kids - so please tell your friends.With my sincere thanks to you for your support and most welcome encouragement.  Neil, I can't thank you enough for the kind words you've posted on your FalkeEins blog - these have certainly stirred up world-wide interest in the Research Paper (please keep it up).

Ron Ferguson...."

My pleasure Ron !

I./SKG 10 - first Luftwaffe unit in action on D-Day - Wolfgang Zebrowski SKG 10 memoir " Nachts über den Wolken " ( By night above the clouds..)

 There has been surprisingly wide coverage in British newspapers over the past few days on the location and retrieval of wreckage from a 97 Squadron Lancaster found in Normandy, France. The aircraft and her crew were downed on D-Day 6 June 1944 and have been missing in action ever since (although there is some doubt about this - see link below).  A link to the Daily Mail's report and photo coverage appears below. In the meantime I have compiled a brief account of what is known from the German side;


"....They set off in the early hours of D-Day, never to return. The crew of the Lancaster bomber – among the most highly decorated in the RAF – were all killed when their plane was shot down by a German aircraft over Normandy. Their remains have never been found. Now, 68 years later, thanks to the chance discovery of a gold ring, the mystery has been solved......"

Above; Fw 190 G-8s or G-3s of 1. Staffel SKG 10 under the trees at Tours-West during June 1944. 'White 9' was lost with Fw. Nikolaus at the controls on the night of  4-5 July, shot down during an attack against Allied shipping..

While strictly speaking I./SKG 10 was not a fighter or even a night fighter unit, the Fw 190 G-3s and G-8s of the Gruppe were the first Luftwaffe 'fighters' in action over Normandy on 6 June 1944. Gruppenkommandeur  I./SKG 10 was Major Kurt Dahlmann, an experienced officer and pilot who had started his career four years previously with III./KG 4 and who had flown some 160 bombing sorties over England and the Mediterranean prior to being posted to Schnellkampfgeschwader 10 during June 1943. He had been warned early on during the night of 5-6 June that heavy gliders were reported landing in the vicinity of St.Lô and that British parachutists were being landed at Ouistreham, on the Caen canal at the mouth of the Orne. He had immediately ordered a recce as described by Oberfähnrich Wolfgang Zebrowski of 2. Staffel in his post-war memoir entitled   " Nachts über den Wolken " ( By night above the clouds..);

" ..all serviceable aircraft were immediately ordered up to combat transport gliders and tug aircraft reported over Saint-Lô (sic). The night was still dark and visibility rather poor as we took off again (Zebrowski had just landed back safely from an over night bombing raid against the city and port of Portsmouth on the south coast of England..). As we reached the target area I scoured the night sky looking for tell-tale flashes of light from machine-gun fire, constantly changing direction and heading, jinking back and forth - there was no sign whatsoever of any gliders. As my fuel started to run low I turned back and headed for Evreux. We were rather downcast by this lack of success - none of us had seen anything of the enemy.."

It was still dark as another alert came into Gruppe HQ - Allied bombers were reported to be pounding the coast between Carentan and Caen. On this occasion Gkr. Dahlmann instructed the Staffelkapitän of  3./SKG 10, Hauptmann Helmut Eberspacher, to lead four Fw 190s and head out over the sector. Two hours later the four pilots had landed back at Evreux having achieved the first German aerial successes of D-Day - intercepting a formation of Lancasters, four of the RAF four-engined bombers had been shot down, timed at 05:01 to 05:04, the first falling over Isigny and the others towards Carentan, the chase apparently taking place on a westerly heading. Three Lancasters were claimed shot down by Eberspacher himself, the fourth falling to Fw. Eisele.

Gkr. Dahlmann would receive the Ritterkreuz (Knights Cross of the Iron Cross) on 11 June 1944 for the performance of his Gruppe over Normandy following D-Day while Eberspacher was awarded his Ritterkreuz on 24 January 1945 for his performance and successes on 170 Jabo missions on the Western Front. He flew sorties during the Ardennes (Bulge) offensive and against the Remagen bridges and survived the war with some seven victories in total.

Below; pilots of 3./SKG 10 with Staffelkapitän Hptm. Helmut Eberspacher on the far right

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211250/Wreckage-Lancaster-bomber-crashed-D-Day-killing-crew-identified.html#ixzz28EvJdx7G 

Note that elsewhere -  the Key Aviation forum - the recovery of wreckage from this crash site has raised a number of questions pertaining to the remains of the crew. Nor does it appear that this was the first dig at this crash site..

Arsenal VG 33 - in service during the Battle of France and tested at Rechlin - this page last edited December 2015

Click on images to view large

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, despite the fact that it was powered by a smaller engine. In addition the VG 33 was designed to be a machine that could be constructed quickly by small sub-contractors (a D.520 required 8,000 man-hours per aircraft, a similar figure to the Me 109) and had it been available in numbers the accepted view is that it “might have given the Germans a harder time over France”. As it was one or two examples of the type did see some form of service (the prototype n˚1 and VG33 n˚7) in the short-lived GC I/55 flying some sorties between 17 June and 24 June 1940 as detailed in the Avions Hors-Série n˚ 7: " La chasse française inconnue de Mai-juin 1940 ".

However the results obtained by test pilots at the French CEMA (Centre d’Essais – test centre) during mid-1939 probably posed more questions about this type than they answered. At least one French commentator (Ehrengardt in Aérojournal magazine no. 46) has stated that the constructor – while not openly falsifying the prototype’s performance figures - did everything possible to ensure that they were superior to those of the D.520 – 200 kilos lighter and powered by a smaller 860 hp Hispano Suiza engine developing some 60 hp less, the Arsenal VG 33 was supposedly able to climb to 5,500 m some three minutes quicker than the D.520 and could reach 560 km/h at 5,200 m. Tested by CEMA pilots during March 1940 the VG33 n˚5 apparently flew at 620 km/h at 4,000 m and approached 1,000 km/h in a dive. (Ehrengardt, article in Aerojournal 46) Few commentators stop to point out that the aircraft tested were prototypes – with no ‘military’ value whatsoever. And while the test pilots apparently lauded the aircraft’s flying capabilities the manufacturer’s own handbook placed certain limitations on the type’s flight characteristics which under different circumstances would have straight away precluded any attempt to put this aircraft into production let alone military service. In addition the proximity of the type’s large ventral radiator so close to the ground proved particularly problematic when operated from grass fields. The idea that here was a machine that could easily be constructed by small sub-contractors working with non-strategic materials (spruce) and that French industry was advanced enough to produce the glues required was simply pie in the sky. Construction of the series machines were dogged by a series of logistical and organisational problems that had been completely over-looked by the French Air Ministry. With sub-assembly construction dispersed throughout France and the various components brought together in final assembly plants it was hoped that production could reach 350 machines per month by March 1940. This totally over-looked the fact that for a wooden aircraft each machine required some 880 kg of steel, 436 kg of aluminium and 125 kg of magnesium, requirements that simply caught out those civil servants charged with obtaining stocks of strategic materials. Following on from the first production order of 220 machines passed during September 1939, it was not until March 1940 that the need was seen for a second production/assembly facility which was opened at Michelin in Clermont Ferrand in the south for deliveries to start during July 1940. Even large constructors such as Potez had singularly failed to relocate their factories from northern France despite the experiences of 1914-18. By the time of the evacuation of the Arsenal assembly facility at Satrouville (under the auspices of the Chantiers Adro-Maritimes de la Seine) 17 miles north-west of Paris only 19 aircraft had actually been completed – ten prototypes designated V.30 to V.39 and nine V.33 series production machines. A further 160 fuselage assemblies and some 40 machines approaching completion had to be destroyed.

See more quality VG 33 images on this blog here

Horten Nurflügel prototype and gliders at Minderheide

reproduced here courtesy of Marco and currently on offer at koelsch333 Ebay sales


Horten Nurflügel  Sonderkommando 9 prototype photographed at Minderheide