Analysis of German aircraft captured in the Second World War by De Witt Wendell

An Analysis of Captured Nazi Warplanes, extracts from an article published in March 1941 by De Witt Wendell.

An Analysis of Captured Nazi Warplanes, article published in March 1941 by De Witt Wendell.

"British aeronautical engineers have released several highly interesting reports on German warplanes shot down by the RAF.  This article is based on these.  The most interesting and definite information concerning German military airplanes has come, as might be expected, from England.  It has been derived from careful inspections made by British engineers who had the opportunity to survey in leisure and detail the remains of some 3,000 Luftwaffe airplanes that have been shot down on English soil."[1]Most of these aircraft were pretty badly damaged. Some, however, got down in excellent general condition. The result has been that virtually every type that has been used against England has come to be well known to the British. At least one of each type has been inspected, patched where patches were needed and flown again by British pilots so that full details of manoeuvrability, vulnerability, speeds, etc, became available to British fighter pilots.

Most of this information also has been given out for public consumption in England and herewith we present a summary of points disclosed in these inspections of four standard types of German airplanes: the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110, the Junkers Ju 88K and the Heinkel He 111K.

Messerschmitt Bf 109, RAF

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 109F, (Wk. Nr. 6631), coded PH+BE.

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, (Wk. Nr. 1304), coded "White 1", before being painted with RAF roundels and designated AE479.

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, (Wk. Nr. 1304), coded "White 1", from JG76, RAF AE479.  This aircraft was acquired by the RAF in May 1940. It was transferred by the RAF to the USAAF in January 1942.  Phil Butler, War Prizes, p. 12.

During the Second World War, the most active practitioner of ATI was probably the United Kingdom. The first Luftwaffe aircraft flown and evaluated by the British was a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, (Wk. Nr. 1304), RAF AE479, coded White 1 of JG76, that made a forced landing at Woerth in the Bas-Rhin Department of France on 22 November 1939.

AE479 was studied and flown by the French and then given to the British in May 1940. It was promptly ferried to Boscombe Down, England on 3 May 1940, and assigned to Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough on 14 May, where it was flown and tested extensively. In 1942 it was transferred to the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) and on 7 April 1942 it was shipped to the United States on board the SS Drammesfjord, consigned to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.  It arrived there on 14 May 1942, but was damaged beyond repair in a forced landing at Cambridge, Ohio, on 3 November 1942.

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, (Wk. Nr. 4101), "Black 12" from I./JG51, RAF DG200, in flight while serving with No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight.  This aircraft force-landed at Manston, Kent, on 27 November 1940, after being attacked by Supermarine Spitfires of No. 66 Squadron RAF over the Thames estuary.  After repair at the Royal Aircraft Establishment it was delivered to Rolls-Royce Ltd at Hucknall in February 1941 for engine performance tests.  On 8 February 1942 it was passed to the Controller of Research and Development at Hatfield for propeller tests before going on to the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down, and, in March 1942, to No. 1426 Flight at Duxford and later Collyweston.  In 1943, DG200 was put into storage, eventually moving to St Athan in 1969 for refurbishment.  Once restored to its wartime paint scheme, it moved to the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon in 1976, where it is presently on display in the Battle of Britain Hall.  DG200 is seen here being flown without its cockpit canopy, which was removed (and never replaced) while the aircraft was at Hucknall to enable Wing Commander J.H. Heyworth, a Rolls Royce test pilot who was very tall, to fit into the cockpit.  This aircraft is now on display in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

(Mike Freer - Touchdown Aviation Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf-109E-3/B, (Wk. Nr. 4101), "Black 12", operated by I/JG51.  This aircraft force landed at Manston, Kent, on 27 Nov 1940.  It was repaired and flown as RAF DG200 at Hucknall.  Later on. it appeared in the Battle of Britain film before being displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum at RAF St Athan (1969-1978).  It is currently on display in the RAF Museum at Hendon, England.

(Mark Harkin Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4/N, (Wk. Nr. 1190) coded "White 4", 4/JG26 on display in the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, England.

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4/N, (Wk. Nr. 1190) coded "White 4", 4/JG26, originally built as an E-3, is in the Imperial War Museum, London. In September 1940, 1190 was based at Marquise-Est and belonged to 4/JG 26, when it was shot down above Beachy Head. The pilot, Horst Perez, managed to belly-land his airplane and survived. (Wk. Nr. 1190) was initially transferred to Farnborough, but was later exhibited in Canada and the USA. T he aircraft returned to Britain in 1968 in fairly dilapidated condition.  Privately it was partly restored and since 2000 has been displayed in a crash-landing scene at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.

(SAAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 109F, (Wk. Nr. unknown) captured in North Africa.  This aircraft was given South African Air Force markings and serial "KJ-?", on the airfield at Martuba No. 4 Landing Ground in North Africa, January 1943.  It was operated by No. 4 Squadron, SAAF.

Bf 109E-7, (Wk. Nr. 5975) coded Yellow 4, 6/JG5, is preserved in the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, Savannah, Georgia. The aircraft was recovered in the Murmansk area of Russia after being shot down on 10 May 1942.  It was donated to the museum by Warplane Recovery, Bloomfield, Colorado.[9]

(RAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2, (Wk. Nr. 12764), from 2./JG26, was shot down near St Margaret’s Bay, Dover, after combat with Supermarine Spitfires on 10 July 1941.  Designated RAF ES906, this aircraft was repaired and test flown at Farnborough.  It crashed on 20 Oct 1941 and was struck off charge (SoC).

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4, (Wk. Nr. 7232), "White 11", from IV./JG26, RAF NN644.  This aircraft was flown by No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft Circus) Flight based at Collyweston, Northamptonshire, England.  Although painted in RAF colours, the aircraft retains the "White 11" and bomb symbol markings of its former Luftwaffe unit.  It was scrapped post war.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3222844)

RCAF Personnel with a captured Messerschmitt Bf 109, 1945.

(NR ZA Photo)

* Photo.  Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2/Trop, (Wk. Nr. 31010), coded "White 6", JG27, South African National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Bf 109F-2/Trop, (Wk. Nr. unknown), White 2, 1./JG 27. This aircraft was captured on an airfield in 1942, but due to the ravages of time and souvenir hunters, little is known about it.  The unrestored remains are preserved in the South African Museum of Military History, Johannesburg, South Africa.

(Author Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4/Z, (Wk. Nr. 10132) , CD+LZ, 2./JG 5, Stab II./JG 54, on display in the Canada Air and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4/Z, (Wk. Nr. 10132) , CD+LZ, 2./JG 5, Stab II./JG 54, incorporates parts of (Wk. Nr. 26129).  CD+LZ was allocated to JG5 in May/June 1942, where it was assigned to Hauptmann Horst Carganico, an air ace with 15 victories serving with 6. /JG 5.  On 8 August 1942, his aircraft was hit in the fuselage, wings and the oil cooler by gunfire, during an air combat above the Arctic port of Murmansk in the Soviet Union, causing an emergency landing on enemy territory.  Carganico was rescued by a crew flying a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch.  The Soviets recovered 10132, and sent it to the “Museum of the North” in Severomorsk.  In 1995, the Russians sold the plane to Aero Vintage Ltd. in England, where it was restored in its original colours. The restoration team made the decision to preserve the aircraft’s historical integrity, and thus the original bullet holes were not repaired and remain visible.  One of the bullet hits is visible on one of the propeller blades for example.  On 9 June 1999, the plane was transferred to Canada by Canadian Forces aircraft and delivered to the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, where it was reassembled and put on display.

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6/Trop, (Wk. Nr. unknown), RAF VX101. This aircraft crashed on 19 May 1944, and was used for spare parts after its landing accident.

The RAF conducted a number of flight tests on captured examples. RAF VX101 was test flown at war’s end by RCAF S/L Joe McCarthy with the Royal Aircraft Establishment‘s Foreign Aircraft Flight at Farnborough, UK.

Messerschmitt Bf 110, RAF

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 110, heavy fighter/night-fighter in Luftwaffe service.

Construction of the Bf 110 is all-metal, following the general practices of the Bf 109, but here resemblance ceases. The pilot has a very complete set of instruments including a huge Paten gyrocompass mounted in the tail with repeater dials in both the pilot's and gunner, bomber and gunner radioman cockpits. The crew can be either two or three, depending on mission. This ship has been used as a short-range fighter, as a long-range fighter-bomber and as a reconnaissance ship with cameras.

Automatic wing-tip slots and slotted flaps are standard. Flaps are connected with the adjustable tailplane so that when flaps are lowered the tailplane is trimmed to counteract the change that otherwise would occur in the center of pressure on the wings. At the same time the ailerons are drooped to increase the drag and lift.

All forward-firing armament of the Bf 110 is in the nose. A cover that slides forward and lifts off hides four of the rifle-caliber machine guns mounted there. Two 20-mm cannon are in a trough underneath the belly at the nose. The cannon are loaded by the radio operator-rear gunner from a sliding hatch in the floor at his feet. This gunner has a double machine gun firing backward over the tail. This gun has a field of fire 60° vertical and 120° horizontal and is the only rearward protection.

There are ample engine instruments, a Sperry gyro horizon and turn and bank. The radio includes a short-wave transmitter for Morse or voice, a long-wave transmitter and receiver for Morse only and a loop receiver for homing and direction finding. Finally there is a blind approach receiver and indicator for the Lorenz system. All this weighs 358 pounds and is standard for all multi-motored equipment whether fighter, reconnaissance or bomber.

The maximum tankage for which provision is made is 400.4 gallons or 1,820 litres. Most of the Bf 110s, however, have 282-gallon tanks, four in number with one in front and one behind the single spar inboard of each motor. The two front tanks hold 82.5 gallons each and the two aft tanks 58.3 gallons each.

A curious fact is that the landing gear legs are not held up or down by locks as is standard with most other aircraft throughout the world. Hydraulic pressure alone does the job. This probably explains why so many German craft drop an undercarriage leg after combats with British fighters. In the battle a bullet has pierced a pressure line and the resultant loss of pressure releases the retracted leg.

(RAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 110D, (Wk. Nr. 4035, RAF HK846, “The Belle of Berlin” in British markings on a landing ground in North Africa. This aircraft served with II/ZG76 in Iraq and was captured after crash-landing near Mosul in May 1941.  It was flown as a communications aircraft and later as a unit ‘hack’ by RAF No. 267 Squadron until it was damaged beyond repair in a gear up landing.

(RAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 110 C-5, (Wk. Nr. 2177), coded 5F+CM, flew with Luftwaffe reconnaissance unit 4(F)/14.  It force-landed at Goodwood Racecourse, Sussex, after being hit by gunfire, on 21 July 1940.  RAF AX772.

(RAF Photos)

Messerschmitt Bf 110 C-5, (Wk. Nr. 2177), coded 5F+CM, repaired at Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough with parts of another Bf 110 that was shot down near Wareham on 11 July.   It was flown for the first time on 15 February 1941.  Later it was tested at RAE Duxford wearing a new colour scheme and designated RAF AX772.  After the trials, the aircraft was assigned to No. 1426 Squadron.  It was stored in November 1945 and subsequently scrapped in November 1947.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4/R8, (Wk. Nr. 180560) captured at Eggebek.  Designated RAF AM15, this aircraft was struck off charge on 30 May 1946.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4/R3, (Wk. Nr. 730037), captured at Grove, Denmark.  Designated RAF AM30, this aircraft was scrapped at Farnborough in 1946.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G, (Wk. Nr. 180850), captured by the RAF.  It was not allocated an Air Ministry number, and was scrapped.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4/R6, (Wk. Nr 730301) with FuG220 radar, captured at Grove, Denmark.  Designated RAF AM34, this aircraft is preserved in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4/R6, (Wk. Nr. 730301) with FuG220 radar, captured at Grove, Denmark in May 1945.  Designated RAF AM34, this aircraft is displayed in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4/R8, (Wk. Nr. 180551), captured at Kastrup, Denmark.  Designated AM38, this aircraft was likely scrapped at Kastrup.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G-5/R1, (Wk. Nr. 420031), captured at Eggebek.  Designated RAF AM85.  This aircraft was scrapped at Brize Norton in 1947.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G, (Wk. Nr. unknown).  Designated RAF AM86.  This aircraft was possibly scrapped at West Raynham.

Messerschmitt Bf 110G, (Wk. Nr. unknown).  Designated RAF AM88.  This aircraft was scrapped at Schleswig.

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, RAF

(RAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bomber formerly in Italian service in North Africa.  Its pilot was forced to land behind British lines after running out of fuel.  Of the ten aircraft forced to land only this one remained airworthy.

Junkers Ju 87D-3, No. 601 Squadron captured at the aerodrome LG 13, Sidi Haneish, North Africa in Nov 1942.  The RAF gave it the Squadron code UF, and 601 Squadron flew the aircraft from Nov 1942 to Feb 1943.  (RAF Photo)

(Kogo Photos)

Junkers Ju 87G-2 Stuka, (Wk. Nr. 494083) on display in the RAF Museum, Cosford.  This aircraft was captured at Eggebek in Schleswig-Hostein, Germany in May 1945.  No Air Ministry number was allocated.

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bomber displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum was captured by British troops in Germany in 1945  It is thought to have been built in 1943–1944 as a D-5 before being rebuilt as a G-2 variant, possibly by fitting G-2 outer wings to a D-5 airframe.  After the war, it was one of 12 captured German aircraft selected by the British for museum preservation.  In 1967, permission was given to use the aircraft in the film Battle of Britain and it was repainted and modified to resemble a 1940 variant of the Ju 87.  The engine was found to be in excellent condition and there was little difficulty in starting it, but returning the aircraft to airworthiness was considered too costly for the filmmakers, and ultimately, models were used in the film to represent Stukas.  In 1998, the film modifications were removed, and the aircraft returned to the original G-2 configuration.  This aircraft has also been reported as Junkers Ju 87B, (Wk. Nr. 5763), RAF HK827.  Junkers Ju 87B-1, (Wk. Nr. 087/5600), S2+LM from II./StG77 was reported as being on the scrap area at Farnborough in Dec 1946.

(USAAF Photos)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bomber, S7+EP captured in North Africa, 1943.

(USAAF Photos)

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, dive-bombers being examined by American forces.

(Author Photos, 19 Apr 2018)

Junkers Ju 87R2/Trop Stuka, dive-bomber, (Wk. Nr. 5954), on display in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, Illinois.  This aircraft was abandoned in North Africa and found by British forces in 1941.  The Ju 87 was donated by the British government and sent to the USA during the war.  It was fully restored in 1974 by the EAA of Wisconsin.

Other Ju 87 survivors include a Junkers Ju 87 R-2, (Wk. Nr. 0875709) owned by the Flying Heritage Collection, Paine Field, Everett, Washington under a long-term restoration to fly.  It served bearing theStammkennzeichen of LI+KU with 1./St.G.5, and was recovered to the United Kingdom in 1998 before being sold to the FHC.  It is likely to be the best candidate for an airworthy restoration.  Other Ju 87 aircraft survive as wreckage, recovered from crash sites.  The Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin has the wreckage of two complete aircraft that were recovered from separate crash sites near Murmansk in 1990 and 1994.  These wrecks were purchased from New Zealand collector Tim Wallis, who originally planned for the remains to be restored to airworthy condition, in 1996.  The Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum displays the remains of an aircraft that crashed near Saint-Tropez in 1944 and was raised from the seabed in 1989.  In October 2006, a Ju 87 D-3/Trop. was recovered underwater, near Rhodes.  Junkers Ju 87 B-2 9801, (Wk. Nr. 0406) is under reconstruction at Yugoslav Aeronautical Museum.

Junkers Ju 88, RAF

(RAF Photos

Junkers Ju 88A-6, (Wk. Nr. 6073), M2+MK of 2/KuFlGr. 106.  RAF HM509, of No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft Circus) Flight based at Collyweston, Northamptonshire, parked in front of the hangars at Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, during the unit's 11th tour of operational stations giving flying demonstrations. Formerly of Kustenflieger 106, this aircraft fell into British hands on 26 November 1941 when its crew became disorientated following an abortive anti-shipping sortie in the Irish Sea and landed by mistake at Chivenor, Devon.  HM509 joined No. 1426 Flight, then at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, on 11 December 1941, remaining with them until 26 July 1944, when it was struck off charge after being damaged in a ground loop at RAF Thorny Island on 19 May 1944.  Though not seriously damaged, it was cannibalized for spares for other Ju 88s operated by the unit.  It may have been painted yellow on its underside.

The Junkers Ju 88A1 is a 25,000-pound dive bomber. Most surprising of all facts elicited from an examination of this plane is its size as evidenced by the following dimensions: span, 59 ft.; length, 46.6 ft.; height, 15 ft.

British engineers who examined several of these airplanes decided that it originally was conceived as a heavy bombardment plane but changed to a dive bomber when in production. The wing spars show how they were strengthened after originally conceived, the diving brakes were added afterward and, as a result, they do not retract into the wing but merely lie against its lower surface. Finally, there are the external bomb racks for releasing of bombs in the dive when their release from internal racks became impossible.

The original Ju 88 was a two-crew bomber of highly streamlined shape and with two 1,200-hp Junkers Jumo 211 engines, did 324 mph for 1,200 miles over a two-way course in which wind could have had no effect. But the service form of the ship has a top speed of only 290 mph due to all these excrescences which cut down its performance radically.

As it is in service, it is capable of being used both as a dive bomber and as a horizontal bomber. There is a bomb-aimer's position in the nose, with a nose machine gun for horizontal bombing. The pilot also has a Zeiss dive-bombsight in front of his windscreen. This is altogether different than the horizontal sight. Just what the maximum angle to which Ju 88s are dived is not known. One ship shot down in England had a diving line on the fuselage at 45°. This is the line which the pilot brings the horizon when diving at 45°. Others, however, have lines at 40°, 50°, 60° and 70° Apparently these were put on by the pilots at their own discretion. Dive bombing is not very effective unless it is done from angles of 60° to 80° when great accuracy and penetration is obtained.

The Ju 88s have one amazing feature, the so-called automatic pullout for diving. Actually, this device merely indicates to the pilot that it is time to pull out and helps him do this. It works like this:

When the diving brakes are lowered (by hydraulic ram) hydraulic pressure is applied to one side of a piston and moves the elevator servo tab to the nose-heavy dive position. When the bomb is released electrically, a quick-release of pressure on the piston comes into play and this reverses the servo control at the tail and endeavors to return the tab to level flight position. The pilot feels the movement backward of the control column and is helped in raising the nose.

For dive-bombing this plane carries four 500-pound bombs externally. In addition, internally for horizontal bombing it can carry 16 bombs each of 110 pounds. This gives a gross bomb load of 3,960 pounds. Total fuel capacity for the airplane can be 770 gallons. But maximum bomb and maximum fuel loads cannot be combined. The plane can take either 510 gallons and its full bomb load, or its full fuel load and four 500 pound bombs.

The Ju 88 first came out with no defense under the tail, apparently its speed was expected to be its defense. But combat changed that. A backward firing gun was installed in a cupola under the nose. The one gun firing upward over the tail was augmented by three others.

A device unusual on American planes that the Ju 88 has as standard, is a "control surface brake." This is a hydraulic brake put on movement of all control surfaces at the pilot's will. Apparently it is put there to prevent flutter in its early stages. No brake could do anything against really well developed flutter, of course. But this is apparently used because speeds developed in dives have caused the Ju 88s controls to develop incipient flutter. This is a unique approach to the flutter problem.

Last of all, the Ju 88 has exhaust-heat wing de-icing. Air taken behind the engine radiator is heated by contact with the exhaust stubs and then flows along piping to the leading edge of the wing. Here it enters a D-shaped duct formed by the curve of the leading edge and a vertical sheet of metal. In its passage the air heats the wing tip and is then discharged at the wing tip into the interior of the wing so that control hinges and pulleys do not freeze at high altitude. A standard Goodrich-type of pulsating boot de-ices the leading edges of the tail.

All the multi-engined German planes have the now famous German self-sealing fuel tanks. These are of five layers: the outer one of vulcanized rubber. Under this is a series of layers of partly hardened rubber. Then comes a layer of raw rubber that swells and plugs holes when gasoline reaches it. Under the raw rubber is a layer of tanned leather and finally the fuel is held in a fiber tank. The whole affair is light, immensely strong and works to perfection. It weighs about half a pound to the gallon, a figure comparable to that of dural tanks.

Because of space limitations we can merely touch on the German engines, Daimler-Benz and Junkers. Both types have direct injection of solid fuel into the cylinder and both have the fine hydraulic-coupled supercharger drive. This drive is similar to the fluid drive now developed for certain US automobiles, with this exception: oil for the coupling is supplied according to an inverse ratio of outside air density. Little oil in thick air at the ground, much oil in the thin air at altitude. The result is that there is considerable slippage in the blower drive near the ground but great efficiency at altitude.

The effect is to prevent the engines from being abused by opening throttles on the ground. Many of these engines also have a mechanism that prevents them from being abused at takeoff. This gives the pilot a predetermined period of full throttle operation after which the engine will revert to its maximum power rating for continuous operation.

[1] This article was originally published in the March, 1941, issue of Flying and Popular Aviation magazine, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp 14-17, 64, 66, and 68.

Heinkel He 111K

(RAF Photos)

Heinkel He 111H-1, (Wk. Nr. 6853), RAF AW177, coded 1H+EN of II/KG26, that made a forced landing with only minor damage in an open field in at North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland, after combat with a Spitfire of No. 602 Squadron on 9 February 1940.  AW177 is shown here being test flown in England. This aircraft crashed at RAF Polebrook on 10 November 1943 while carrying a number of 1426 Flight ground crew as passengers. The pilot, F/O Barr, and six others were killed, four were injured.

Heinkel He 111H bomber, which was abandoned by the Luftwaffe during the retreat after the Battle of El Alamein on a landing ground in Libya after being “commandeered” by the RAF’s No. 260 Squadron.  The aircraft was put into service and hand-painted RAF roundels were added along with the squadron letters “HS-?”.  It was often flown to Alexandria for mess supplies.  (RAF Photo)

The Heinkel He 111K is Germany's first modern bomber to go into service and is its heavy bombardment plane even today. The series numbers on the latest He 111Ks are H or No 8 in the modified types. It is a large machine as the following tabulation will show:

Nearly 20 feet less span in the He 111K is carrying slightly over a ton more load than the Douglas DC-3 of approximately the same class, as to power. The normal gross of the He 111K is the absolute maximum for the DC-3. Where the DC-3 cruises at 190 mph at 7,000 feet with its 1,100-hp Cyclone motors, the Heinkel buzzes along at 215 mph. Where the Douglas has a range with full load of 1,100 miles, the Heinkel has 2,100 miles. The Douglas lands at sea level at 65 mph; the Heinkel at 74.

The British report that the Heinkel is a nice airplane to fly, comfortable and manoeuvrable. It is well-built and well-planned. It is entirely of metal with the standard German flush riveting. The pilot sits on the port side of the unsymmetrical nose. He has no extruded cabin, merely sitting in a fully streamlined and pointed nose section which is highly efficient aerodynamically. This nose is almost entirely Plexiglas so that, despite being sunk well inside the fuselage, the pilot has wonderful vision and must feel very exposed.

Instruments (of which there are full complements) are arranged on a dashboard on the cabin roof. Throttles are at his left side as in a single-engined ship. There is no co-pilot's place, although the wheel control may be lifted over as in American Waco biplanes and other small craft, so an auxiliary or relief pilot may fly the Heinkel from a makeshift seat. Because the pilot is open to glare of sun or searchlight, circular glare shields that resemble fans that once were standard equipment for milady in the Victorian era, are fitted on the control column, on the roof and at each side of the cabin. When not unfolded into their round shield shape, these fans collapse into a compact line.

At the pilot's right is the tip-up seat for the navigator-bomb aimer. A padded trap in the floor covers the bombsights, which are used by lifting off this cover. The bomb aimer also becomes the front cupola gunner in combat, fitting a single .312-caliber gun on a pin fitting that is not particularly manoeuvrable nor does it have an effectively wide field of fire.

Behind the pilot is the bomb compartment between the wing spars. Bombs are carried in vertical racks and provision is for eight 550-pound bombs in most ships examined thus far. With this bomb load of 4,400 pounds the ship is given a maximum fuel load of 760 gallons weighing 5,700 pounds, since these are Imperial gallons (one quart more than standard US gallons).

The rear top gunner has a swinging cradle seat from the roof. The aft lower gunner lies in a trough firing a gun backward and downward. Two other guns have been provided the crew for firing directly out to port and starboard, since British fighters have commenced making what they call beam attacks to take advantage of the lack of protection at angles of 90° to the line of flight.

The loop antenna in the Heinkel is just inside the Plexiglas shield over the rear top gunner's firing position, where it adds no drag in flight. It is somewhat in the way of the gunner and, in one ship the British brought down, it was found the rear gunner had fired right through the mast holding this antenna.

A label found in the cockpits of the Heinkels gave the following flying directions: Take off with propellers at 11.50 on the clock dials that show the propeller pitch position. At this reading they are in fine pitch and allow high revs. Take off and climb for one minute at 2,400 rpm and 1.35 atmospheres of boost (a manifold pressure of about 38 inches of mercury). For continuous cruising below 19,685 feet, 2,100 rpm and 1.10 atmospheres (30.8 inches of mercury). Cruising above 20,000 feet, 2,300 rpm and 30 inches. In a dive, rpm must not exceed 2,500. Flaps must not be lowered at more than 200 kilometers (124 mph) or 1,700 rpm.

(RAF Photo)

Heinkel He 111H, (Wk. Nr. unknown), captured in North Africa in 1942.  Designated HS-? by the RAF, it was named "Delta Lily" and flown by No. 260 Squadron.  It was scrapped in Egypt in 1947.

Before narrowing the field to one ship it should be remarked that these German craft are not inferior creations. General workmanship is of the highest sort. There is no indication of the use of ersatz material, except where such ersatz materials perform their work better than natural materials. Stories about wooden wheels on German ships, shortage of instruments, shortage of rubber, and shortage of gasoline, all are branded false by the evidence of the German airplanes themselves.

The British report that the German planes have radio equipment that is described as "bewildering in its profusion and complexity. The best quality of rubber (a material in which many said Germany was exceptionally short) is found in an equal profusion. The British add that there is more rubber in German airplanes than in British machines. Tires are excellent, most of them made by German Dunlop or Continental factories.

Fuel and oil found in the aircraft indicate no shortages in these vital essentials. Most of the German planes have the signs of 87-octane fuel stamped on their tanks. But invariably analysis of the fluid in the tank shows it to be of 90 to 92 octane, better than prescribed. Oil in German engines is used slightly longer than in British ships,  but airline practice in the United States indicates that oil, unless fouled by bits of carbon or metal scrapings, is improved by use.

Maintenance practices as shown by the German machines are ahead of either British or American at this time. Each particular system, electrical, exhaust, hydraulic, fuel, lubricants, etc., has its own color on all pipes, fillers, levers and controls appropriate to that service. For instance, all oil pipes are painted brown as are oil radiator connections, shutter controls in cockpits, etc.

Here is the complete list: fuel, yellow; oil, brown; hydraulics, brown with red ring; glycol and water (motor coolant), green; oxygen, blue with two white bands; compressed air gun gear, blue with one red band; undercarriage gear, blue with two red bands.

All overflow pipes or outlet pipes are painted blue with a band of the color of system they serve. All points of connection where couplings can be loosened are painted on each side of the coupling with small red crosses. The beauty of the system is that it applies to all military craft, from evidence available. The fighters and bombers had exactly the same markings for similar systems.

The RCAF motto, originally Per Ardua ad Astra, is now Sic itur ad Astra (Such is the pathway to the Stars).

Squadron Leaders McCarthy and Somerville flew aircraft that had been collected as part of the Royal Air Force dissolution of the Luftwaffe in the British Zone of Occupation.  A brief summary of some of this activity is presented here.

British Air Forces of Occupation Germany, Dissolution of the Luftwaffe, Volume II, Feb 1944 – Dec 1946, Air HQ BAFO July 1947

The preparation of disbandment plans for the Luftwaffe arose “out of the decisions of the Allied Governments that after the final defeat of Germany she must not rise again as a military power...”  The “operation for the complete and permanent destruction of the German military machine” was given the codename Operation “Eclipse”.  This operation covered the disbandment of the German Air Force (GAF) comprising GAF formations and units; GAF Flieger Regiments (except those fighting with the German Army in a ground role); Women’s Auxiliaries employed in the GAF; National Socialist Flying Corps (NSFK); GAF Field Divisions; GAF Fortress Battalions; and all GAF Flak Units including Heimat Flak (Static Flak) and RAD Flak Units but not German Naval and Army Flak Units.  For security, ease of control and administration, the discharge of all German Wehrmacht (armed forces) personnel (i.e. German Army, Navy and Air Force and para-military) was effected in the British Occupied Zone of Germany by the British Army with RAF assistance where necessary.[1]

RAF disarmament staffs and the staff of Britain’s 21 Army Group agreed on the centralization of the disbandment function at Group/District level, with the establishment for disbandment and GAF Administration based on four RAF Groups, Nos. 2, 83, 84 and 85, working in parallel with the four military districts into which the British Occupied Zone of Germany was to be divided. [2]

(RAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 88R-1 night fighter captured by British forces at Copenhagen-Kastrup airfield, Denmark, May 1945.

“When Germany surrendered, the bulk of the German Western Armies and Air Forces were located in the Emden/Wilhelmshaven Peninsula, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and Western Holland, the area for the most part of which No. 83 Group ultimately became responsible.”[3]

No. 84 Group became responsible for GAF personnel in the province of Hanover, Land Oldenburg, Land Brunswick and the Frisian Islands east of an including Borkum.  No. 2 Group was responsible for the southern area of the British Zone.  Many German PW were located in Belgium.  As of May 1945 the RAF was responsible for the disbandment of some 490,000 German PW, largely administered by the 2nd Tactical Air Force (Rear), with its HQ located in Brussels, Belgium. The RAF disbandment control staff operated in close liaison with 21 Army Group based at Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.

By the end of July 1945, 93,734 GAF personnel had been discharged or released.  By the end of August 1945, 260,591 GAF personnel had been discharged or released, with number rising to 298,131 by the end of September 1945.  Contact with the Russian and French Zones resulted in transfers of discharged personnel to these locations as well, and by the end of April 1946, 517,883 GAF personnel had been discharged or released to other zones and 21,089 were employed in labour units.  In March 1946 PW from the USA began to arrive at the ports of Antwerp and Hamburg.

Early in July 1945, Operation Shuttle was put into effect as a result of negotiation between the British and American Zone to arrange for the exchange of surrendered German personnel and PW according to Zone domicile.  Germans held in the British Zone and Belgium whose homes were in the American Zone were transferred there and vice versa (85,886 GAF transferred to the US Zone, 36,318 to the British Zone). [4]

The main body of the female personnel of the Luftwaffenhelferinnen (GAF equivalent to the WAAF) was located in the Schleswig-Holstein area with lesser numbers in Denmark.  22,248 were quickly discharged from the British Zone.  162 were transferred to the Russian Zone at a later date.

“In view of the fact that certain of the GAF staff officers of KG 200 (a Luftwaffe formation specialising in rocket projectiles) were required for interrogation, it was decided to “freeze” all the personnel of this unit as a precautionary measure and instructions were issued accordingly to No. 83 Group on 10 Aug 1945.” [5]  The last of the KG 200 Officers were released on 21 Dec 1945.

Concerning discipline of captured GAF personnel, all punishments notified in German summary proceedings were reviewed by the RAF Groups.  In accordance with a general policy agreed by Army, Royal Navy and RAF, GAF personnel were subject to the summary jurisdiction of their German commanders and to their own Courts Martial, but under the close supervision of the RAF and subject always to Military Government Law.  The summary jurisdiction allowed to the GAF was, in the main, the same as during the war, German commanders having the powers rendered through Groups to Air Headquarters for review in order to ensure that they accorded with current Military Government policy.  Similarly, GAF Court Martial jurisdiction continued under close supervision and control. [6]

Directives for the disposal of enemy war material were produced by the Air Disarmament Planning Staff of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in 1944 culminating in the SHAEF “Handbook Governing Policy and Procedure for the Military Occupation of Germany” (known as the “Military Occupation Handbook”) issued in December 1944.  The Handbook classified enemy war material in five disposal categories:  One – required for intelligence and technical research.  Two – required for us by the forces in the field (including Civil Affairs/Military Government).  Three – required for use in other theatres of war.  Four – other general requirements of the United Nations.  Five – requiring special handling. [7]

Another early task was the preparation of a “List of GAF Equipment and Material to be retained for examination” (Retention List).  Obtaining ex-enemy material for technical research and development purposes became a priority.  The obtaining of specimens of enemy equipment, much of it unknown to the Allies proceeded under three sections, I – Category One equipment, II - Operation Medico, and III - Operation Surgeon.  I applied to individual items or ranges of equipment, while II and III covered projects for the basic equipment of colleges and research establishments in the United Kingdom.  The Dominions and the USA were also concerned in obtaining Category One material. [8]

The UK and the USA developed a common approach to all questions concerning enemy war material in August 1944.  They established a Combined Intelligence Objective Sub-Committee (CIOS) which was appointed by the Combined Chiefs of Staff as the governing authority on disposal policy so far as technical research was concerned.  Three lists of requirements were compiled, (a) The CIOS black list; (b) Development and Research departments of the Ministry of Aircraft Production; and, (c) Air Ministry (DGE) and Specialist Branches.  The black list was a combined list of intelligence objectives agreed by both the UK and USA authorities.

(RAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 88 destroyed at Brunswick, Germany, being examined by British and American soldiers.

(RAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Bf 110 destroyed/wrecks near Brunswick airfield, Germany, being examined by RAF personnel.

Any material likely to be of intelligence value was to be examined by qualified Air Technical Intelligence (ATI) Officers before it was destroyed or otherwise disposed of.  To ensure this took place liaison and an interchange of reports took place between ATI and Air Disarmament personnel.  As collection and disposal of key items took place 135 items or ranges on the Category One list were treated as Top Secret, with disposal of such items being reserved to the Dominions, the USA and India.  Eventually 2,582 tons of Category One equipment was dispatched from Germany. [9]

Arrangements were made to obtain ex-Luftwaffe stocks of equipment and material for the British Government-sponsored College of Aeronautics at Cranfield under Operation Medico.  This material included Testing machines, Equipment for the Physical, Chemical, Jet Engine and Fuel and Oil laboratories, Aircraft Electrical Equipment, Engine and Ignition Accessories, Electronic Equipment, Electrical Strain Gauging and Vibration Testing Equipment, Mechanical Testing and Foundry and Heat Treatment Equipment, Material and Equipment required for the study of Plastics and Synthetics, Mettallography and for the Museum.

Most of the equipment collected for the College came from GAF sources.  These items included machine tools, test equipment from the factories that made them.  Equipment collected in Berlin from the Luftfahrt Akademie and Luftfahrt Gerätewerke included optical equipment, a technical library, instructional sectioned engines and components (including British, American, French and German engines), wind and smoke tunnels, photographic equipment, high duty compressors, a sectioned Junkers u 88 fuselage, vacuum test chambers, gyro test equipment and laboratory equipment.  A variety of equipment was located in the No. 83 Group area, including radar items, oscillographs, epidiascopes, microscopes, cine projectors, instructional field and drawing office material.  1,029 tons of material was despatched to Cranfield.[10]

Operation Surgeon dealt with the evacuation of research plant and material from ex-Luftwaffe resource establishments for removal to their counterparts in the UK.  There were five principal targets, including the research establishments at Volkenrode (wind tunnels), Gottingen, Detmold (Focke-Wulf factory), Trauen and Reyershausen.  Test equipment was obtained from a high speed tank at the Institut für Seeflugwesen at Finkenwerder, near Hamburg.  Additional items came from Berlin.[11]

(RAF Photo)

Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, STOL reconnaissance aircraft, RAF VX154, being boarded by Royal Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Harry Broadhurst, Air Officer Commanding the Desert Air Force, at the Advanced Headquarters of the DAF at Lucera, Italy.  Broadhurst acquired the captured German communications aircraft in North Africa, had it painted in British markings and used it for touring the units under his command. Broadhurst took command of the DAF in January 1943, becoming (at the age of 38) the youngest Air Vice-Marshal in the Royal Air Force.  He continued flying the Storch while commanding the 2nd Tactical Air Force in North-West Europe.

Four Messerschmitt Me 410 Hornisse were surrendered at Sylt and were initially designated by RAF as USA 16, USA 17, USA 18 and USA 19.  They were likely scrapped at Sylt.

Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann, trainer and light transport (Wk. Nr. unknown), captured at Husum.  Designated RAF AM121, this aircraft was likley scrapped at Woodley, England.

Bücker Bü 181C-3 Bestmann, trainer and light transport (Wk. Nr. 120417), captured at Husum.  Designated RAF AM121, this aircraft held Reg No. G-AKAX until it was scrapped at Denham, England in 1950.

(Author Photo, 26 March 2013)

Bücker Bü 181 Bestmann, trainer and light transport on display in the Fantasy of Flight Museum, Polk City, Florida.

Practical employment of some of the equipment acquired, such as Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, Bücker Bü 181, Siebel Si 204 and Messerschmitt Bf 108 communication aircraft took place for a period.  Eventually they were returned to the Disarmament organization for disposal.  A large amount of signals equipment was also absorbed although much of it went to the Army.  Clothing, equipment for the labour force (Dienstgruppen), furniture and barrack stores as well as yachts and gliders for recreational and training purposes were taken into use.[12]

(Bundesarchiv Photo Bild 146-1975-117-26)

Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, being wheeled into position by its German launch crew.

Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76

The Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76, was a small, fixed-wing pilotless aircraft powered by a pulsejet engine mounted above the rear fuselage. In effect, it was the world’s first operational cruise missile, and incorporated a simple flight control system to guide it to its target, an air log device to make it dive to the ground after travelling a preset distance and a warhead packed with high explosive. The first of these weapons landed in the London area in the early hours of 13 June 1944.[1]

The V-1 (Vergeltungswaffe Eins, or Vengeance Weapon One), name was given to it by Josef Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry, but the original Air Ministry designation was Fieseler Fi 103, after its airframe designer, the Fieseler company. The missile also had the cover names of Kirschkern (Cherry Stone) and Flakzielgerät (Flak Target Device) 76 (FZG 76).  Powered by a simple but noisy pulsejet, thousands were launched on British and continental European targets from June 1944 to March 1945. [2]

There are at least 54 Fi 103 Flying bombs on display in museums around the world, including a V-1 on display in the Deutsches Technik Museum in Berlin.[3]

(Author Photos)

Canada.  Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, on display in the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Canada.   Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, preserved in the Canada Air and Space Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

(Rob Tracz Photo)

Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, RCAF Station Clinton, Ontario, ca 1950s.

(Martin Richards Photo)

Fieseler Fi 103, V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, mounted on a partial ramp section, at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.  The museum also has a partially recreated launch ramp with a mock–up V-1 displayed outside.

England.  Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, on display in addition to a V2 rocket at the RAF Museum Hendon, north London.

England.  Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, on display in front of a V2 rocket in the RAF Museum Cosford.

England.  Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, on display at the Aeropark at East Midlands Airport.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3239436)

France.  Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb, wreckage being examined by a Canadian soldier and a member of the French Resistance (F.F.I.), Foucarmont, France, 5 September 1944.

(IWM Photo)

Fieseler Fi 103 V-1, FZG 76 flying bomb factory, Germany.

(USAAF Photo)

(USAAF Photo)

(USAAF Photo)

Fi 103R Reichenberg Re III, trainer version.

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re III

The Reichenberg Fi 103A-1/RE-III was the trainer version of the RIV. The front position was for the flight instructor. Two fuselages were found by the allied forces at the end of the War, at Tramm, near Dannenbergbut, Germany. Length: 8 m (26.24 ft) Wingspan: 5.72 m (18.76 ft) Loaded weight: 2,250 kg (4,960 lb) Power plant: 1 × Argus As 014 pulse jet, 350 kgf (770 lbf). Performance: Max speed: 800 km/h (500 mph (in diving flight) Cruise speed: 650 km/h (400 mph). Range: 330 km (205 miles).

The idea of putting a pilot in the Fi 103 V1 for special operations was proposed by Hanna Skorzeny, Otto Skorzeny and Heinrich Lange. Lange sought to form a special group of pilots who if need be would sacrifice themselves. At the same time the DFS were looking into such a idea since 1943, because tests using the Me P.1079 (Me 328) had found it was unsuitable. In 1944 the DFS was given the go ahead to develop such a weapon, given the code name "Reichenberg". With in fourteen days the DFS had designed, built, and tested the five different models needed to convert the volunteer pilots.  By October 1944 about 175 R-IVs were ready for action.

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re I: Two man unpowered trainer

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re II: Two man powered trainer

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re III: One man powered trainer

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV: Operational model

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re V: Powered trainer for the He 162 with a shorter nose

The Re I was towed in to the air by a Henschel Hs 126, all the rest were air launched from the Heinkel He 111 H-22.  Volunteers were trained in ordinary gliders in order to give them the feel of unpowered flight.  The pilots then progressed to special gliders with shortened wings which could dive at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour (190 mph).  After this, they progressed to the dual-control Re II.

Training began on the Re I and Re II and although landing the aircraft on a skid was difficult, it handled well, and it was anticipated that the Leonidas Squadron would soon be using the machines.  Albert Speer wrote to Hitler on 28 July 1944 to say that he opposed wasting the men and machines on the Allies in France and suggested it would be better to deploy them against Russian power stations.

The first real flight was performed in September 1944 at the Erprobungsstelle Rechlin, the Reichenberg being dropped from a He 111. However, it subsequently crashed after the pilot lost control when he accidentally jettisoned the canopy.  A second flight the next day also ended in a crash, and subsequent test flights were carried out by test pilots Heinz Kensche and Hanna Reitsch.  Reitsch herself experienced several crashes from which she survived unscathed.  On 5 November 1944 during the second test flight of the Re III, a wing fell off due to vibrations, but Heinz Kensche managed to parachute to safety, albeit with some difficulty due to the cramped cockpit.

By October 1944 about 175 Fi 103 Reichenberg Re IV's were ready for combat with some 60 Luftwaffe personnel and 30 personnel from Skorzeny's commando unit, who joined Leonidas Staffel 5.II/KG 200(Heinrich Lange's special unit led by himself) to fly the aircraft in to combat.  Werner Baumbach assumed command of KG 200 in October 1944, however, the whole operation was shelved in favour of the "Mistel" program.  Baumbach and Speer eventually met with Hitler on 15 March 1945 and managed to convince him that suicide missions were not part of the German warrior tradition, and later that day Baumbach ordered the Reichenberg unit to be disbanded.

(RAF Photo)

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV with British troops in 1945.

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV

The Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg IV was basically a manned version of the Fieseler Fi 103, V-1 flying bomb.  The Fi 103R-IV had simple flight instruments in the cockpit and the canopy had guidelines for calculating the correct dive angle for attacks. The Reichenberg was powered by one 772-lb thrust Argus 109 014 pulse-jet engine. It had a maximum speed of 404-mph. Its wing span was 18’9”, and its length was 26’3”.[4]   It was armed with an 850 kg warhead

In theory, this wasn’t a Kamikaze-style suicide weapon, since the pilot was intended to bail out after aiming the aircraft/missile at its target.   In practice, this would have presented certain difficulties, since the cockpit was placed directly underneath the jet intake.   Attacks were to be carried out by the “Leonidas Squadron”, Group V of the Luftwaffe’s Kampfgeschwader 200.

The engine was the same one used on the V-1, one 2.94 kN As 109-014 pulse-jet.  Versions planned were the Fi 103R-I and R-II training gliders, R-III powered trainer, and R-IV operational version. About 175 were built, and a few test flights were made by the R-III, but none flew operationally.[5]

The Leonidas Squadron, part of KG 200, had been set up as a suicide squadron. Volunteers were required to sign a declaration which said, “I hereby voluntarily apply to be enrolled in the suicide group as part of a human glider-bomb. I fully understand that employment in this capacity will entail my own death.” Initially, both the Messerschmitt Me 328 and the Fieseler Fi 103 (better known as the V-1 flying bomb) were considered as suitable aircraft, but the Fi 103 was passed over in favour of the Me 328 equipped with a 900 kilograms (2,000 lb) bomb.

However, problems were experienced in converting the Me 328 and Heinrich Himmler wanted to cancel the project. Otto Skorzeny, who had been investigating the possibility of using manned torpedoes against Allied shipping, was briefed by Hitler to revive the project, and he contacted famous test pilot Hanna Reitsch. The Fi 103 was reappraised and since it seemed to offer the pilot a slim chance of surviving, it was adopted for the project.

The project was given the codename “Reichenberg” after the capital of the former Czechoslovakian territory “Reichsgau Sudetenland” (present-day Liberec), while the aircraft themselves were referred to as “Reichenberg-Geräte” (Reichenberg apparatus).

In the summer of 1944 the DFS (German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight) at Ainring took on the task of developing a manned version of the Fi 103, and an example was made ready for testing within days and a production line was established at Dannenberg.

The V-1 was transformed into the Reichenberg by adding a small, cramped cockpit at the point of the fuselage that was immediately ahead of the pulsejet’s intake, where the standard V-1’s compressed-air cylinders were fitted. The cockpit had basic flight instruments and a plywood bucket seat. The single-piece canopy incorporated an armoured front panel and opened to the side to allow entry. The two displaced compressed-air cylinders were replaced by a single one, fitted in the rear in the space which normally accommodated the V-1’s autopilot. The wings were fitted with hardened edges to cut the cables of barrage balloons.

It was proposed that a He 111 bomber would carry either one or two Reichenbergs beneath its wings, releasing them close to the target. The pilots would then steer their aircraft towards the target, jettisoning the cockpit canopy shortly before impact and bailing out. It was estimated that the chances of a pilot surviving such a bailout were less than 1% due to the proximity of the pulsejet’s intake to the cockpit.[6]

Reichenburg article:

The suicide aircraft Reichenberg originated from a suggestion by Flugkapitan Hanna Reitsch to Hitler at the Berghof on 28 February 1944. She merely stated that the targeting characteristics of the V-l flying bomb were not good and requested permission to fly a V-l to see if the defects could not be improved. At first Hitler demurred, pointing to the more efficient jet aircraft which would soon be available to the Luftwaffe in large numbers. Suddenly, Hitler seemed to turn the matter over in his mind and surprisingly gave her his approval for a small experimental batch.

A senior aeronautical engineer at KdE, Heinz Kensche, was given the task of working on the complex problems. He decided that the development should proceed in five stages:

Re 1 single-seater, landing skid, trainer without engine.

Re 2 two-seater, landing skid, trainer without engine.

Re 3 two-seater, landing skid, trainer, with As 014 ramjet Re 4 single-seater, operational machine, with As 014 ramjet Re 5 single-seater, trainer, short fuselage, with As 014 ramjet

The plan was to give operational versions a thin-shelled SC 800 aerial mine for land objectives and a torpedo warhead for shipping targets. The development lasted from the summer of 1944 to at least March 1945, but no missions were flown with a piloted V-l. A small development team was assembled under the cover name ‘Segelflug GmbH Reichenberg. This had the cooperation of the SS and consisted of three engineers and 15 experienced supervisors and technical staff. Henschel made available a small hangar for the secret construction. Series production was scheduled at Gollnow (Goleniow) near the large Altendamm aerodrome at Stettin. The machines would be made from large sub-assemblies made at Gottartowitz/Upper Silesia (Gotarowice) and Konigsberg, with new cabin and nose components being added. The team started work at once, converting an existing V-l flying bomb to see if it could be flown manually. It had to be simple and based substantially on the standard Fi 103 to spare all unnecessary costs. Above the spartan cockpit was an Argus-Schmidt As 014 ramjet. As a rule the machine would be brought close to the target by a parent aircraft but on release could fly up to 300 kilometres under ramjet power. Once the design was completed, the drawings were forwarded to the manufacturer.

In August 1944 Henschel received a technical proposal for the development and construction of 250 prototypes with ramjet. The Commissioner for the Reichenberg, Engineer Oberst Platz, also ordered 21 two-seater trainers. Large components supplied to Henschel were to be modified and completed with its in-house parts. The final assembly would be at Gollnow in December 1944, although presumably not on the airfield there, since this lay well to the east, and in the end Dannenberg was chosen instead.

Re 1 was to be the only version with a detachable skid. This enabled quick drainage of the fuel. Re 1 V-l was completed by the beginning of September 1944 and transported to Larz near Rechlin. The glider was carried to 4,000 metres by a Rechlin test centre He 111 and released. Pilot on this first flight was engineer Willy Fiedler, who had played a major role in the development. A second pilot, engineer Rudolf Ziegler, injured his spine when making a hard landing on uneven ground near Rechlin and had to retire from the roster. He was replaced by senior engineer Herbert Pangratz who was also seriously injured when forced to make an emergency landing after the cockpit canopy came free.

At the beginning of October 1944 the first Re 2 versions arrived at Larz. Senior engineer Heinz Kensche and Unteroffizier Schenk made the maiden flight in the two seater Re 2 V-l. At midday on 12 October the machine was released from an He 111 H at altitude and returned safely. The next two flights from Larz took place on 13 and 19 October when Schenk partnered pilot Kachel. On further flights from Rechlin, Augstein, Meisner and Pfannenstein occupied the narrow cockpit. During the flight trials in which Hanna Reitsch was involved she crashed two Reichenbergs. It was almost impossible to escape from the aircraft, especially at high speed in gliding flight, the chances of doing so successfully being rated at 100-1.

The first and possibly only Re 3, a two-seater with As 014 ramjet propulsion, flew three times on 4 and 5 November 1944 with Heinz Kensche at the controls. The first two flights were relatively problem-free and lasted about eight minutes. On the third flight, on 5 November, the port wing began to disengage in flight forcing Kensche to bale out at 450 km/hr (280 mph). Only with the greatest difficulty did he manage to free himself from the cockpit and get past the engine. He landed in the Miiritz and swam to the bank. The cause of the defect was heavy vibrations emitted by the ramjet which affected the fuselage. The aircraft was a write-off.

On 28 November Kensche and Leutnant Walter Starbati flew an Re 2 twice at Larz. Starbati had previously been detached to the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau as a test pilot, and at Rechlin he appears to have received the order to test the Reichenberg personally. On 16 January 1945 Starbati flew the series-produced Re 3 (Works No. 10). After reaching speeds between 620 and 650 km/hr at 2,600 metres altitude (385-404 mph at 8,500 ft) he detected slight reverberations in the hull although otherwise the flight attitude was no different from the Re 2. On landing, the ramjet nozzle was found to be damaged which probably accounted for the shuddering in flight. Another long circuit in an Re 3 followed on 17 February, the aircraft picking up speed at 2,000 metres. In the 17- minute flight Leutnant Starbati reached a speed of540 km/hr, repeated in a 16-minute flight the following day.

On 4,22 and 25 February Starbati also flew the Re 4 V-10, the planned operational version of the piloted V-l. After a brief period in the air the fuel system began to leak, making Starbati dizzy. He broke off the flight and ground staff found that he had lost 335 litres of the original 600 litres of fuel since he took off

At this stage the Reichenberg was useless for operations because of instability in flight and needed constant corrections to maintain course but the flight trials at Larz continued.

At the beginning of 1945 the Rechlin-Larz test centre began to consider suitable variants for pin-point attacks by suicide pilots and in the training versions. Leutnant Starbati played a major role. However, he met his fate in a short wingspan Re 3 on 5 March 1945. After reaching a speed between 400 and 500 km/hr at 2,800 metres, as he turned to port both wings detached one after the other. Under ramjet propulsion the fuselage entered a steep dive. Starbati could not open the cockpit hood and died when the machine hit the Nebelsee near Sewekow. After Unteroffizier Schenk also lost his life in a Reichenberg, the Chief-TLR noted in the War Diary on 15 March that, at the suggestion of the Rechlin test centre, OKL and the Kommodore of KG 200 had decided to terminate the project after the most recent fatal accident. Most

Reichenberg aircraft were then put into store at the Neu-Tramm Luftwaffe arsenal since there was no further use for them. On 23 April Major Fritz Hahn surrendered all 700 V-ls and the last 54 secret suicide machines to US forces which had occupied the Muna.  (Last Days of the Luftwaffe, admin)

(RAF Photo)

(RAF Photo)

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV on display at Farnborough, England, Nov 1945.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584067)

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV piloted flying bomb at RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario.  This piloted version of the "Buzz Bomb" was brought to Canada in 1945 by Captain Farley Mowat's Intelligence Collection Team, shown here on display on Air Force Day, 16 June 1947.  This aircraft has recently been put on display in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584520)

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV Air Force Day, RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario, 9 June 1951.

(Author Photos)

Canada.  Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg Re IV piloted flying bomb in the Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.  This is the same R4 as the one shown at RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario in 1949.

(CNE & Exhibition Place Archives, Alexandra Photo Studio Collection Photos (MG5-28-4)

V2 rocket on display at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, Ontario, 1950.  This rocket was recovered from Europe in 1945 by Captain Farlehy Mowat and his DHH Intelligence Collection Team, examined at Camp Valcartier, and shown here at the CNE.  It is believed to be buried somewhere on the grounds of former RCAF Station Clinton, Ontario, ca 1960 (TBC).

When hostilities ceased, Allied Armies had advanced beyond what was to be the eventual boundary between the British, American and Russian zones.  There were huge underground factories at Nordhausen which had been producing V1 and V2 weapons as well as jet engines.  128 V2s, (plus A-4 rocket component parts) were evacuated from Nordhausen before the site was handed over to the Russian forces.

In April 1945 a special agreement was made between the British Army and the RAF for the disposal of V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets under which the RAF was responsible for technical intelligence requirements and the Army for any surplus.  Flak material was disposed of separately.[13]

France received 417 aircraft through a cooperative agreement with the UK and USA.  These included 88 Arado Ar 96B (including 28 cannibalised hulks); one Arado Ar 396; 154 Bücker Bü 181 (including 19 cannibalised hulks); 64 Fieseler Fi 156 Storch; 39 Siebel Si 204; 36 Junkers Ju 52 (including 9 floatplanes); 17 Messerschmitt Bf 108; three Junkers Ju 88G6; seven Heinkel He 162; four Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet; two Messerschmitt Me 262; and two Arado Ar 234.  France also received 2,772 aircraft engines (spare), 3,071 aircraft cannon and machine-guns, more than two million rounds of various ammunition and 3,000 tons of other material.[14]

Holland received a few transport and communications aircraft including a Fieseler Fi 156 and a Siebel Si 204, as well a significant amount of GAF equipment.  Belgium received five Junkers Ju 52 aircraft and a quantity of spare parts.  Denmark received three Junkers Ju 52 and two Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor aircraft which were placed in service with the Danish Airlines Corporation.  Norway was allotted 23 transport and communications aircraft.  Czechoslovakia was allotted three Junkers Ju 52 transports early in 1946.[15]

When hostilities ceased, Allied Armies had advanced beyond what was to be the eventual boundary between the British, American and Russian zones.  There were huge underground factories at Nordhausen which had been producing V1 and V2 weapons as well as jet engines.  128 V2s, (plus A-4 rocket component parts) were evacuated from Nordhausen before the site was handed over to the Russian forces. [16]

(USAAF/RAF Photo)

Captured V2 rocket set up at Altenwalde, Germany, Oct 1945.

(NMUSAF Photo)

V2 rocket on display in the National Museum of the USAF.

Some of the V2 rockets were subsequently used in Operation Backfire.  (Appendix 4 lists 1,368 V1s found in the British Zone of Germany and 2,271 other V weapons, including 2,271 in the British Zone of Germany, 96 in Denmark and 635 in Norway, for a total of 3,002).  The two Dornier Do 335s flown out by the RAF team from Farnborough were actually obtained at Neubiberg, after maintenance carried out by RAF mechanics.  Representatives from RAF Farnborough accompanied three scientists to Munich to inspect the wind tunnel plants and installations located there.

(RAF Photo)

(RAF Photo)

V2 rocket on display in England post war.

The RAF teams visited all the American collection sites and dumps with much of it found at Hanau.  In addition to the V2s, 100 jet engines and between 400 and 500 tons of material were transferred to Farnborough or to concentrations points in the British zone.  In addition, very large quantities of documents were obtained and flown to the Air Ministry.

(RAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 87 hulk designated as scrap by RAF personnel, Flensburg, May 1945.

A total of 4,810 aircraft and 291 gliders were found in the British Zone of Germany and in the liberated countries of Denmark, Norway, Holland and Belgium.  These figures are in respect of serviceable, reparable or otherwise potentially flyable machines and are exclusive of wrecks and hulks which were classified as scrap.  The ground battle had forced the majority of GAF aircraft to the Schleswig area or to Denmark and 579 were found in Norway.

In conjunction with Air Technical Intelligence field teams, representatives from the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough carried out a survey of all aircraft found and a total of 137 aircraft and 16 gliders of varying types was sent to the UK for research purposes and flying trials or for experimental research on special equipment fitted to them.[17]

“The removal of the enormous quantities of components required for the assembly of the V2s found at Nordhausen posed considerable logistical difficulties.  On 5 June 1945, an officer of the Headquarters Armament Staff (Disarmament) left Brussels to take charge of the operation, calling en route at HQ 2 group to brief 6203 and 6212 Bomb Disposal Flights which were to be employed on the task.  It was found on arrival at Nordhausen that the removal of the V2s and component parts was actually to be a combined operation by an Army detachment and that of Air Disarmament, and a distribution of duties was rapidly decided whereby the Army rail-roaded certain stores and the RAF took charge of the more difficult road transportation.”

“The complexity of this novel task became evident as soon as work began.  There were no complete V2s anywhere in the factory but there was an incredible agglomeration of hundreds of different components from 1000-gallon fuel tanks and 30-foot sections of fuselage down to electrical plugs, leads, nuts and bolts.  There were 20 different shapes and sizes of aluminum pipes, many looking exactly alike at first sight, and these were not neatly segregated and docketed but could be found anywhere along the four miles of twin main tunnels or in any of the 39 communicating galleries (each about 200 yards long) of the plant.  There are probably not half a dozen technicians in England who could list every single component which goes to make the enormously complicated V2 and certainly there were no such British or Allied technicians available to the RAF force on the spot.  It was obvious that the removal of hundreds of tons of components would useless if specimens of one or more vital components were missed, and the first thing to be done, therefore, was to ensure the correct identification of every single component and then to ensure that quantities up to 128 of each (subsequently raised to 150) were collected, segregated and transported to a place of safety.”

“Fortunately, it was possible to simplify this problem by using two German technicians who between them assembled in one of the galleries a complete layout of all the components which go to make a V2.  These components were then numbered to avoid confusion, and the search for further components began.  At the beginning of the operation components were sent by road to the railway sidings at Kassel for subsequent onward transmission to Cuxhaven, but this rail-loading point was later changed to Gottingen since the daily journeys (120 km each way), coupled with loading and off-loading operations, were difficult to maintain.  Gottingen offered an easier journey (better roads and a saving of 70 km on the round trip) coupled with adequate guard and rail facilities.  In all, 137 fuel tanks were transported and these, despite the fact that they could be lifted by two men, could only be loaded one to a three-ton lorry, two to a 10-ton lorry or three to a low-loader.”

Between 7 and 18 June 1945 the following components were transported from the assembly plant to either Kassel or Gottingen: 5 complete V2s (found 20 km from Nordhausen); 137 fuel tanks; 205 half fuselages (each 30 feet long); two mobile launching platforms; one trailer compressor; ten lorry loads of pipes and other metallic parts; and 20 lorry loads of mixed electrical equipment.

Other activities carried out by the Air Disarmament task force at the same time included assisting the Army loading their trains; removing three tons of secret electrical equipment found in a private house at Bleicherode some 15 km from Nordhausen; discovering and removing five complete V2s from a warehouse at Kleinbodungen (20 km from Nordhausen); searching a train of 18 damaged V2s in a railway siding at Jerxheim (88 km from Nordhausen) for vital components, such as gyroscopes where were in short supply; and removing launching accessories (including special 30-foot pole supports) from Obegebran, 20 km from Nordhausen.[18]

One of the principle tasks of the British Engineer Branch personnel attached to the Disarmament organization was the repair and servicing of all enemy aircraft allocated to the UK, Dominions and Allies, as well as the destruction of unwanted aircraft, engines and equipment.  As no portable publication existed which contained comprehensive details of German aircraft and aero engines, information was collected to produce a loose-leaf handbook entitled “German Air Force Airframes and Aero Engines” for use in the field.

At the time of the capitulation the majority of the flyable aircraft of the Luftwaffe had been withdrawn and concentrated at airfields north of Hamburg, in Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark.  HQ 83 Group controlled the Disarmament Wings in these areas.  Air Ministry representatives selected all Category One aircraft which were required for transfer to the UK for research purposes at Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough.  These aircraft were serviced by the GAF under the close supervision of RAF Engineer personnel at Wings or Squadrons, some were flown directly to the UK and others were flown to Schleswig Land airfield where they were re-serviced by the RAF mechanics of 409 R and SU, which had been loaned to the Disarmament organization, before they were flown to England.  Pilots for these aircraft were provided by COEF Farnborough, which had a detachment at Schleswig Land airfield. [19]

1,146 GAF aircraft were located at various airfields in Denmark.  37 were selected as Category One for research purposes and 252 were transferred to Germany for various transport and communications tasks, and most of the rest were destroyed.  A combined total of 4,810 aircraft were discovered in the British zones of Germany, Denmark, Norway and Belgium (none were found in Holland).   Overall, a total of 4,106 GAF aircraft were destroyed in Germany and in the liberated countries of Norway, Denmark and Belgium, with 137 preserved as Category One and 73 others sent to the UK, 16 sent to the USA and 478 sent to BAFO or to other Allies. [20]

A total of 12,880 spare aero-engines and 287 jet units were discovered, the majority of which were suitable for only Bomber and Fighter types.  2,772 were sent to the French (Junkers Ju 52 elements being the most required), the remainder were destroyed.

(USAAF Photo)

Arado Ar 234B, (Wk. Nr. 140311), USA 40, FE-1011, Wright Field, Oct 1945.

(USN Photo)

Arado Ar 234B-1, (Wk. Nr. 140489), Watson’s Whizzers 202, USA 5, USN (Bu No. 121445), Jane I.  This aircraft was scrapped at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC) Patuxent River, Maryland.

 (USAAF Photo)

After the war ended, a race began to collect advanced technology. Ar 234s were scattered all over Western Europe, and the British obtained about a dozen of them. The Soviets apparently only recovered one.  For whatever reasons, the Ar 234 had been primarily used in the west.

The Ar 234C was equipped with four BMW 003A engines to free up Junkers Jumo 004s from use by the Me 262. The utilization of four engines improved overall thrust, especially in take-off and climb-to-altitude performance. 15 prototypes of the AR 234C were completed before the end of the conflict. Although Hauptmann Dieter Lukesch was preparing to form an operational test squadron, the Ar 234C was not developed in time to participate in actual combat operations.[6]

Four Ar 234s along with an assortment of other advanced Luftwaffe aircraft and shipped to the USA on the “jeep” carrier HMS Reaper. Three were given to the US Army Air Force and one to the US Navy, though the Navy’s aircraft turned out to be in permanently unflyable condition. One of the three obtained by the USAAF, (Wk. Nr. 140312), was put through intensive tests at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and ultimately handed on to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum, where it is now prominently on display.[7]

(Kogo Photos)

Arado Ar 234B-2, (Wk. Nr. 140312), USA 50, FE-1010, T2-1010, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.  This Ar 234 B-2 was F1+DR, a detail not known when it was restored as F1+GS.  This aircraft and three others were collected by the famous “Watson’s Whizzers” of the USAAF to be shipped back to the United States for flight testing. Two aircraft were given freely but a further two had been traded to Watson by Eric “Winkle” Brown (test pilot and CO of the Enemy Aircraft Flight at the RAE) in exchange for an interview with Hermann Göring who was then being held by the Americans.

The aircraft was flown from Sola to Cherbourg, France on 24 June 1945 where it joined 34 other advanced German aircraft shipped back to the USA aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper. Reaper departed from Cherbourg on 20 July, arriving at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. Upon arrival two of the Ar 234s were reassembled (including 140312) and flown by USAAF pilots to Freeman Field, Seymour, Indiana Indiana for testing and evaluation. 140312 was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010. The fate of the second Ar 234 flown to Freeman Field remains a mystery. One of the remaining two was reassembled by the United States Navy at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for testing, but was found to be in unflyable condition and was scrapped.

After receiving new engines, radio and oxygen equipment, 140312 was transferred to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio and delivered to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Squadron (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division in July 1946. Flight testing was completed on 16 October 1946 though the aircraft remained at Wright Field until 1947. It was then transferred to Orchard Place Airport in Park Ridge, Illinois, and remained there until 1 May 1949 when it, and several other aircraft stored at the airport were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s the Ar 234 was moved to the Smithsonian’s Paul Garber Restoration Facility at Suitland, Maryland for storage and eventual restoration.

The Smithsonian began restoration of 140312 in 1984 and completed it in February 1989. All paint had been stripped from the aircraft before the Smithsonian received it, so the aircraft was painted with the markings of an aircraft of 8./KG 76, the first operational unit to fly the “Blitz”. The restored aircraft was first displayed at the Smithsonian’s main museum building in downtown Washington D.C. in 1993 as part of a display titled “Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234”. In 2005 it became one of the first aircraft moved to the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport.  Today, (Wk. Nr. 140312) is displayed next to the last surviving Dornier Do 335, an aircraft that had accompanied it on its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Reaper over 60 years earlier.

This aircraft is displayed with a pair of Hellmuth Walter designed, liquid-fueled RATO units mounted under its wings. These RATO units may be the only surviving examples to be mounted on an aircraft.[9]

More than 137 Category One aircraft and gliders were flown or transported to England including two Arado Ar 96B (plus 88 to France), two Arado Ar 196, one Arado Ar 232, eight Arado Ar 234 (plus two to the USAAF, two to France and one other), two Blohm &  Voss BV 138 seaplanes, one Blohm und Voss Bv 155B, two Bücker Bü 181 (plus 154 to France), one Blohm und Voss Bv 222C-012, three Dornier Do 24 (plus two to BAFO), three Dornier Do 217, (two Dornier Do 335 Pfiel are not on this list as they were acquired from the USAAF), three Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (plus 82 to France), one Fieseler Fi 256, one Focke-Wulf Fw 58, four Focke-Wulf 190 (plus six to the USAAF), one Focke-Wulf Ta 152, one Focke-Wulf Fw 189, two Focke-Wulf Fw 200, eleven Heinkel He 162 (plus two to the USAAF, two to France and one other), five Heinkel He 219 Uhu (plus three to the USAAF), (plus one Junkers Ju 34 to Norway), three Junkers Ju 52 (plus 63 others to civil aviation, 3 to RAE, and 69 to other countries), (plus one Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, other), thirteen Junkers Ju 88 (plus one to the USAAF and three to France), one Junkers Ju 88/Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Mistel S3B composite, two Junkers Ju 290, four Junkers Ju 352, one Junkers Ju 388, three Messerschmitt Bf 108 (plus 21 to France, (plus two Messerschmitt Bf 109, other), six Messerschmitt Bf 110 (plus one other), twenty-five Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet (plus four to France), four Junkers Ju 188, seven Messerschmitt Me 262 (plus two to the USAF, two to France and one other), three Messerschmitt Me 410, one Siebel Si 104, and ten Siebel Si 204, for total of (more than) 137 aircraft. [21]  In addition 215 gliders were found in Germany and 76 in Norway for a total of 291, of which 269 were put into service in Germany, 16 went to the UK as Category One and 6 others.

[1] An Account of the Part Played by the Royal Air Force in Dissolving the Luftwaffe, Volume II, Feb 1944 – Dec 1946, Compiled from Official Records and Papers by Order of Air Marshall Sir Philip Wigglesworth, KBE, CB, DSC, Air Officer Commanding in Chief BAFO and Chief of the Air Division, July 1947, Air Headquarters British Air Forces of Occupation, pp.  3-4.

[2] Dissolving the Luftwaffe, Volume II, Feb 1944 – Dec 1946, p. 7.

[3] Ibid, p. 13.

[4] Ibid, p. 17.

[5] Ibid, p. 19.

[6] Ibid, p. 20.

[7] Ibid, p. 55.

[8] Ibidp. 67.

[9] Ibid, p. 70.

[10] Ibid, pp. 73-74.

[11] Ibid, pp. 74-75.

[12] Ibid, p. 78.

[13] Ibid, p. 84.

[14] Ibid, p. 87.

[15] Ibid, p. 88.

[16] Ibid, p. 101.

[17] Ibid, p. 109.

[18] Ibid, pp. 121-122.

[19] Ibid, pp. 131-132.

[20] Ibid, pp. 134-136, and Appendix 2.

[21] Dissolving the Luftwaffe, Volume II, Feb 1944 – Dec 1946, pp. 132.

A more detailed list of German warplanes captured and evaluated by Allied forces may be found on this website under the heading "German Warplane Survivors".

Although Canadians did not take part in the evaluation of Japanese Warplanes, a listing of where the survivors can be found is provided in the book.  A selection the Japanese aircraft that were evaluated by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit of South East Asia may be found on this website under the heading "Japanese Warplane Survivors".

A selection of Italian aircraft that were evaluated by the Allies post war may be found under the heading "Italian Warplane Survivors".

(USAAF Photo)

Captured Macchi MC. 202 Folgore, (MM.9476), USA FE-498, now with the NASM, Washington, D.C.

(Cliff Photo)

Macchi MC. 202 Folgore, (MM.9476), USA FE-498, NASM, Washington, D.C.

(USAAF Photo)

Macchi MC.200 Saetta.

(Valdr137 Photo)

Macchi MC.200 Saetta, on display in the National Museum of the USAF, Dayton, Ohio.

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