Aircraft PicturesDiscuss Captured Aircrafts: Germany in the World War II - Aviation forums; War is the best testing ground for all types of fighting materiel, and this is particularly true of aircraft and ...
War is the best testing ground for all types of fighting materiel, and this is particularly true of aircraft and their equipment. The Italian conquest of Ethiopia, the Spanish Civil War, and the Sino-Japanese conflict have all provided excellent laboratories for experiment in the design and performance of combat planes. In the present war, air power has played, and will continue to play, such an important role, that all belligerents are constantly engaged in improving their planes. Construction, speed, maneuverability, range, ceiling, armor, and fire power of aircraft are subject to daily study and change. Since World War I, the character and scope of air warfare has been revolutionized, necessitating vast improvements in design and construction. Nations have approached this problem from different angles with varying results. During peacetime, efforts were made--particularly by the Axis countries--to guard their most important air secrets from potentially hostile powers, although certain revelations could not be avoided when the aircraft were tested in actual battle experience such as the Spanish Civil War.
With the outbreak of World War II, it became vitally important for each belligerent to acquire as complete information as possible with respect to its opponents' planes in order to have the technical knowledge with which to combat them. The Germans were very late in recognizing the importance of information to be obtained from captured planes and equipment. Their plans for a lightning war did not envisage the necessity for keeping up with their opponent's technical developments. The Battle of Britain was the beginning of the lesson that showed them their error, but it was not until 6 months or so later that a formalized procedure for the salvage and examination of crashed and captured enemy aircraft began to be put into effect.
Every officer of the German Air Force who sees an enemy airplane shot down, force land, or crash in his vicinity, is required to report the incident immediately by telephone to the Air Liaison Officer at Division Headquarters, who in turn forwards the information through channels to the Luftgaukommando (German air corps district headquarters). The observing officer can telephone direct to the Luftgaukommando if such communication is available. A German Air Force officer will convey the necessary information by Air Dispatch Letter Service. The report must include identity of reporting unit and of the guard furnished, the location, nationality, and condition of the aircraft, and the location of the crew. The task of salvage is delegated by the Luftgaukommando usually to the commanding officer of the airdrome area nearest to the location of the plane; he dispatches a first salvage detachment by car. This detachment consists of an officer, a technician, a photographer, and one member of each of the communications and ordnance staffs.
At the scene of the crash, photographs are taken immediately, and the negatives sent to the Luftgaukommando photo section for examination. A preliminary technical report is then prepared for transmission to, and evaluation by, Luftgaukommando Intelligence. This report should contain a description of the plane, including data as to its position, special characteristics, construction, armament and equipment, performance, and purpose. All tactical material and personal documents of the crew should accompany the report. The member of the technical staff with the detachment will then request a salvage squad from the airdrome to complete the salvage, and this squad will include an engine specialist and additional special personnel. Salvage operations by Army or Air Force Troops are never permitted. Their duty is merely to guard the plane until the arrival of the salvage squad in order to prevent removal of any parts for souvenirs or other purposes. The flying equipment is salvaged into two groups, signal and flight data being segregated from technical material. All salvaged material is conveyed to the main Air Force station in the area, and from there to the Air Force branch concerned, except that radio equipment is dispatched via the Luftgaukommando to Chief Signal Officer, Air Ministry.
Reports by the airdrome authorities responsible for the salvage operation must immediately be made by telephone or radio to the Air Ministry and Air Staff Intelligence of the Air Force High Command in case of the signal equipment, and to the Chief Equipment Officer on the technical material. Other detailed written reports on the salvage operation, and on the plane and its equipment, are made respectively to the Luftgaukommando and the Chief Signal Officer. If there is any danger of the aircraft catching fire or being "shot up" by the enemy, all possible efforts must be made immediately to salvage equipment--particularly photographic equipment, maps, and documents--and to transmit the same to the responsible officer, together with a description of the plane from which they were taken, and the precise time and place of crash. The crew will be made prisoners of war, segregated, interrogated, and disposed of in the usual manner. Any documents in their possession are sent to Luftgaukommando Intelligence immediately.
P-47F-2-RA "Agnes" SN: 42-22490.- Flown by 2nd Lt. William E. Roach of 358th Squadron/355th Fighter Group/8th Air Force. Roach was on his third mission on November 7, 1943 while escorting B-17's of the 8th Airforce's 1st and 3rd Air Divisions. Becoming disoriented in poor weather, with fuel running low and after watching the squadron leader crash land, Roach began looking for an suitable airfield for an emergency landing. Lt. Roach spotted a field and landed, followed a vehicle to a parking place and shut down. Only then did Roach realize the people surrounding the plane were Germans! Lt. Roach spent the remainder of the war at Stalag Luft I and had provided the Luftwaffe with it's first intact P-47F-2-RA (42-22490). The other example captured was the P-47D (T9+LK) that was recaptured by U.S. troops at Göttingen during late 1944.
This captured Vickers Wellington Mk.IC (RAF serial L7842) was in service with the German Luftwaffe, probably based at the test center at Rechlin, circa 1941. L7842 was delivered in mid-1940. It was lost on 6 February 1941 while in service with No. 311 Squadron, RAF, while on a mission to Boulogne (France). It was forced to land, and captured intact. The crew of the bomber was composed by:
P/O 82541 F. Cigos RAF PoW No.402.
Sgt 787198 P. Uraba RAF PoW No.450.
P/O 82588 E. Busina PAF PoW No.401.
Flt/Lt 82532 Ernst Valenta RAF PoW No 415, murdered by Gestapo late Mar44, following mass escape from Sagen. Reported he was amongst early pairs of escapers from tunnel 24Mar44. Recaptured in Gorlitz area & last seen alive 31Mar44 amongst group of ten RAF officers in the charge of Oberreigierungsrat Scharpwinkel.
Sgt 787232 G. Kopal RAF PoW No.441.
P/O 82903 K. Krizek RAF PoW No.407.
At the date of the German attack, 17 Soviet Air Force regiments (IAPs) based near the Soviet borders had already received a total of 917 MiGs, plus 64 received by Baltic and Black Sea Naval Aviation; in spite of this, only pilots of few units (20th Mixed Air Division, 41st, 124th, 126th IAP of the Western Special Military District and the 23rd Kiev Air Regiment, 55 IAP on the Southern front) were able to fly well this aircraft. Probably, Stalin was conscious of the weakening of his armed forces, and made anything to gain time delaying the war; he ignored many informations preannouncing the German attack some months before. He thought they were false informations, maybe created by British or by German officers that wanted him to react with some provocations to force Hitler to really start a war against him.
The aircrafts based near the border were forthemost destroyed during the first attack of the Luftwaffe on the early morning of June 22, 1941, the first day of war. The 9th Mixed Aircraft Division had a total of 409 aircrafts, of which at least 233 were new MiGs; it lost 347 of its aircrafts on the first day of war, fortemost destroyed on the ground. On the morning of 22 June, Soviet Army air Force Commander General P. Zhigarev sent 99 new MiG-3s on the front, but the decision was wrong: Soviets had to evacuate rapidly many airfields, and often there was not the possibility to fly away all aircrafts, so many of them had to be abandoned or destroyed. On June 24, there was not a single new fighter in the west, but on 25 June more than 200 new aircrafts arrived, and new regiments arrived at the front daily. The Germans captured 22 MiGs in near-flyable condition and tried to sell them to Finland. Finns were aware of the problems of MiG-3s, so they refused to pay them, hoping to obtain them for free, but this didn't happened.
Design of the Yakovlev Yak-1 medium-altitude interceptor/fighter began in November 1938, and from it evolved a series of remarkable aircraft (produced in vast numbers) which made an important mark in the history of aviation. Known initially as the I-26, the type had a wooden wing combined with a fuselage of mixed construction and main landing gear units retracting inwards into the underside of the wing. The I-26 looked a thoroughbred and was dubbed 'Beauty' by its design team. Flown initially on 13 January 1940, the first prototype was soon lost in a fatal accident, but the development programme was continued without any break by the second prototype which incorporated some improvements. A pre-production batch of Yak-1s was flying by the end of the year and 64 initial series machines had also been completed by then. Changes were introduced during the course of production and many aircraft of the main variants were completed from early 1942 with all increased span more pointed wing. A new pilot's canopy and cut-down rear fuselage were introduced on the Yak-1B and reduction of overall weight was achieved with the Yak-1M. The mount of many leading Soviet fighter pilots, Yak-1s equipped a high proportion of fighter squadrons from 1942 onwards, when the type was phased out of production in mid-1943, a total of 8,721 series aircraft of all versions had been completed.
Many Yak-1 fell into Luftwaffe hands intact during the first days of Barbarossa. This gave the Luftwaffe a chance to fly them against their own fighters and test it for weaknesses. After flying it for a time, the Germans found the Yak-1 to be both underpowered and underarmed.
he source for the Luftwaffe Gladiators is probably from Soviet aircraft captured during the initial part of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. The Soviet forces had in their turn captured these aircraft during the occupation of Latvia and Lithuania in July 1940. Within the US National Archives in Washington is a captured document listing the war materiel captured by the Luftwaffe by 1 September 1941 amongst which was listed 13 (other sources however claims that it was 15) Gladiators. Eleven of these were recorded as 'condition I/II' (airworthy or minimal damage) and two in 'condition III' (repairable at unit level). It is probable that spares such as Mercury engines were also captured. On available evidence, including known delivery dates, it is therefore now almost certain that some, if not all, of the Luftwaffe's Gladiators came from the ex-Latvian contract.
The Gladiators were dismantled and transported by train to Germany. In 1980 Anton Totzauer, an ex-Luftwaffe pilot who had served with Erg.Gr.(S) 1 recalled the "Glosters" arriving at Langendiebach by rail in a dismantled state in 1942. He stated that they wore Soviet stars but once these were removed "Finnish" swastikas became evident. As the Finnish aircraft are all accounted for, it is virtually certain that these were ex-Latvian aircraft. At this stage of the war of course, Finland was fighting alongside Germany against the Soviet Union. It is likely that Luftwaffe personnel would be aware that Finnish aircraft were identified by a blue swastika, but less likely that they would realise that the pre-war Latvian Air Force used a red swastika, so it is easy to see how an incorrect assumption could be made.
Also during the Norwegian campaign, of April 1940, some of the Norwegian Air Force Gladiators made force-landings on several frozen lakes. This was due to either combat damage or running out of fuel. Some of these may have been transported back to Germany as war booty. The Luftwaffe's Gladiators were apparently Mk Is with fixed pitch wooden airscrews and were employed by Erganszungsgruppe (S) 1 from Langendiebach near Hanau during 1942-3. Erg.Gr. (S) 1 ('S' for Schlepp - towed) was a training Gruppe giving primary and operational training for assault glider pilots. Training was mainly conducted on the DFS230 glider. For glider towing duties however the unit used a wide variety of types, including German Arado Ar65s and Heinkel He46s, Czech Avia B-534s and the larger Letov S-328 and at least 10 Gladiators, usually described as 'Glosters'.
To have operated the Gladiators at virtually squadron strength, it is likely that the Luftwaffe acquired the type from a limited number of sources in such condition to enable their regular use. In addition, before using a type it would be probable that at least some spares backup would be required, and would also need to have been available. Within Erg.Gr. (S) 1 it would appear that the various glider towing aircraft types were used by each of the four Staffeln within the Gruppe, rather than concentrated into one.
The Gladiator of the picture was captured in Norway in 1940 (N5579)
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
Sir Winston Churchill
"To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today"
Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London
The Amiot 143M entered service in July 1935, with deliveries continuing through 1936 and 1937. By the time the last deliveries were made in March 1938, the Amiot was quite out of date, and began to be replaced by more modern aircraft such as the Bloch MB.131. Nevertheless at the outbreak of the Second World War, Amiot 143s equipped 5 metropolitan groupes together with a single African based groupe. During the Phoney War, Amiot 143M groupes carried out reconnaissance and leaflet raids over Germany. 87 Amiot 143M remained in front line service on 10 May 1940, 50 equipping four metropolitan groupes: GBs I/34 and II/34 in the north, GBs I/38 and II/38 in the East, and 17 equipping one African groupe, GB II/63, which was in the process of re-equipping with Martin 167Fs. Following the start of the Battle of France, the Amiot 143M was mainly used in night attacks against German airfields and lines of communications, with losses relatively low. One notable exception was a daylight raid by 10 Amiots from GBs I/34, II/34, and II/38 led by Commandant de Laubier against German bridgeheads near Sedan on 14 May 1940. Despite fighter escort, two Amiots were shot down while a third force-landed before reaching its base.
By the time of the Armistice, the Amiot 143M had dropped a total of 474 tonnes (523 tons) of bombs. 52 Amiot 143Ms were in the Unoccupied Zone and 25 were in French North Africa. They were reorganized into GBs I/38 and II/38 and were used until July 1941 when they were replaced by LeO 451 bombers. Some planes of the II/38 served as a transports for the French in Syria. This groupe later went over to the Allied side after their landings in Africa. The last Amiot 143M was retired from service in February. A few Amiot 143M are reported to have been commandeered by the Germans and used as transports. Only 11 planes were left in the Unoccupied Zone when it was occupied by the Germans in 1943, and only three were flightworthy.
Most of you probably heard stories about secret special Luftwaffe units such as KG 200 and Zirkus Rosarius. There are some other info about planes used by those units. One of most wanted Allied plane was B-17 Flying Fortress. During whole World War Two Germans were able to capture several dozen of Fortress and they could use as many as seven Fortress. Five of them were B-17F version and two others were B-17G planes. It's short story of capture and use all B-17 in German hands.
B-17F-27-BO "Wulf Hound" - First Fortress captured by Germans was B-17F-27-BO "Wulf Hound" (41-24585) from 360BS 303BG "Hell's Angels". Damaged by German fighters during bombing run 12th of December 1942 and heavily damaged during return flight by Bf 110 from NJG 1. Pilot of B-17 Lieutenant Flickinger was forced to landing on Leeuwarden airfield in Netherland. Plane was repaired and two days later (after adding German national insignia) with cover of two Bf 110 flew to Rechlin. Aircraft was tested and later had tournee in Germany and France in different fighter units. Pilots could recognize strong and weak points of Flying Fortress and could better fought with them. Plane was exhibited at Lärz airfield in 12th of June 1943 during exhibition of captured Allied planes. Together with B-17F other planes such as B-24, P-47D, P-51, P-38, Avro Lancaster, DH Mosquito, Typhoon and Spitfire were shown. "Wulf Hound" come back to Rechlin in July 1943 and was used in trials with DFS 230 glider. German engineers still examined technical data and engineering. Plane was transferred to KG 200 in September 1943 and coded A3+AE. Below you may see some photos made between June and September 1943 during trials in Rechlin.
B-17F-85-BO "Flak Dancer" - Second B-17 in German hands was B-17F-85-BO "Flak Dancer" (42-30048) from 544BS 384BG. Plane piloted by Lieutenant Dalton Wheat forced landed at Laon airfield in France. After repairs and traditional period of trials in Rechlin plane was transfered to KG 200 in Spring 1944 and coded A3+CE.
B-17F-90-BO "Down and Go!" - B-17F-90-BO "Down and Go!" was surely cursed plane. Problems with plane piloted by Lieutenant Ned Palmer begun soon after take off. Both inner engines failed and pilot was forced to disable them. Crew wanted to drop some bombs on Germany and flew forward. Shortly before target engine number four overheated and pilot had to disable it too. Navigator set course on Sweden but plane has landed on Wehrmacht exercise field in Avedore Holme, Denmark. Plane was encircled by German soldiers but crew was able to destroy secret Norden gunsight. Plane was transported to city Kastrup, Denmark where was repaired by Heinkel plants' engineers. After repairs and traditional period of trials in Rechlin plane was transfered to KG 200 in Spring 1944 and coded A3+EE (however later had code A3+BB).
B-17F-100-BO "Miss Nonalee II" - Last B-17 captured by Germans in 1943 was B-17F-100-BO "Miss Nonalee II" (42-30336) from 548BS 385BG. This plane piloted by Lieutenant Glyndon G. Bell was damaged 9th of October 1943 during bombing run on Arado plant in Anklam (Eastern Prussia). Crew decided to go to Sweden but they made mistake and flew to Denmark. All crew members excluding pilot jumped and were caught by Danish police collaborating with Germans. Lieutenant Bell made forced landing near Varde, Denmark and after failed try to set fire on bomber evaded Danish policeman and was transported by Danish Resistance to Sweden. Meanwhile Germans sent from Flensburg transport plane Ar 232 with technicians. After few hours work lightened plane took off to Rechlin. There in unknown what happened with plane after repairs and traditional period of trials in Rechlin.
B-17G-25-DL - First B-17 captured in 1944 was B-17G-25-DL (42-38017) from 349BS 100BG "Bloody Hundredth". Plane piloted by Lieutenant John G. Grossage was damaged 3rd of March 1944. After loss one of engines and heavy wounding one of crew members (plane technician) pilot decided to flew to Sweden but navigator made mistake and plane landed at Schlezwig-Jagel airfield in Northern Germany. After repairs and period of trials in Rechlin plane was transfered to KG 200 in Spring 1944 and probably coded A3+GE.
B-17F-115-BO "Phyllis Marie" - Last B-17F captured by Germans was B-17F-115-BO "Phyllis Marie" (42-30713) from 568BS 390BG. Plane was captured 8th of March 1944 after landing at Vaerlose, Denmark.
B-17G-10-VE - Last airworthy B-17 captured in 9th of April 1944 by Germans was B-17G-10-VE from 731BS 452BG.
B-17 in Kampfgeschwader 200 - All B-17 (excluding "Miss Nonalee II") were transfered to KG 200 - special Luftwaffe unit. Germans had not enogh planes with that range as B-17s. Planes had applied German national insignia, code letters (beginning from A3 - letters of KG 200) and special night camouflage. Germans added some equipment: barometrical altimeter ASI and radioaltimeter FuG 101. B-17s served in KG 200 in two Staffel, 1.Staffel was combat when 4.Staffel was training one. Planes based on Finsterwalde airfield. German pilots were happy, because Fortress was formidable plane. They flew everywhere: Soviet Union, Poland, Greece, Italy, France, Belgium, Netherland, Ireland and even Palestine and Africa! All planes were top secret and target was known only for pilot and navigator. Service in KG 200 was very dangerous - first planes were lost 15th of May and 27th of June 1944 during combat missions. Next plane was heavily damaged 19th of November 1944. B-17 "Down and Go!" was destroyed during mission in Spanish-French border area. Plane piloted by pilots Knappenscheider and von Pechmann with 10 French collaborators took of in 9th February 1945. Shortly after took off plane exploded (about one hundred meters above airstripe) and all aboard were killed. Last plane lost during war took place 2nd of March 1945. Plane took off 11.08 p.m. from airfield Stuttgart-Euchterdingen with 8 members of crew, 9 agents and 3 containers with equipment. When plane come back to home base was shot down by British night fighting Mosquito. Part crew jumped with parachute.
Since September 1944 B-17 of KG 200 started from Finnow airfield. During following months planes made several dozen sorties over Soviet Union and Poland area. One of most dangerous flights was 20th of December 1944 when plane which took off from airfield in Cracow (Poland) with 6 agents on board had to flew in Odessa area. Just before jump one of Soviet agents throwed hand grenade. One of gunners had incredible reflex and jettisioned primed grenade. When next time crews had to carry Soviet agents, they bowsed Russians and jettisioned them over targed unconscious. To the end of the war planes started from Hildesheim, Wackersleben and Fürstenfelsbruck airfields. Last combat mission took place in 2nd of May 1945. All survived planes were probably destroyed by their crews or captured by Soviets.
After the sale of their A-101s to Spain, the Czechoslovakian Air Force was faces with the fact of having too little operational/training aircraft for their light bomber component and the development and delivery of more modern equipment (A-300 and B-71) would last for years to come. So the decision was made to put a modern Praga built Hispano Suiza 12Ydrs (for instance the standard engine for the Avia B-534) in the redesigned Aero airframe as a stop-gap. So the Ab-101 was born, the prototype was flown in September 1935, an order was placed for 64 production aircraft, and production continued until 1937.
After the German occupation most the Ab-101s were were seized by the Luftwaffe for training purposes and some were handed over to the newly created Slovakian Air Force. Very little is known about the use of the Ab-101 with several Luftwaffe training schools, nor when these aircraft were replaced by more competent German designs. Maybe some Czech, Slovakian or German readers can provide us some more facts about this subject. The only hard facts I have are some pictures of Ab-101s in Luftwaffe colors and I will show these below without any comment, speculations or assumptions. Altogether some sixteen A-100s and Ab-101s were handed over to the newly created Slovakian Air Force and ten of them still served in the 6th Flight on the 1st of January 1940. At least one Slovakian Ab-101 (together with two Letov S-328s) managed to escape to Poland on the 7th of June 1939, three months after the Slovakian Air Force was created and three months before the German attack on Poland in September the same year. Shortly after the Germans had occupied Dblin airport, the next picture was taken. Surprisingly, the Aero shown here, still wears its former Czechoslovakian markings, but to my opinion, this has to be the same aircraft.
After the collapse of France, Germany captured many French planes. There was unknown number of airworthy Morane Saulnier MS 406 and MS 410 fighters (no less than 120 planes) and Germans tried to recover as many as possible. One plane (with German markings) was exhibited in Aviation Museum in Berlin. Other captured planes were transfered to SNACAO plants in Bourges, where, after repairs, they were repainted in typical German camouflage (RLM 70/71/65) and German markings. Planes were used mainly for training purposes together with older versions of Messerschmitt Bf 109 (B, C and D) and Focke Wulf Fw 56. In 1941 Germans sold 25 of these captured MS 406s and MS 410s to Fin
After seizing non-occupied part of France in November 1942, Germany captured more Morane fighters resulting in as many as 46 of these fighters entering Luftwaffe service. Transfered to Morane Saulnier plants in Ossun-Tarbes, these aircraft were modified to German standards (i.e. they were equipped with FuG 7 R/T set). Later planes were repainted and sent to operational traning units such as JG 101, JG 103 and JG 105. They were used together with Dewoitine D.520C1, older Bf 109 (B-E versions) and older Fw 190A. Intensive and fast training of many young pilots caused many accidents. Soon only 33 Moranes survived and were sold to Bulgaria and Croatia. Fate of plane exhibited in museum in Berlin in still unknown, probably destroyed by Allied bombing.
In 1943 Italy surrendered to Allies and Germany was forced to seize all country. They captured many planes, mainly outdated, but some of them were still good enough to fly and fight. Germans tried to capture as much good fighters as possible. They focused on MC.202 and MC.205, FIAT G-55 and Reggiane Re-2005 fighters. Overall 47 of captured Macchi MC.202 fighters were used by Luftwaffe mainly for operational training. For combat duties Luftwaffe used only Macchi MC.205 Veltro (Greyhound). Several German MC.202 were transfered to Croatia.
A dozen of captured Curtiss Hawks were assigned to 7/JG 77 during August - October 1940 as make-shift equipment while awaiting delivery of their Bf109's. During that period the Hawks were used to shoot a movie. The Luftwaffe also used Curtiss Hawks at E-Stelle Rechlin and JFS 4 at Fürth (some Hawks apparently were still in use when JFS 4 was redesignated I/JG 104 in March 1943).
In spring 1941 the German Luftwaffe agreed to sell some of their war booty Frencb and Norwegian Hawk 75A:s . The Espenlaub Flugzeugbau ,Wuppertal, installed german equipment. The first delivery to Finland consisted of seven Cyclone-engined aircraft, arriving in Finland between June 23rd and 30th in 1941. They were given serial numbers Cuc 501... .507. They were accompanied by nine Twin Wasp-engined aircraft which were given. serial numbers Cuw-551.. .559. The second delivery arrived between July 28th and August 2nd. All eleven were Twin Wasp-engined and they were given serial numbers Cuw-560... 570. A later delivery on December 5,1941 brought two more Twin Wasp-engined aircraft. The serial numbers were made uniform, the newcomers being given CU-571 . . . 572. So far all the aircraft had been shipped in wooden crates. They were assembled at the State Aircraft Factory and delivered directly to the squadrons. In spring 1943 further fifteen Hawk 75A's were bought from the German War Booty Depot. These aircraft had served in the French Air Force three years earlier. They were brought from Dusseldorf by Finnish pilots. The first four arrived onJune 13th and the next five on July 4th. In autumn 1943 two more aircraft came on September 11th and one on November 18th. The last three arrived in early 1944; two on January 4th and the last one on January 11th. They were overhauled at the State Aircraft Factory and were given serial numbers CU-573. .. 587.
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