Henschel Hs 126 Aufklärungsgruppe - Wintertarnung

Eastern Front,winter 1942/43,unit : Aufklärungsgruppe 23, 2.Staffel Hs 126 B-1,


Hs 126 B-1, 3.Staffel, Aufklärungsgruppe 21, Eastern front,winter 1942/43

and, below, currently on offer here at Manuel Rauh's Ebay sales

II./ JG 51 " verschnupfte Rabe .." runny-nosed Raven emblem "Gott Strafe England" - last edit March 2017

" A couple of photos of JG 51's 'Weeping Bird' emblem..."

difficult to avoid this phrase on certain forums/Facebook pages dealing with Jagdwaffe emblems. Yet for decades - as early as Ries' "Photo Collection Luftwaffe Embleme 1935-1945" and his "Dora Kurfurst ... vol 1." -  the raven has been the " verschnupfte Rabe .."  - lit. the 'runny nosed' raven, full of cold -  those are not tears ! As to colours;  the bird's body could be either red or brown; if the umbrella is red (as usually believed), then the body is probably a light brown. Later representations of the emblems feature the "Gott strafe England" inscription...

Emblem originated with 2./JG 71, the "Chamberlain-Staffel". These photos taken sometime in September/October 1939, shortly before or shortly after the 2./JG 71 was renamed 4./JG 51. The aircraft would be a Bf 109 D-1.

 Bf 109 E "Red 7" of II./ JG 51. The oversized Balkenkreuz and general surroundings indicate that the photo was taken sometime in October/November 1939. This photo along with other details can be found in Michael Meyer & Paul Stipdonk's Das Jagdgeschwader 51; Eine Bilddokumentation uber die Jahre 1938-45, page 131.


Second image above; the starboard-side insignia from the Bf109 E-3 of Lt. Johann Böhmm from 4./JG 51 that was shot down near Ealham, Kent, on 8 July 1940. This was the first Bf 109 to come down in England during the war. This insignia still exists in a private collection. The shield is white, but it's been partially over-sprayed with the green mottled fuselage camouflage, which makes the white on the shield look less intense than the white wing patch. The body and head of the bird is a light brown, the umbrella and lettering are red, although the three drops from the bird's beak are not red but black with light brown highlights. The beak, glasses, umbrella handle & tip and feet are black, as is the outline and detailing of the wing. The shield is outlined in black.  Since this was a 4 Staffel a/c, perhaps that accounts for the very dirty (over-sprayed) white shield background. Could 6 Staffel a/c have had yellow shields? For some examples, such as the Yellow 10 of Fritz Beeck downed on 24 August 1940 (below), this certainly looks possible. On another example, it's pretty clear that the background colour of the insignia was the underlying camouflage colour, with the detailing simply painted against that background.

A member of the Home Guard stands by the rear fuselage of Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 (W.Nr. 5587) 'Yellow 10' of 6./JG 51 'Moelders', which belly landed with a smokng engine at East Langdon in Kent, 24 August 1940. The pilot, Oberfeldwebel Beeck, was captured unhurt. Note the II Gruppe " verschnupfte Rabe .." emblem and the inscription "Gott Strafe England".


Below;  original Associated Press photograph of "Air Force man examining the umbrella mascot (weeping pelican) on the side of a Messerschmitt 109". (sic!)

Bf109 E-4 (5587) 10+ of 6./JG51 was escorting Ju 88's attacking RAF Manston on 24 August 1940 when attacked by Hurricanes of 32 Squadron and Defiants of 264 Squadron. The engine was damaged and the pilot Oberfeldwebel Beeck made a forced landing at East Langdon, Kent at 12.55pm.

JfV Teil 9/II,page 392. captioned as Bf 109 E-4 “Yellow 1”, WNr.5057, of  Staka 6.Staffel Oblt. Josef Priller, taken in the second half of October 1940 in Mardyck. In Prien’s book more of the finer details can be seen. The black frame around the shield is imposed upon a white line which contrasts against the background colour and also intersects the thin mottling behind and above the raven’s head. The white line is most clearly visible in the upper part of the emblem. This shows that the frame was painted on top of the underlying camouflage and mottling.

Below; Bf 109 E assigned to Horst Tietzen of 5./JG 51, around 29 July 1940...

Bf 110 ZG 26 Lippspringe October 1943

Seen in Lippspringe this 2./ZG 1 Me 110 G-2 was flown by pilot (Flugzeugführer) Uffz. Josef ( Bert) Holzmann seen here on his return from a combat sortie on 10 October 1943 during which he claimed 2 Viermot bombers shot down on the 8th USAF raid on Münster. Three days later 2./ZG 1 became 2./ZG 26. On 30 May 1944 the 8th USAF was sent to aviation factories and airfields in the western occupied zone. That morning from 10:00 I./ZG 26 in Königsberg-Neumark committed 13 of its new Me 410s. Ten made contact and seven were shot down including Holzmann who was KIA during combat (Reichsverteidigung). He may have made as many as thirteen claims in as many sorties.

Below middle; Holzmann on the wing of his Bf 110.

Images currently on offer here via Michael Meyer's Ebay sales

ZG 52 Bf 110 C/D -daily Ebay photo find #129

Nice shots of  Me 110 C/D (nose air intake absent) with the Drachenwappen of I./ZG 52 on the nose.

Below, I./ ZG 52 machine 'A2+AK', possibly the machine assigned to a Staffelkapitän. In a later image this machine has a small number of rudder victory markings so unless obscured here these images would date from April/May 1940, taken either prior to or during the Westfeldzug - the campaign in France. Note the lighter camouflage finish.

currently on offer here

Captured German Me 110 G4 Night Fighter Along Autobahn - ebay daily photo find #128

..while 'post-war' GI pics don't have quite the same 'wow' factor as a period image in my view - one of the reasons I've never bothered with the Eagle Editions 'Wings of the Black Cross' series - here are two more nice GI pictures currently on offer here

new photo Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a WNr.110956 coded white "17" -daily Ebay photo find # 127

Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a WNr.110956 coded white "17" and white "S" (S - Schulemachine) of III./EJG 2 captured at Lechfeld on 29 April 1945. ..Note the sign in German behind the cockpit on the side of the hut. " Stop  - beware of aircraft taking off and landing " .

On offer here

 Photo:"Me262, The Production Log" by Dan O'Connell (Classic, 2005)

Caudron C-445 Goéland ZG 1 St.G 1 RS models 1:72nd scale - first look and reference pictures - latest edit February 2018

The Caudron C 445 Goéland was an important school and training type in the inventory of the Luftwaffe with over 750 new-build machines seeing service in the Luftwaffe in additional to those Beute machines captured with the fall of France. The type was the most-produced aircraft type in French factories during the German occupation. Even heavy Allied bombing raids on the Caudron-Renault Courbevoie factory and the Renault works at Billancourt in the suburbs of Paris during September 1943 which resulted in large loss of life could not stop the flow of Goélands to the Luftwaffe. Between 1936 and 1948 over 1400 examples were constructed and large numbers saw service with Air France and Lufthansa.

A selection of 20 the best of recent Ebay photos of C 445 Goélands in Luftwaffe service as reference for the new-tool injection molded C 445 from Robert Schneider's RS Models. Click on the image to view large..

C 445 A-1 - WNr.0841 - BC+ZC - FFS(A/B)11 & FFS(A)125 - 45% loss, Elbing, Germany on 13-Dec-43. Emergency landing due to a technical failure

Below;  the machine in the next two images may be CD+YK or CD+YL either of the Stabsstaffel Fliegerführer Afrika or Kurierstaffel Tropen. The animal depicted in the emblem is a kangaroo with boxing gloves. Possible loss data - C 445 A-1 - WNr.0518 - CD+KQ (listed as WNr.518) St.St.Fliegerführer Afrika - 100% loss, Derna, Libya on 17-Dec-41. Destroyed by own retreating forces

C445 of FFS 20

RS models site, new-tool Caudron C-445 here

Test shot build via the RS Models FB page here

C 445 cockpit detail photo of a C445 of FFS AB 61. via 'Die Flugzeugfuhrer-Ausbildung der Deutsche Luftwaffe'

C.445 in Luftwaffe markings is reproduced (along with a paraphrased caption) from " Die Deutsche Luftwaffe, Zerstorer-und Nachtjagdverbande, Teil 1" [VDM, 2007]

Caudron C.445 coded TE+WO, WNr.957 was used by ZG 1 for liaison flights. It is not known when this photo was taken, but Luftflottennachrichtenschule 3 registered this aircraft in July 1943

Coded BC+QN, WNr. 438 of Fliegerführer Nord - 80% loss - Belly landed due to engine failure at Stavanger, Norway 09-Oct-41 - Ogefr.Hermann Wilke (Bm) injured [source: Gen.Qu.6.Abt. (mfm #4)-Vol. 6 &  p72 of "Le Caudron Goéland" by P.Cortet and R.Esperou published by Lela Presse

C 445 A-1, WNr.0567 coded DF+UO of Stab I./StG 3 which was to sustain 25% damage when crash landing at Derna in Libya on 19-May-42 [source: Gen.Qu.6.Abt.

C 445 A-1 der A/B 11 Schönwalde "RC+YA" oder "RC+PV"