Friedrich JG 27, Aufkl. Gr Ju 188, NSGr. 9 Ju 87 -more jewels from the ECPA-D - Instapic #14

....need some help please ID'ing this one. I've a feeling it's I./JG 27 in France - post north Africa..

crash-landed Ju 188 E in 'Wintertarnung' somewhere in the Far North

a few nice views of a NSGr.9 Ju 87 D-5(N) 'night attacker' in northern Italy. The D-5(N) and D-3(N) both had flame-dampers while the D-5 (N) had the MG's in the wings replaced with the 2cm cannon and extra armour around the cockpit. Note the attempt to (presumably..) 'tone' down the light blue lower surfaces evident in the image below..

Close-up of the wing-mounted 2 cm cannon with muzzle flash suppressor. Ground crew appear to be packing over-night 'kit' in the wing 'stowage' compartment..

 

the latest Eduard Info 4/2024 - Gustav Dual Combo

 

Free to download and 'redistribute', the latest Eduard "INFO" magazine (4/2024) is packed with interesting features - Peter Kassak on 'Gardening the Danube', Jan Bobek on Hartmann's Gustav from the Gustav 'Dual combo' Part 2, Ukraine air war etc etc. And 'FalkeEins- the Luftwaffe blog' gets a mention too. Thanks a lot guys!

Download here

Here's Michel Wilhelme's latest Gustav 'dual combo' build from the first 'Part 1' boxing..

JG 2 Doras in action 23-25 March 1945 - death of the Kommandeur

 

Fourteen Doras from I./JG 2 were airborne from Zellhausen at 07:00 to attack the US pontoon bridge and the bridgehead across the Rhine at Oppenheim, west of Darmstadt (in the Mainz-Bingen district of Rhineland-Palatinate). Bombs  were released on the river before the Doras were intercepted by US fighters. Fw Erich Söldner (below) failed to return but had in fact landed at Gotha. Söldner had claimed his first victory on 3 March 1944, downing a 15th AF B-17 during a raid on Rome. 

The remaining pilots including three members of the Gruppenstab (Kommandeur Hrdlicka, Oblt Willi Kohlstrunk and Uffz. Horst Buttgereit) all returned to Nidda. Ogfr. Max Wojacek (below)  also managed to evade the US fighters and landed at Nidda. 

" ..a thick layer of oil started to spray over my windscreen and soon the airframe was covered."

Around ten III./JG 2 Fw 190 Doras were airborne from Babenhausen early on the morning of 23 March. They were attacked by 368th FG P-47s who claimed two, one coming down in the river Rhine and the other managing to put down in a field alongside the river. Fhr. Karl Belsen of 10./JG 2 made an emergency landing five kms north of Oppenheim. He recalled;

" ..our target was the American pontoon bridge thrown over the Rhine at Oppenheim. We over-flew the Rhine at low level south of the town before turning back on an easterly heading. Shortly before dropping our ordnance we pulled up to around 200 m to fuse the bombs. It was at that moment that my engine was hit by small arms fire from the ground. It stopped right over the river. Attempts to re-start it were in vain.I more or less 'glided' across the river and managed to put down in the first field. As the machine slid along the ground I suddenly remembered that I had failed to jettison the bomb. As the aircraft came to a stand I quickly jumped out of the cockpit out onto the wing - the bomb had been torn off its rack and lay some 200-300m away. It was at that moment that it exploded! I was still on the wing - breathing a huge sigh of relief  - when I came under rifle fire from a Volkssturm militia-man on the nearby river bank. He must have taken me for an American but heard me screaming insults at him in German because he soon lowered his weapon. I set off to return back to Babenhausen, a journey which involved several detours. It was while I was waiting for a bus in Heidelberg that I was approached by two men in black leather overcoats who asked me to follow them. After showing me their Gestapo badges they asked to see my Soldbuch - I handed them my Frontflugausweis ( a 'safe conduct' pass for front-line service pilots) which I took out of my brown leather tunic. But they were not at all interested in this. I started to explain that flying with a combat fighter unit I was expressly forbidden from carrying personal documents on sorties, except for the one that I had just shown them and that they must have known this. At that point they became a little more conciliatory. Apparently an RAF bomber had come down in the area over night and some members of the crew had not yet been caught. Their boss -who had noticed me waiting at the bus stop from his office - had assumed I must have been one of them on the run. In the end I got back to my Gruppe about five days later.." ***

At 11:00 the 'Richthofen' were in the air again - at least 18 Doras flew the sortie directed at American vehicle convoys and road traffic on the Oppenheim-Gross Gerau road south of Mainz. A number of Doras carrried bombs while the remainder of the force flew as top cover. After only some 15 minutes in the air they ran into 354th FG P-51s north-east of Hanau.  The American pilots filed some ten claims, including three for Maj. George Lamb. Almost certainly one of his victims was Oblt. Willi Kohlstrunk (left), a former KG 3 bomber pilot who had lost a leg in a bad crash in 1940. Flying a D-9 marked with the Stab 'chevron vertical bar' Kohlstrunk was hit over Kohden near Bad Salzhausen. With his D-9 in flames, he managed to jump clear but hit the airframe and sustained another serious leg injury. At least seven Fw 190 D-9s failed to return. ..[Incorrect: this figure does not correspond with 'official' Verlustmeldungen. The most likely scenario is that several of these would have put down elsewhere..] Those survivors that did arrive back in Zellhausen found that the last surviving group of I./JG 2 pilots had already evacuated the airfield and shifted to Ziegenhain, near Kassel, some 160 kms to the north.

The following day, 24 March, was notable for the launch of the Operation 'Varsity' Rhine crossings. This was the largest airborne operation (against a single objective) of the war and was supported by bombing raids on German airfields all over western and central Germany.  JG 2 put another eight Doras in the air to attack the bridgehead at Oppenheim but the Fw 190s were forced to jettison their ordnance before reaching their target. Some 113 B-17s raided Ziegenhain at around 17h00. 

On 25 March  around 15 Doras of I. and II./JG 2 were in the air from 06:00. Once again the target was the bridge at Oppenheim.  Ogfr. Max Wojacek reported difficulties with his aircraft as a jet of engine oil started to spray over his windscreen and soon covered the airframe.  Unwilling to break radio silence  he indicated to formation leader Hrdlicka his intention to turn back by waggling his wings. Hrdlicka had nodded his assent. Wojacek proceded to carry out an emergency landing on the airfield at Giessen, side-slipping down to maintain some 'forward' visibility before straightening out for a 'three-pointer' at the last moment. 

The return home proved fatal for a number of Dora pilots including the Kommandeur of I./JG 2. Hptm. Franz Hrdlicka and his wingman Uffz. Horst Buttgereit were both shot down by enemy fighters. According to the letter of condolence that was sent to Hrdlicka's brother, both pilots were attempting to reach Nidda. Buttgereit's sister - having fled her home in East Prussia ahead of the Russians and made her way to Leipzig - did not learn of her brother's death in combat until 1952. Both Hrdlicka and Buttgereit were buried in Nidda. Ofhr. Gerhard Frisch (2./JG 2) heard the warning calls from the airfield - 'Lucie Anton am eigenen Gartenzaun' - and Hrdlicka's voice over the radio but had already been hit by a burst of fire that left his cockpit filling with smoke.  [Incorrect;  Lucie Anton is code for LAndung..the phrase heard was 'Indianer am eigenen Gartenzaun'..or 'enemy fighters over own airfield' ] Jettisoning the canopy to clear the smoke he saw that he was 'surrounded by five or six' Mustangs - it was time to jump. He made the mistake of pulling the ripcord almost immediately and during his long descent he was circled by P-51s. One American pilot even waved a greeting at him. It was Frisch's last sortie with the 'Richthofen' - he had already been posted for Me 262 jet training at Lechfeld.   

Karl Belsen's war ended on 31 March during a sortie over the front - described by one of his comrades as 'a personal initiative' - after he collided with a P-47 that he had opened fire on near Bad Hersfeld (Eisenach). He managed to jump clear, albeit injured.. Max Wojacek flew his last sortie on 7 April - he would be shot down in flames by P-51s over Querfurt. He managed to bail out and was taken to the local hospital with serious burns.

(*** Holger Nauroth's version of Belsen's account differs in areas of detail from that published in 'Dans le Ciel de France' Vol 6. Thanks to Jochen for corrections and more detail. )

Also on this blog;

Willi Kohlstrunk - JG 2 Dora-9 pilot and double amputee

Caudron CR. 714 in the Battle for France - GC 1/145 ('Les Polonais de Varsovie')

..the following is based on Grzegorz Slizewski's book  "The Lost Hopes - Polish fighters over France " with some important corrections and additional material from Comas/Ledet 'The Caudron Fighters' published by Lela Presse and the highly recommended book "Les aviateurs polonais en France" (B. Belcarz, Artipresse).

On 17 February 1940 French Air Minister Guy La Chambre signed an agreement with Polish General Sikorsky to establish a Polish fighter Group comprising two escadrilles in the Armee de l'Air. This would naturally be established from the DIAP (Depot d'instruction de l'Aviation Polonaise - Polish air training centre) then based in Lyon. On the opening day of the German offensive in the West, 10 May, the Poles of CG 1/145 were in Lyon with just a handful of Ms 406s and CR. 714s.  'Defence flights' for the city were quickly formed and the aircraft relocated to Mions outside Lyons - from where the air raid warnings sounded from the city could just about be heard (radios were defective). Eager to fight with whatever types the French could supply, the Poles had been accumulating training time on the CR. 714 even before the 'official' establishment of the first 'French' Polish fighter squadron. The first Caudrons arrived at Lyon-Bron during March 1940. But it was not originally envisaged that they would be deployed in combat. The French knew full well that the light-weight Caudron powered by its small Renault engine would be severely outclassed by Luftwaffe types, so had used the type as a cheap 'training' machine. But in the end there were no other types available in numbers. By 21 May some 16 machines had been taken on strength and the Groupe had relocated to Villacoublay, south of Paris (part of the 23rd Groupement de chassse) and close to the Caudron factory at Guyancourt for further deliveries. The French Minister of Air, Guy La Chambre, inspected GC 1/145 ('Les Polonais de Varsovie') on 25 May. The aircraft were being delivered straight from the production line and presented a litany of defects forcing the minister to  suspend all flying on the "Cyclone". He was told about the aircraft's poor climb rate, a weak landing gear and its faulty lowering mechanism, as well as an imperfect propeller pitch-changing device, engine cowling 'ballooning' during dives and unreliable dashboard instruments. While the Minister's reaction was perhaps the proper one, it served to deprive the Polish pilots in France of the only aircraft available to them. The French Air Ministry had originally ordered the Armee de l'Air to equip the Poles with the Bloch 152, aircraft which were not available. Despite Polish pilots having more hours on the Ms 406 they were not offered these aircraft either far less the D.520 - types for which they were probably not considered 'suitable'. The very next day, they elected to continue flying the defective Caudrons. On 2 June the squadron moved to the airfield at Dreux, some 30 km west of Paris. There were no facilities on the field and it was not until the ground echelon arrived that the aircraft could be dispersed and carefully camouflaged around the airfield. Two days later, the Poles finally received the long-awaited radios. Up to that point, they scrambled at the signal of an automobile horn. To beef up GC II/10, on 5 June the squadron was ordered to patrol in the Rouen area. This was done by Flight "B". Half an hour later, Flight "A" was moved to Bretingy-sur-Orge, south of Paris, with the task of defending the French capitol. The next day, the squadron was charged with the same duties.

In the evening of June 6, the squadron was attached to the 42eme Groupement de Chasse, defending a sector of the Seine Valley between Vernon and Meulan.

Two three-aircraft reconnaissance flights on the route Meulan-Magny-en-Vexin-Fleury-sur-Andelle-Vernon and along the Seine were the squadron's only activity on 7 June. The next day found the squadron with twenty-one serviceable aircraft. The remaining thirteen required much attention from the ground crews. Some were being generally checked after forced landings, while multiple tasks were performed on others; changing a stabilizer or rudder, replacing Plexiglas in a cockpit, a carburettor, parts of an electrical installation, and so on. That day "A" Flight was assigned to GC II/10. At 15:54 a section of five aircraft, led by kpt. Wczelik, took off to patrol over the Vernon-Meulan area. South of Rouen, the Poles attacked a group of about twenty Messerschmit 110 Cs of III./ ZG 26 escorting a group of Stukas. After several months of inaction the Poles were spoiling for a fight. They landed at 17:10. Officers Wczelik and Czerwinski claimed victories, but none of the other pilots saw the enemy aircraft crash. Commander Kepinski recognized only one of them as probable but soon after, around the area of that clash, the wreck of a single Me-110 was found, all five Polish pilots receiving a victory share as was usual French practise.

 por. Tadeusz Czerwinski  kpt. Wczelik, ppor. Aleksy Zukowski, ppor. Jerzy Godlewski and kpr. Piotr Zaniewski were credited with one Bf 110 each - for one aircraft shot down.  Belcarz points out that the only Bf 110 losses were over the German-Swiss border zone while in Comas/Ledet one notable French historian argues that the German loss does not appear in most recognised sources (including Vasco and Cornwell) since it was not reported until later in the year. The squadron suffered no losses, but most of the aircraft were shot-up and temporarily unserviceable.

At Bernay, on 9 June the squadron joined up with Flight "B", to fly a sweep at full strength over the front-line area. Eighteen aircraft took off at 2:30 p.m. Led by maj. Kepinski were Commandant de Marmier, kpt. Laguna, kpt. Wczelik,por. Zdzislaw Zadrozinski, por. Jan Obuchowski, por. Julian Kowalski, ppor. Czeslaw Glowczynski, ppor. Jerzy Czerniak, ppor. Lech Lachowicki-Czechowicz,ppor. Jerzy Godlewski, ppor. Bronislaw Skibinski, sierz. Jan Palak, plut. Andrzej Niewiara, plut. Mieczyslaw Parafinski and kpr. Edward Uchto. Over Vernon, the squadron attacked an enemy formation of about 50 Dornier Do 17s escorted by about 20 Bf 109s. Due to  radio malfunction the attack was poorly coordinated.

 Czeslaw Glowczynski recalled;

 ".. My radio didn't work so I wasn't aware of any warnings. I soon noticed a group of about 30 Bf 109s, some 3,000 feet below. Since our leader didn't react. I come close to him and waggled my wings. I pointed down; he nodded to indicate that he had seen them and continued straight and level. I gave him a sign that I would attack. I thought that at least a part of our group would follow me in this attack, but I found myself alone, with the exception of my wingman, ppr. Czerniak. Our position was advantageous since we attacked from above, with the sun behind us. At top speed, I swept down on the rearmost Bf 109. The swiftness of my attack caused the whole German formation to break up. One of them went down steeply, smoking heavily. Immediately, I went after another one, which, after few bursts, crashed in a forest south of Rouen. I was then shot at from behind. Several bullets came near my head and shattered my instrument panel. I managed to force land on a front-line strip at Evreux. Czerniak got one Bf 109 as well, and he landed with me. It took the whole evening to fix my machine and I returned to the unit the next day.."

 Jerzy Czerniak recalled;

 "... The weather was beautiful and flying in the direction of our assigned zone of operation, we were climbing slowly. At 12 or 15 thousand, we started to look for game. For over thirty minutes, the flight was uneventful, and looking at Czeslaw, I could tell that he was greatly disappointed that there were no Huns around. That's when I saw aluminium flashes  glinting below us. I gave Czeslaw a sign, and we altered our course a little to put the sun directly behind us. Next, Czeslaw dived and I followed him, releasing the safety catch on my armament in case there was a scrap. And there was  one. We closed on the Messerschmitts and Czeslaw coolly positioned himself right behind one of them and opened fire. Others maneuvered themselves behind Czeslaw who continued spraying his wiggling victim. All this time, I flew behind my colleague, observing the scene. One Messerschmitt started to shoot at him and that's when I intervened. I jumped at the German and gave him a burst right in the cockpit. He must have got it since he flipped over, going down. I served him another portion and stayed with him till he crashed into a French farmer's yard.."

(p55 Comas/Ledet - The Caudron fighters)

 Ppor. Glowczynski was credited with one Bf 109 destroyed and one damaged, while ppor. Czerniak got one Bf 109 destroyed. Plut. Parafinski also scored, destroying a Bf 109, while kpt. Wczelik and sierz. Markiewicz shared one Dornier 17 destroyed. Two planes crashed south of Andelys and others near Louviers. This time, the squadron suffered a loss of three pilots. Killed in action were por. Obuchowski, ppor. Lachowicki-Czechowicz and kpr. Uchto. por. Kowalski was slighty wounded, while ppor. Godlewski force landed at Villacoblay. The rest of the pilots landed at 3:50 p.m. A few aircraft were unserviceable. Godlewski tried to join his unit on a new plane but nose-dived during the takeoff. He come out of the accident unscathed, but couldn't catch up with the squadron. The Poles clashed with the Emils of II./JG 27 (some sources state III./JG 26). The pilots from this unit claimed three Moranes shot down. Credited with victories were: Gruppenkomandeur Hauptmann Werner Andres, Feldwebel Karl Witzel and Feldwebel Karl-Heinz Bendert. In reality, the Luftwaffe lost three Bf 109s. Leutnant Hans Bosch ( Hptm. Andres wingman ) and Feldwebel Karl-Heinz Kranich become POWs. Leutnant Hermann Kugler went missing. Slightly wounded, Hptm. Andres force landed near Creil...

Below;  when CG 1/145 evacuated the airfield at Dreux they left behind some fifteen Caudrons. The reverse of the image below - an expired Ebay.de auction - is captioned, 'Dreux 22 July 1940'. Compare with the image on page 180 of  "Les aviateurs polonais en France" (B. Belcarz, Artipresse). First machine visible "1" is the aircraft assigned to plut. Markiewicz.

Above; reproduced on p55 of the Comas/Ledet title and p181 of the Belcarz ' Les aviateurs polonais en France', three 2e escadrille machines at Dreux on 22 June 'white 10 and 'white 13' with 'white 7' in the background. 'White 13' was flown by the future 56th FG ace Boleslaw Gladych. 

1/145 pilots had 12 victories 'officially' confirmed (Bf 110s, Do 17s and four Bf 109s) for the loss of 3 Caudron pilots KIA. Ppor. Jerzy Godlewski -officially MIA- reached England and joined 72 Sqd

"The Caudron fighters - the Cr. 714 and variants" authored by Matthieu Comas and Michel Ledet 

"Les aviateurs polonais en France" (B. Belcarz, Artipresse).

And a rare page-view look into the huge Belcarz book on the Cr. 714 "Cyclone" - details of the cockpit/instrument panel

Dr Belcarz founder of Stratus and Mushroom recently succumbed to cancer RIP

Bf 109 Emil 'green 13' - archive photo scan #18

 

..An 'unknown' Emil - possibly 'green 13' - being prepared for a 'commemoration/celebration' of some sort or simply being camouflaged ?   Any suggestions, please comment below..click on the images to view large.

and a comprehensive caption from a blog reader;

"...the two images you show as “ green 13 “ are from the BA and are registered as no 342-628-36 pp. They show a/c of 3.(J)/LG 2 taken at Calais-Marck in the first half of August 1940. The mechanics are covering the a/c pen with camouflage nets, so no celebration. The colour of the numeral is brown for 3rd Staffel. If you take a close look you can see part of the Micky Mouse Staffel badge on the rear fuselage. Not visible in your photo are the early yellow theatre markings which I.(J)/LG 2 introduced very early; the rear part of the rudder and the tips of the horizontal stabilizers are yellow as are presumably the wing tips, which are covered by tarpaulins..." Jochen Prien

best new Luftwaffe books - Axis Wings Vol I, JG 2 -In the skies of France Vol 6, Airframe Album 20 - He 177, Day Fighter Aces 1943-45, JG 77 'Herz As' Aérojournal 'special' issue

...I am lucky enough (?!) to live just a short train journey away from the Aviation Bookshop in Tunbridge Wells, Kent (on the Eastbourne/Hastings line from London Victoria if you fancy the trip) Probably no exaggeration to say that on occasion it is difficult to get in through the front door for the sheer amount of  books piled high. Proprietor Simon Watson and his staff (Justin and Gary) have a veritable Aladdin's cave of books and models for the enthusiast!  Despite what some may think, Luftwaffe books still sell very well I'm told -  apparently it is a fact that for every six WWII aviation books sold, 3 will be Luftwaffe, 2 deal with USAF subjects and only one out of the six will cover RAF history and aircraft. And if you've ever wondered - for example - why there was never a 'Dewoitine D.520 Aces' title in the Osprey 'Aces' series, now you can probably guess why. In fact Aéro-Journal editor and Osprey author Chris Ehrengardt once told me his own 'Ms 406 Aces' book was 'officially' one of Osprey's worst-selling titles.  My purchases from my latest visit to Simon's emporium;

1. Axis Wings  - The Luftwaffe and co-belligerent air forces' Compendium (Launch Edition) - Chandos

Compiled/designed by the (top notch) team that work on all Chandos (and Classic) Pubs books, this is the new bi-annual 'journal' or 'compendium' covering Luftwaffe and Axis aviation subjects in English. Long overdue. A must buy, especially if you want to see more issues and kudos to Rich Carrick for taking the risk because putting together something like this cannot have been cheap. Or necessarily easy. According to the Introduction this first volume is a 'prototype' and will serve as a 'platform' for 'new' authors and 'old hands' who may have articles that are too 'specialised' for a regular magazine and too short for a book. In Volume I there are 184 large-format pages and a wide ranging collection of features also covering pre-war (Victoria Taylor on the National Socialist Flieger Korps (NSFK) - "..Intended as a preparatory school for the Luftwaffe, NSFK personnel delivered both theoretical and practical aeronautical training to young aviators. More sinisterly, however, they also intertwined their instruction with virulent Nazi ideology and propaganda.") and Spanish civil war subjects (Junkers W 34 in Spain). Elsewhere in this issue there are lengthy articles on the Nachtjagdstaffel Finland/Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen (NJG 3 Ju 88s), Sonderstaffel Einhorn and III./KG 200 (a 'kamikaze' unit specialising in bridge attacks) and a detailed account of a KG 40 He 177 convoy attack with Hs 293 glide bombs. Production quality is of course a given. Nice to see too that some photos are reproduced LARGE by tipping them sideways. If I have one (minor) criticism - and you've got to have at least one haven't you? - I am not a 'fan' of artwork across two pages when the binding is as tight as it has to be here. Looking forward though to getting to grips with the contents. Certainly not 'run-of-the-mill' and I hope to learn much. On the very last page of 'Axis Wings' there is a listing of planned contents for Vol 2 so I am very much looking forward to that, especially the article on Gustav Francsi. The compendium is edited by the leading author on Luftwaffe subjects Mr Robert Forsyth. Perhaps we might see something on  Vichy D.520s one day? As my friend Simon put it, " Axis Wings Volume I has the look and feel of a Crecy Classic book and has some really interesting and diverse articles written by a fabulous group of old/new Luftwaffe experts. Volume 2 later this year looks like it will raise the bar again.." 

2. Day fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe - Knight's Cross holders 1943-45 by Jeremy Dixon

This is the second of a two-volume series published by Pen and Sword and very neat it is too! The author has compiled a series of biographies of (single-engine) day fighter pilots based on 'kill' tallies (and the award of the RK) illustrated in the main with portrait photos. The text is detailed and while the font is indeed a little small, it is not too difficult to read at all. One criticism I do have is that the German unit designations are 'translated' into English throughout, which in some cases might make it a little difficult to know what the 'original' unit title might have been. Fortunately ranks are not translated. Quite why you would want to write " the Staffelfuhrer of the 10th squadron of the third Group " (and not 10./JG 3) is anybody's guess. Anyone following the subject will know that some aces' victory totals has been revised downwards over recent years and all credit to the author for pointing this out where necessary; ie Walther Dahl's 'usual' total of 128 includes at least 25 that no-one can account for! Dixon doesn't credit him with one hundred either which rather reflects the view of the historian of JG 300. The extensive bibliography is an indicator that the author has done his 'research' here. Although talking of JG 300, Bretschneider's 'parachute suspended over a ravine' story is repeated (from Rusack's fanciful 'Der Landser' account). Other than that, the publisher has chosen a title that is more or less the same as a two volume set published by Casemate three years ago, although Dixon's two books only feature Ritterkreuz holders. Think of these as " Obermaier updated" and in English and you get the picture. Overall, one of the better 'Aces' titles and a  very readable hardback - which always tend to sell better than softback or card-cover titles according to a book seller I know - featuring a fantastic jacket design/illustration courtesy Jon Wilkinson. Only one problem there - the Emil (and portrait) on the cover is Wick's and he was KIA in November 1940 of course. Recommended..

3. 'Dans le ciel de France' - histoire de la JG 2 Richthofen - Volume 6 1944-45 by Erik Mombeeck

Erik Mombeeck concludes his multi-volume history of JG 2. This might be of interest to you if you can read French. Alternatively wait for some-one to do a new single-volume history of JG 2 in English.  Mombeeck has had no success whatsoever in promoting his own work. I expect that will be the case for this last volume in this series. Although those enthusiasts who buy everything with Dora-9 pictures may rush out and buy it. Especially as Volume III of the JaPo Dora series may or may not be coming some time in the near future. This volume 6 follows on from the battle for Normandy as an eviscerated JG 2 fell back to Germany for rest and refit, before being thrown into the defence (proper) of the Reich, converting onto the Dora-9, participating in the Bodenplatte operation and being eviscerated all over again. 1945 is covered in four chapters, " Bodenplatte", " The sinking ship", "Remagen" and "The debacle" that run from pages 63 -175, while the last 35 pages are filled with various appendices, including an index of names covering all six volumes. So a relatively slim and very expensive volume. While there appears to be a number of 'new' images,  some of them are very grey, with detail lost in the 'fog' of poor reproduction. But then of course there were more pressing matters to attend to than decent photography in the last months of the war. This last book in the series features a bibliography and an extensive 'Thank you' list. This blogger is also thanked, possibly for his English translation of Volume I (which apparently didn't sell - where have I heard that before? - but is available at exorbitant prices on ebay) and Volume II (not published). 

4. The Heinkel He 177 Greif - Airframe album 20 by Richard Franks (Valiant Wings)

This 194-page A-4 softback subtitled " a detailed guide to the Luftwaffe's troubled strategic bomber "- is just published and it looks pretty amazing. A real 'nuts & bolts' book, comprising page after page of mind-blowing detail, (handbook) images and drawings (pages 32-157). There are some 23 pages of 'camouflage and markings' profile artworks (none of which run across two pages), a Libor Jekl model build and some good pictures of the (French) He 274. The amount of 'work' in this volume is frankly mind-boggling. I've no idea how Richard Franks keeps up his schedule, he must have hundreds of helpers. At first glance and at £26 this is a 'must-buy' for anyone interested in the type. 

5. JG 77 Herz-As - Aéro-Journal hors-série by Pierre André Brouez

As close as it gets to a single volume 'history' of JG 77 by a writer/researcher with a name new to me - but still not in English. What is Tony Holmes waiting for? A 112-page A-4 format softback with masses of photos and around 30 profile artworks. Great images, most of which will be unknown to many and only 15 euros. A friend of this blog once said to me, 'why review stuff in French? Nobody reading your site is interested'. I happen to know though that my 'reviews' of French books have resulted in sales as far afield as Australia - postage prices permitting, I'm sure this one will be heading there too! Simon unfortunately doesn't have this one in stock at the moment, my copy came directly from the publisher's web site.

Otherwise the titles above are available from the Aviation Bookshop here

ZG 26 Bf 110 - archive photo scan #17

 

A 7.Staffel ZG 26 Bf 110 E/F possibly on Sicily or in North Africa. A good view of the penguin emblem with 'Sonnenschirm' parasol/sunshade over the Zerstörer vertical chevrons. Note too the white spinner tip, another 7.Staffel marking. The exhaust has a deflector plate to prevent intake ingestion of hot gases.