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LUFfWAFFE

A PICTORIAL HISTORY

UFTWAFFE

A Pictorial History

Eric Mombeek

Contents

Ackno~ledgements

106

132

137

140

151

1. Rebirth of the Luftwaffe

2. Spanish Civil War

3. Before the War, 1938-1939

4. The Polish ampalgn

5. The Phon y War

6. The Campaign in the West

7. The Battle of Britain

8. orway, 1940-1941

9. Marica~Merkur - The Balkan Campaign of Spring 1941

10.

First published in 1997 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire S

This work would not have been possible without the help of many people who were

unstinting with their time, patiently helping me with long correspondence or taking

time to meet me. Many researchers did not he itate to open their own archives and help

me. I want to especially thank Jean-Louis, Jean-Pierre, Marco, Didier and Peter for their

great help.

The photographs come from the following archives:

Wolf Abler, Dan Antoniu, Hans Autenrieth, Dorothea Bacsila, Martin Bau r, Wilhelm

Becker, GLinther Behling, Wolfgang Betz, Hans Biederbick, Karl-Heinz Bottner, Gaston

Botquin, Ehrarc! Braune, Heinrich Brunsmann, Fernand apon, Jean-Pierre hantrain,

Roland Charlier, Remy Chuinard, Jim Crow, Yves Empain, Eppler, Marco Fernandez-

ommerau, Hannes Forke, Richard Franz, Walter Giese, Adolf Glunz, Graphopresse,

Alfred Gri lawski, Manfred Griehl, Hannibal Gude, Hans-Georg GLithenke, Family of

Hans Assi Hahn, Erich Hartmann, Alfred Heckmann, Karl Helber, Martin Hempfling,

Friedheim Henning, Heinrich [euser, Dr Carl Hofner, Rudolf HLibl, Gerhard Huth, Yves

Huard, Wolfdi ter Huy, IHCA (lnstituto de Historia y Cultura Aeronautica, Madrid),

Dragustin lvanic, Alo"is Job, Erich Jung, August Graf von Kageneck, Karl Kern, RLidiger

Kirchmayr, Kurt Klapper, Karl-Heinz Koch, Friederich Korner, Wolfgang Kretschmer,

Kroll, Elias-Paul KLihlein, Josef Lackmann, Ernst Laube, Knut Maesel, John Manhro,

Walter Matthiesen, Juliu Meimberg, Jochen Menke, Hans Meyer, Karl Meyer, August

Michalski, Family of Erich Mix, Eric Mombeek, Hellmuth MLiller, Alfred Nit ch, Gerd

oschinsky, Hans Obert, Reinhold Omert, Karl Opitz via A. Ragatzu, Photos PK, Photo

de Pre se Fran<;:aise, Ales andro Ragatzu, Heinz Richards, Alo"is Riebl, Jean-Louis Roba,

Heinrich von Podewils, Heinrich Sannemann, Ernst cheufele, Karl-Fritz Schlossstein,

Family of Reinhold Schmetzer, Otto Schmid, Gottfried Schmidt, August chneider,

GLinther Scholz, Leo Schuhmacher, Peter Schulz, Franz Selinger, Franz Stadler, Otto

Stahlheber, Gerhard Stiem r, [-Iennig StrLimpell, Peter Taghon, Erwin Teske, Pierre

Tiquet, Family of GLinther Troebs, US Air Force, US National Archives, Jean-Pierr

Van Mol, Jean Verrycken, Frieder Voigt, Walter Waldenberger, Hans-Gerd Wennekers,

Anton Woffen, Hans Wolf, Wolfgang Wollenweber, Werner Zirus

To all of them, my greatest gratitude.

2HR

All rights re erved. 0 part of this

publication may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including

photocopy, recording, or any information

storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publishers.

The Invasion of the USSR, 1941-1942

British Library Cataloguing in

Publication Data

11.

The M diterranean, 1941-1942

12.

In the We t, 1941-1942

A catalogue record (or this book is

available from the British Library.

13.

orway, 1942

14.

USSR,1943-44

1 6126093

15.

The Mediterranean, 1943-1944

Typeset by M Rules

Printed and bound in Great Britain

by Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome,

16.

In the West, 1943-1944

omerset

17.

Norway, 1943-1945

18.

Oefenc

of the Reich

19.

The Last Months in the East

20.

Final Months in the West

21.

Pilot Training

156

157

159

Appendix 1: Comparisons of Major Ranks

Appendix 2: Glossary

el cted Reading List

CHAPTER ONE

Rebirth of the Luftw-affe

I joined in }93} as a Fahnenjunker of 18 years

in my Grandfather's regiment and I quickly

volunteered to become a fJiloc. I t was a dTeam

and I had not much hope of reaching this goal:

the Treaty of Versailles forbade Gennany to

have an Air Force. Nevertheless, we knew that

a Luftwaffe was being recreated secretly. In

spite of some eye /Jroblems (that I could more

or less hide), / was accepted in the DLV

(Deutsche LuftspoTwerband) at Conbus wheTe

J came to know /JeTsonally the great Udet, the

ace of WW 1. I learned to fly in a plane of his

design. 1 then flew the Heinkel KQ(len, Stieglitz

and F-34 Junkers. Even if my unit was apolit-

ical, we viewed Hitler with a degree of hope: he

was the only man who could save Germany

from heT miserable situation. But we were very

susjJicious of the SA tTOOPS.

1 asked to become a fighter pilot and was

then posted to Schleij3heim where 1 met

Generals RitteT von Schleich and Milch. I was

veTy well trained on several tY/Jes ofaircraft at

Faj3beTg, such as the Stbsser, and finally on

OUT fim fighteT aiTcraft, the He 51, again at

Schleij3heim. My training as a fighteT pilot fin-

ished in 1934, at the same moment as when

the new Luftwaffe was officially raised. 1 was

naturally /Josted to a newly forming fighteT

squadron. My unit was the famous JG

Richthofen, fim based at Doberitz, and

shortly after in BembUTg. I had the task of

building its thiTd Gruppe as adjutant to the

famed Bruno LoerzeT, a WW I ace awarded

with the Pour Ie Merite Cross, like his com-

Tade GOTing. We received a lot of pilots, lateT

to become well-known aces in WW II, such as

Galland, Hraback and BTii.stellin

(Lt. Hennig 'Piefke' Strumpell)

Above, He 72 Kadelts of Jagdverband Bernburg (a unit tracing its origins to JG 132, the Luftwaffe's first fighting

squadron) are carefully laid out in a hangar at Bernburg in early 1937. At that lime German aircraft did nO,t carry

military markings and were still painted in civilian colours: with '0' (the international marking for Germany) on the

fuselage and the wings, as well as the Swastika cross with white circle and red stripe on the tail.

Right, JG 135 was formed in 1936, In March 1937, I./JG

135 equipped with He 51s and Ar 68s, moved from the

Stultgart area to Bad Aibling near Rosenheim to become

the sole operational fighter Gruppe for all Bavaria. The

pilot of He 51 O-IPTI (which flew with the undercarriage

spats removed) fell victim to spongy soil, performing what

German flyers call a Ftiegerdenkmal (monument to the

aviator). Two years later, the Gruppe became I./JG 51.

Crowood Aviation Series - Luftwaffe a Pictorial History.pdf

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