Messerschmitt Me 262 Düsenjäger Flugzeug Wrack US Beute Reichsgebiet 1945 - daily ebay photo find #179

Me 262 Wnr.111074 of JV 44 abandoned in the Hofoldinger Wald, a US soldier contemplates the port jet engine..

on offer via Marco at koelsch333 ebay sales

on offer here

Oblt Egon Mayer Staffelkapitän 7./JG 2 Channel front ace - April 1942 - Osprey Weal Bf 109 Channel Front Aces ?

Above; Oblt. Egon Mayer, about to climb down from the controls of a Stab III./JG 2 Friedrich, seen relating a successful combat account to his erster Wart (Gefr. Bender) probably on or around 17 April 1942. In the three days between 14 and 17 April 1942 7./JG 2 claimed no fewer than 17 victories including 8 claims for Staffelkapitän Oblt. Egon Mayer himself. This tally included two Spitfires on 16 April for his 31st and 32nd victories and three more the following day (two of these remaining unconfirmed). The ground crews invariably gave the successful pilot a rousing welcome, as seen in the scenes below,  probably photographed on the same occasion.

A member of JG 2 since the autumn of 1939, Mayer had moved from II. Gruppe to I. Gruppe before being transferred to 8. Staffel of III./ JG 2 - all during 1940. He was subsequently entrusted with Machold’s 7. Staffel and it was from this moment that it could be said that his career really took off following his first claim - the downing of an MS-406 on 13 June 1940. He filed claims for his 14th and 15th ‘official’ victories returned on 12 July 1941. His rudder total at that time included his two as yet unconfirmed Abschüsse returned on 23 June. Invariably rudder scoreboards provide only an approximate indication of a pilot’s actual tally. As the Staffelführer of 7./JG 2 Lt. Egon Mayer shot down two Spitfires for his 17th and 18th victories on 23 July 1941 and on 1 August 1941 Lt. Egon Mayer was awarded the Ritterkreuz or Knight's Cross. In less than two months, he had claimed no less than fifteen ‘kills’ bringing his total victory score to eighteen. On 21 August 1941 Lt. Egon Mayer as Staffelführer of 7./JG 2 ( in theory a pilot held the rank of Oberleutnant prior to being promoted to Staffelkapitän) returned his 19th and 20th victories in two separate combats. During the evening of 16 September 1941, Egon Mayer (promoted to Oberleutnant on 01 September 1941) claimed two Spitfires in the vicinity of Boulogne for his 22nd and 23rd victories. On 20 September Oblt. Egon Mayer claimed his 24th victory (a Spitfire) over the Pas-de-Calais. Moments later he had to belly land his "White 1 " on a Channel coast beach. He returned his 25th on 02 October, also a Spitfire..

On 19 August 1942, his 25th birthday, Mayer shot down two RAF Spitfire fighters over Dieppe (51-52). In November 1942, Hauptmann Mayer was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 2. Mayer is credited with developing the 'head-on' method of attacking bombers - a first experiment in combat flown in late 1942 is related here.
http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/iiijg-2-in-france-30-december-1942.html

Following on from their Spitfire Channel Front 'Aces' title I would imagine that Osprey and John Weal are also planning a Bf 109 Channel Front aces title.

Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Bf 109 first flights in the US

The Military Aviation Museum's Bf 109 being readied for the 2016 Warbirds Over the Beach Airshow this weekend. This is actually a Spanish Hispano HA 1112 Buchon restored by Meier Motors with a genuine Daimler-Benz DB 605 retrieved from a Bf 110 wreck to an approximation of a Bf 109 G-4/5 and finished in the markings of Kommandeur I./JG 3 Hptm. Klaus Quaet-Faslem. The second video has some views of the take-off run and fly pasts performed for the first few flights. A single click to view the videos here. Thank you Heb1228

The Military Aviation Museum is in Virginia Beach, Virginia here

Hptm. Erich Hartmann - Bf 109 G-6 'Doppelwinkel' Gruppenkommandeur I./JG 53

...details of Hartmann's Bf 109 G-6 W.Nr. unknown, "Schwarzer Doppelwinkel", I./JG 53, Veszprém, Hungary. Picture source BPK Archiv, Heinrich Hoffmann; image is captioned 'Flugeinsatz' (combat sortie) 20 February 1945.

Note the details in this image and in the pretty neat representation below by an unknown 'skinner' - although he has used the 'square' canopy with antenna mast. The 'skinner' has rendered the upper surface camouflage extremely well - it is just possible to make out some details on the photo of the over-sprayed lines on the wings and forward fuselage which just about every modeller and 'artist' (except Claes Sundin; see here; a superlative piece of artwork from his 'Luftwaffe Fighter Aircraft in Profile Vol I ) just seems to ignore...much of this has to be speculative unfortunately, although it is there! Note too the heavy white overspray onto the prop blades (see image below). Claes Sundin also gets the variant correct - Hartmann's Kommandeur machine 'Double Chevron' was a G-6 according to his own logbook..and NOT a G-14. Thanks to Jan Bobek for the pointer to this great image...

other details of note - no antenna mast, the aerial attaches to the fuselage spine just behind the canopy. The DF loop is absent, although its base is visible in the photo top. No ventilation scoop ahead of the windscreen.

there is of course much more on Hartman and his aircraft  - including his final tulip-adorned G-10 - on this blog. See the label links to the right of the screen

Hartmann's JG 52 Bf 109s - Erich Hartmann's last Bf 109 G-10 - Edit October 2015

and my model of Hartmann's I./JG 53 Kommandeur machine is here

Crash of Fw 190 D-9 Wk.N. 211018 (FE-119) at Freeman Field, Indiana

Contrary to what has been recently and erroneously posted elsewhere, this is WNr. 211018, one of the four Dora-9s brought to the US for flight testing at Freeman Field, Seymour, Indiana. (See Crandall p381, Rodeike p397 and JAPO p128 for evidence that this is not WNr 211016). Originally assigned to the Stab./JG 26 this D-9 was captured in Flensburg. Since the tactical markings identify it as a machine of the Geschwaderstab of JG 26,  it is from there only a short jump to calling it one of Priller's machines! Note the white-outlined area of black around the exhaust and the spinner spiral covering only the front half of the spinner. The tail bands have been partially over-painted with camouflage colour as in the artwork above and low-res photo copy below. (source unknown, originally posted on FB...)

On 22 September 1945 WNr. 211018 was prepared to perform a demonstration flight for the Institute for Aeronautical Sciences and was piloted by Lt. William V. Haynes, who had only just returned to the US in July 1945. Haynes was a 20 year old Ninth AF pilot with a DFC. Shortly after takeoff Haynes attempted a wingover maneuver at a low altitude and failed to recover, and the aircraft stuck the ground wings level and broke into pieces. Haynes was fatally injured and, according to the accident report below, his body thrown clear of the wreckage. Small pieces of the aircraft were recently excavated, though it was thought that more parts had been buried at the crash site.

Witness statements and more on the accident report at the indianamilitary.org website here

The four Doras that were brought to Wright Field for testing were;

 FE-118 Fw 190 D-13 WNr. 836017 "Yellow 10" of I./JG 26 that still survives and now with the Flying Heritage Collection
 FE-119 Fw 190 D-9 WNr. 211018 "Black 14" of Stab/JG 26 crashed (fatal) September 22, 1945 from pilot error and impact with the ground
 FE-120 Fw 190 D-9 WNr. 601088 now on display at USAF Museum
 FE-121 Fw 190 D-9  WNr. 401392 "Black 5" of JG 26 was scrapped at Wright Field in 1946.

Below; original USAF caption, post-war paint scheme FE -121 ; "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 parked in a hangar at Wright Field circa summer 1945. Ken Chilstrom Wright Field test pilot is sitting in the cockpit and Bob Baird is standing near the wing."

On 2 August 1946 a civilian contractor was performing a slow-speed taxi of FE-121 for a routine brake check. The port landing gear collapsed resulting in substantial damage to the left wing and other parts of the aircraft. The Dora was marked as damaged beyond repair and scrapped.

Luftwaffe seaplanes in the Norwegian campaign, Ha 139, Do 18, Ar 196 daily ebay photo find #178

a few highlights from a selection of Luftwaffe seaplanes involved in the Norwegian campaign on offer via the ea-antik Ebay sales site including some nice images of the Ha 139 V-1 Nordmeer. This Lufthansa transatlantic catapult-launched mail plane was pressed into Luftwaffe service on the outbreak of WWII. The large underwing radiators visible in the lower two images were a modification introduced after the first 'season' of transatlantic crossings. At one point it was planned to use the type for long-range maritime reconnaissance but this never happened. The fate of this machine is unknown, possibly scrapped. The V-3 sister ship was extensively photographed in an MS or - Minensuch minesweeping configuration. Note the 'P5' code of the Kdo. d. Transportflieger Norwegen.

More on the landplane version Bv 142 on this blog here

new AIMS decals - Ju 88 Fighters

Some progress on the Zvezda G-6 with new AIMS engines. The new Quickboost tail fin has also been fitted. The undercarriage - as on most Ju 88 kits - was far too 'stalk-like' and has been cut down a little and re-pinned. Still a little unsure of which machine I actually want to model, but my choice will no doubt be inspired by the latest AIMs decal sheet by John McIllmurray - " Ju 88 Fighters" which arrived here last week - 26 options no less and enough codes to make up plenty more that aren't even on the sheet!

Below; AIMS decal sheet cover photo via Stipdonk/Meyer shows Ju 88 G-6 'D5+AV' flown by the Staffelkapitän 11./NJG 3 Oblt. Josef Förster seen in February 1945 in Jever. A good view of the cabin roof mounted FuG 350 "Naxos". Die Deutsche Luftwaffe - Eine Bilddokumentaion der Luftwaffe von 1935-1945 - Zerstörer- und Nachtjägerverbände Teil 2 page 181, book series reviewed on this blog here

As you can see here all markings options on this sheet are presented via a series of accurate and well-drawn fully referenced colour side view profiles and detailed text with interesting subjects drawn from AirDoc, Luftwaffe in Focus and the Stipdonk/Meyer volumes. The painting guide also features upper and lower surface views so that you don't have go hunting through a pile of references. The decals by 'Fantasy Printshop' are thin, perfectly in register and have minimal carrier film and will of course require a certain amount of care to apply. I fully intend to select one of these options for my own build as it nears completion so stay tuned for more on these superb sheets. These sheets and much more for the Ju 88 fan are available directly from John at AIMS just in time for the Ju 88 Group build over at britmodeller.com

It goes without saying that John is an enthusiast (and very skilled) modeller himself and provides us lesser mortals with a fantastic product at a reasonable price, so please do as I did and buy this sheet!