Info EDUARD
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{"cz":"Info EDUARD"}
{"cz":"Měsíčník o historii a plastikovém modelářství.","en":"Monthly magazine about history and scale plastic modeling."}
02/2021
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Vol 20, February 2021ISSUE 132INFOPage 2
INFOEDUARDISSUE 132© Eduard - Model Accessories, 2021FREE FOR DOWNLOAD, FREE FOR DISTRIBUTION!This material may only be used for personal use. No part of the textor graphic presentations can be used in another publication in any other media formor otherwise distributed without the prior writtenpermission of Eduard - Model Accessories and authors involved.Editorial and Graphics - Marketing department, Eduard - Model Accessories, Ltd.Page 3
eduardEDITORIAL4FEBRUARY 2021KITSHISTORYBRASSINPHOTO-ETCHED SETSBIGEDRELEASEBUILTON APPROACHFebruary 2021March 2021586232648656676Spitre Mk.IIa ProPACK 1/48Kampfstift Limited edition 1/48Nieuport Ni-17 Weekend edition 1/72Spitre Mk.IIa 1/48F-6D/K 1/48Bf 109G-10 1/48Du doch nicht!! 1/48F-6D/K 1/48IL Magnico 1/48CONTENTThe ying element: Willi GabrielSTARDUSTFROM DORNIER TO U-BOAT91TAIL END CHARLIEIssued by Eduard-Model Accessories, spol. s.r.o.Mírová 170, Obrnice 435 21support@eduard.com www.eduard.comPage 4
Dear Friends and Modellers,Under normal circumstances, today would be theday that I inform you of the goings-on at our pressconference at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. But as weall know, the term ‘normal circumstances’ simplydoes not currently apply, and any expansion of thetradion that is the press conference is being tornapart by the cancellaon of the fair. I must admit toa certain sense of, perhaps, not so much as harmfrom all this, but a bit of a relief. I don’t even knowwhat became of the plans to move the fair to thesummer months. But even that is a moot point,because if the fair were to be held in the summer,we sll would not be in aendance. In the summer,we are expecng to have other pressing maersto aend to. The pandemic situaon is sll a verydramac aair, and the vaccinaon programs arefalling behind schedule. This, in such a behemothendeavor, is to be expected and should surprise noone. I expect the systems in place will be ne-tunedwithin a few weeks, and the program will begin torun smoothly. And maybe even here, in the CzechRepublic! And with that, what I am trying to say isthat I expect there to be an increasing relaxaonof the restricons through the course of the sum-mer. That rst event that modellers will be able toaend, that will be one for the history books!NOBODY’S PERFECTI will begin my monthly descripon of events andnew products by addressing a mistake, which wasmade in January. Consequently, the addion ofthe SPACE sample in purchased P-51D-5 kits had tobe cancelled. I don’t want to blame everything onDecember’s re, but of course, it is a factor. Every-thing came together thusly: Aer the re, we hadno P-51D-5 kits in our inventory. No Weekend kits,no ProPACK kits. Aer the reopening of the retaildepartment on January 11th, it appeared as thoughwe would not be able to sell any of them. Produc-on then pulled all the SPACE sets that were readyto be included in orders that contained P-51D-5 kits,and immediately began selling them on their own.We then decided that we would take the salvagea-ble Overtrees P-51s, and turn them into WeekendEdion kits. The repackaging along this line wentquickly, and some 82 P-51D-5 Weekend kits wereput up for sale. Unfortunately, no one realized thatthe SPACE sets, by then down to almost nothing ininventory, were not being replenished, and by theme the realizaon kicked in, most of the WeekendP-51D-5s were sold. And all this took place over thecourse of a day, just so you don’t get the idea thatwe are somewhat slow over here. In this situaon,it seemed pointless to change the terms of sale.Unfortunately, during this hecc and complicatedperiod surrounding the resumpon of sales acvi-es, there was also a communicaon breakdownthat led to customers not being informed about theMustangs being sent out without the SPACE sets,because the markeng department received theinformaon too late. I truly do apologize for themess. It came about as the result of everyone de-aling with too many things at once, and the sale ofone item was not our main goal. And how will thissituaon evolve? The Mustang should go back intostock in middle of February Not just the P-51D-5Weekend kit, but other versions as well, such as theF-6D. Once the Weekend D-5 again becomes avai-lable, we will reignite the oer of the addion ofthe SPACE set samples for inclusion. Those, that gottheir kit in January, have been sent an email aboutfurther procedures. That will be that anyone whowill put in an order will receive a SPACE sample withsaid order, and who doesn’t, will receive it separa-tely. I hope that this will sele this issue to everyo-ne’s sasfacon.SPRUES, SPRUES, SPRUESThe retail department was reopened aer the reon January 11th, and resumed operaon. It needsto be taken into account that this was done undersome very dicult condions. Just during the rstweek, residual water inltrated down into the res-tored warehouse secon on three separate occasi-ons. The overall condions in the warehouse were,and connue to be, somewhat unpleasant. We havehad to bale not just that rst week, but through allof January, with various lile surprises and piallsassociated with the return to operaonal condi-ons. The biggest issue faced, and really was pre-dictable, was the lack of plasc for the compleonof kits. This was expected to be the main issue intoFebruary, and the lack was also ancipated to beincreasingly apparent in our endeavors. The majo-rity of items were sold out already through January,and others will follow suit in February. When youhave almost a million plasc sprues go up in smoke,it’s gonna get noced somewhere! Of course, westarted molding plasc immediately with the begi-nning of January. Priority is given to new releases,and that is how it will stay, so the beginning of themolding acvity was dedicated to February’s newreleases, and right now that has shied to thosefor March. Those have to be ready to be shippedby mid-February. This includes the buildup of stockof all the associated accessory items, too. So, asan example, for the Spiire Mk.II, this means notonly geng ready the ProPACK kit of the model,but also Spiire Story: Tally Ho and Spiire Story:The Few. Then, there’s the Spiire Mk.Ia ProPACK.This is a paern that will connue. March’s newFw 190A-5 will see with it the addion of anothersix Fw 190A versions. For some items, this will likelymean some length of me when they will be dela-yed, but I am convinced that this systemac reple-nishing of our catalog will be the most eecve, andby the middle of the year, our catalog of availableitems will be more than sasfactory. With respectto pressing plasc, we are not alone, and alreadyin January, we have had Special Hobby workingclosely with us, and more molding equipment hasjust been added to the mix. Our ability to put suchan arrangement into moon has been dependenton preparing the molds along technical lines suchthat rms outside of our specic eld can eec-vely work with them with lile to no risk of anydamage. So far, all seems to be working smoothly,and I am hopeful that molding will be running alongat a good clip through February. We are truly doingwhat we can. Unfortunately, what has fallen behindis the development of the new molds intended forthis year’s new releases. The machinists are busywith preparing the molds for producon, and thedevelopment of the new ones are suering from aserious lack of me. But even here, I see reason foropmism with regards to bringing this up to snu- through February, or by March, anyway. As if allthese complicaons weren’t enough, in January,covid was not to be outdone by some dumb re.Four of our press operators were sidelined for thatvery reason, which amounts to one enre shi. Tocompensate and to try and maintain the requiredpress tempo, machinists, including their supervisor,took turns in that department, besides their regulardues. Here, as with other companies who are fa-cing adversity, everyone has to roll up their sleeves.FEBRUARY NEW RELEASES/ACCESSORIESSo, let’s turn our aenon to the new items comingout in February. We’ll start o with accessories.I would like to point out the six new EDUARD SPACEsets. These are designed for various versions of theSpiire Mk.I and Mk.II in 1:48th scale, two are forthe MiG-21, PF and PFM in 1:72nd, and one is forthe P-51D-5 Mustang in 48th. That was the set thatwas intended for inclusion with Mustang kits pur-chased in January, and will now happen in Februa-ry. Because this was part of the process of pungthese new items in producon for February, it willnow gure as a part of the normal release scheduleof new items as well. If you intend to take advan-tage of the oer of these with the kit, then you cansimply ignore it as a new item o of our e-shop.I must point out that the oer is only valid from oure-shop. Retailers are not making this oer to you,and for P-51D-5 kits bought outside of our e-shop,the oer does not apply. We also have three newLookPlus sets being released, including for the Mi--24V and the Do 17Z in 1:48th scale. In the classicBrassin range, you’ll nd a list of smaller sets, mostnotably of weapon sets. Here, I would also like tosingle out one item, and that is the set for the SprayBooms in 1:72nd scale for the Z-37A. This is Set No.672253. This set is a sort of a window into the futu-re. A part of the set is not in cast resin, but a direct3D print. This is a road we’d like to go down, andtake full advantage of the potenal oered by thistechnology. Our goal is to produce a good part ofresin accessory sets as straight 3D prints by the se-cond half of the year.Photoetched and mask sets oer several colleconsof items designed for interesng models that haverecently been released, such as the 1:32nd scaleTornado GR.4 (Italeri, 1:32nd), F-104DJ (Kinec,1:48th), Il-2 (Zvezda (1:48th), F-4EJ Kai (Fine Molds,1:72nd) and the Merkava Mk.2D (Takom, 1:35th).Also, please not the extensive releases of masksand the six new BigEd sets. In February, we alsohave four new decal sets coming out. These includeto sheets of stencil data for the P-38 and the HarrierGR.7/9, both in 1:48th scale. The other two setsare classic marking sets covering the Fokker Dr.I in1:32nd. This is for the MENG kit, originally to be re-leased by WNW. The rst sheet is dubbed ‘Die altenKanonen’, and is dedicated to the aces in general,with the second sheet focused on Dreideckers fromRichthofen’s JG 1, called ‘Flying Circus / JG 1’.FEBRUARY NEW RELEASES / KITSThe new kit releases for February are adverselyaected by the re and its aermath. It only aectsthe release of new kits, fortunately. The numberof new kits has been reduced to three, and theMiG-21bis in the Weekend Edion has been post-poned from the original release plan due to a shor-tage of plasc. The MiG will likely be released in thesecond half of the year. For the same reason, thereis a postponement of the release of the 1:72nd sca-le ProPACK MiG-21MF Fighter Bomber. So, in theWeekend line, there remains only one release, andthat is the Nieuport 17 in 1:72nd. This is, in my opi-nion, one of the nicest kits we have ever producedwhich remains, unfortunately, a bit of an outsiderin terms of general popularity as a subject. It wascreated out of some rather unlikely circumstances.We prepared this item in, for us, the record meEDITORIALeduard4INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 5
of six months to make the premiere of the movie‘Flyboys’. Today, the whole thing is really just a va-gue memory. Really, the movie was not much towrite home about, and all of us who know some-thing about aircra, and their military applicaons,greeted the movie with a certain level of disappo-intment. Truth be told, despite having a few goodthings about it, it received a generally failing grade.But come to think of it, the only good thing aboutthe lm that I can think of, at the moment, is that itdid yield one very nice model. And it gets anotherchance to shine as a new Weekend Edion release.Last week, I had a good look at the decal sheet forthis kit, and it, in and of itself, is a thing of beauty.We picked out four Frenchmen, and each is a sto-ry t for lm on their own. We have Charles Nun-gesser, Paul Tarascon, Georges Maon, MathieuTennant de la Tour. Foreign own machines, no lesswell-known or colourful, will be subjects for laterreleases.For February, we have the expected Spiire Mk.IIain the ProPACK line. This boxing is the rst of thenew graphic design type. Please note, that the‘brass’ coloured porons of the box representjust that…brass, and not wood. That is not really,apparently, sinking in, and reacons so far havebeen posive, except that comments about the‘wood’ elds are leading ‘brass’ 72 to zip. But, wewill redouble our eorts and clear this up in favorof the brass. Either way, though, it seems that thechange has been well received, something like thenew guise of the Weekend Edion boxes. We aregrateful for that. The assortment of opons for theSpiire Mk.IIa can be seen in the Gallery. I wouldlike to point out one thing that you would surelymiss without a hint. It concerns the background,and the shoreline below the aircra. Piotr paintedthe planes over the Normandy shores at Etretat.If you don’t know about this spot, don’t sweat it.Up unl recently, I never knew it existed. In thesummer of 2019, when no one had any idea thata year later we’d all be running around with mas-ks on like a bunch of bandits, a part of our familyand some friends went on a vacaon in Norman-dy. During the rst week, we stayed at Ouistreham,and I was completely sased there. Immediately,I became a regular at the Le Bistrot D-Day (in Ouis-treham, everything carries with it a D-Day referen-ce). The idea that I would rather drag myself twohours one way to stare at some clis somewherenamed Etretat instead of staying put drinking co-ee and then switching over to beer, would nothave appealed to me at all. In the end, my loyaltyto my family and friends prevailed, and so I taggedalong. As it so oen is in life, you nd great pleasu-re where you least expect it. Etretat not only put aspell over me with its scenery and atmosphere, butthe story that I came across at the top of that hill.Or, at least, it reminded me of the story. There isa memorial there dedicated to Nungesser and Coli,because this was the last place where their aircra,L’Oiseau Blanc, had been seen during their now--famous, tragic and secret ight from Paris to NewYork. From the moment I saw the memorial, Char-les Nungesser has captured my imaginaon. It’s notthat I hadn’t heard of him before, but I took him asone of many yers, one of many aces of the GreatWar, and I never thought much more about the ma-er. That shouldn’t be taken as disrespect to hero-es, it’s just the way that it is. There are many yersthat have aained hero status. But, once I dove intohis warme and postwar exploits, and uncoveredmany mysterious facts and secrets connected withhis disappearance, I began to realize that this indivi-dual was one helluva a badass. Even back when wewere coming out with our 1:48th scale ProPACKNieuport 17, I wanted to write an arcle about theman, but other things just kept geng in the way,and I never got around to it. Around the middle ofJanuary, as my brain was ring on all cylinders fromall the previous acvity, I gured I would take theweekend and put it all aside, and as a sort of thera-py, I would write an essay about Nungesser. I didn’twrite much, because I got stuck right on the storyof his rst warme adventure. I was so suspiciousof its truthfulness that I began to research the ma-er in greater detail, and that’s what I am sll doingnow. However, my reward has been a gaining of in-sight into the histories of Mors and Citroen, and themounted regiments of the German Imperial Army.And that, I am sure you will understand, is wellworth it! So, at the moment, I don’t have my ar-cle. You may be wondering why I am explaining allthis, and the reason is that there is an interesng,if unlikely, connecon between the Spiire (and itsboxart), the Nieuport, and the town of Etretat.The third February release among kits is ‘Kampfs-’, which is the Do 17Z, based around the ICM kit,in the Limited Edion line. This also has a connec-on to the Spiire, just as the Bf 109E and the Bf110C/D in the Adlerangri and Adlertag kits did be-fore, as Spiire foes. Contrary to the Bf 109E and Bf110C/D kits, we expanded the decal opons in thiskit to cover a wider me span, approximately fromthe end of 1939 to the winter of 1942. That coversthe beginning of the war, the invasion of Poland,the Bale of France and Britain, the Balkans con-ict, North Africa, across the Soviet planes and intoFinland. It’s a sort of a ‘Tour de Europe 1939-1942’.HISTORICAL ARTICLESThere are two arcles to go along with the Do 17.The rst is wrien by Jan Bobek, and is dedica-ted to the fate of the crew of Do 17Z 7T+HH fromKGr.606. It is included in this newsleer, and believeme when I tell you that it is some story, where thecommander of a Dornier becomes the commanderof a submarine. First, he was sunk by the Brish,and the second me around, the Americans triedto send him to the boom. Then, the Brish triedagain. Ulmately, it was the French that got him.At Dakar.The second, no less interesng arcle, is a study ofthe Do 17Z from Mira Baric and will come out in theMarch issue, and will be dedicated to the aircracoded 5K+AR from 7./KG 3. The arcle will describenot only the combat career and nal ight of thisaircra, but also the story around the discovery andsalvage of its wreck and subsequent restoraon.This literary works are the base of our otherwisea lile unevenul adversing material and also areone of the reasons why our newsleers are, andhave been for quite some me now, a much an-cipated event among modellers. In this newsleer,there are three such arcles. Besides the afore-menoned arcles, there’s an arcle by Jan Zdiar-sky about Lt. Col. John C. Meyer and a borrowedMustang named ‘Stardust’, with which Meyer hadthe most successful day of his combat career. Thefact that the date of the events was September11th, 1944, will not surprise anyone familiar withJan’s eld of interest, and just serves to conrmthe importance of that date, a date that was madepossible by some very extraordinary men. Besidesfocusing on Lt. Col. Meyer, the arcle describesa day in the life of the 352nd FG and the missionsof the 8th USAAF.The third arcle was wrien by Richard Plos. It’salso a descripon of an event that, if it got into thehands of a lm script writer, it would be rejected onthe basis that it is too dicult to believe. Although,geng back to the movie ‘Flyboys’, it could easilyalso be the other way around. The arcle describesthe story of German ghter ace Willi Gabriel andhas a connecon with not just at least two of ourkits, but also to historical research surrounding theGerman ghter force during World War One. Thetwo kits in queson are the 72nd scale Limited Edi-on kit Fokker Fokker! released this year in Januaryand the 48th scale ProPACK kit of the Fokker D.VII(-Fok). Fokker Fokker! Is one of the kits that survivedthe blaze and is available through to now. And eventhat suggests something about the type in and ofitself!And that’s it from me for now. I hope you nd someinspiraon within the pages of the historical ar-cles, and that you nd the rest of the informaonworthy of a close look.Happy Modelling!Vladimir Sulc.eduard5INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 6
Collection of Bartłomiej Belcarz via Michal OvčáčíkAlex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYAlthough the name Willi Gabriel does not gure as a part of the shortlist ofthe most famous ghter aces of the Great War, his spectacularly decoratedFokker D.VII keeps him in the “lights” and general awareness. The aircraftwith blue and orange stripes on the fuselage and elevator is still popularwith plastic model producers, artists or even with ying replicas builders.For example, the replica built in 2010 by Engels Aeroplanbau for the TVALcompany (founded by Peter Jackson) runs across the New Zealand´s skiesin Gabriel´s marking and back in the time, the replica built by famous ColePalen was performing spectacularly during Aviation Days at Old RhinebeckAerodrome (USA) in 1960´s. Willi Gabriel's pilot escapades are no less interes-ting and colourful than his mount. He was through periods of good fortune,as well as painful losses in his life and he also credited himself with one quiteimportant credit.Flying brothersAt the time, the territory of Poland was part of Prussia, the Bromberg townwas what is known as Bydgoszcz today. There, at the very end of the 1893(December 31), twin brothers Willi and Walter were born in the family of thefurniture manufacturer Eduard Gabriel. The two guys were very close eachother for most of their lives. Not only because of their relationship, but alsothanks to shared interests. As high school students, they liked to drill into va-rious machines, especially in internal combustion engines. Both have learnedto drive very early as well, starting with motor racing once they managed toacquire their own car. Also, aviation was drawing attention of technically andadventurously minded young men.As they had enough wood, glue, and tools on hand thanks to father's factory,the desire to build their own aircraft was no surprise. At the age of eigh-teen, Gabriels started to build their own replica of Blériot based on plans inFlugsport magazine. Brothers managed to nish the plane, but it never ew,as no suitable engine was available to them. Therefore, they tried their luckwith their own design, but it did not turn out any better. They have felt moreaircraft design information would be helpful, so they made a trip to Johannis-thal, where Fokker Spin caught their attention. Upon return home, they havebought an Anzani aircraft engine developing some 30 hp and began to builda replica of the Fokker´s successful design. They also invented some improve-ments, and on August 16, 1912, Walter took o for the rst short hop. After that,both brothers continued to hone their piloting skills, as well as the aircraft´sdesign. Thanks to their eorts and commitment, both become good pilots, al-beit without an ocial pilot's license as it was quite expensive for them to inviterepresentatives of the Deutschland Aero Club from Berlin for examinations. Willilater admitted, his brother was initially better pilot than him.THE FLYING ELEMENTWILLI GABRIELAutor: Richard PlosEleven aerial victories would hardly put WilliGabriel to the pedestal of the Great War ghteraces. This achievement makes him just some-thing like a „second rate“ in the rst sight, butit must not be forgotten his ghter career wasquite short. It lasted just some four months…First airworthy aircraft of Gabriel brothers was a copy of Fokker Spin.eduard6INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 7
Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenAlex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYThey were also constantly repairing and improving their aircraft, with theold Anzani engine being the biggest problem. Maybe that's why they tried tobuild gliders as well. Information about these is sporadic, they were supposedto be four designs called Gabriel P-I to P-IV and probably built during 1913.From West to East and backThe outbreak of the World War I thwarted plans of many people. Gabrielbrothers were no exception, as they were called for military service. Theirpre-war aviation activities were no secret for the military authorities, so theywere assigned to the German Air Troops (Fliegertruppen). Both brothers com-pleted basic military pilot training at the Aviation Training Unit No. 1 (FliegerErsatz Abteilung1) in Döberitz, followed by advanced training in Münchebergat the Rumpler training centre.The twins were lucky, as they were assigned to the same FFA 34 (Feldieger--Abteilung) unit after the training completion. The unit was operating fromthe Cunel base near Verdun, and commanded by Hauptmann (Captain) HugoGeyer. Pilots ew their missions with unarmed two-seaters Aviatik B.I and B.II.The unit stayed defenceless in the air until the mid-1915, when Aviatik C.Iand Albatros C.I with a defensive machine gun operated by observer arrived.In the spring of 1916, both brothers packed their bags and set out on a longjourney, as they were transferred to FFA 21, the unit operating on the Eas-tern Front in the area of Bialystok. There they experienced quite dierentmissions to what they were accustomed to on the western side of the con-ict. Pilots ew quite a long observation ights there with their AlbatrosC.Is, penetrating the enemy territory much deeper than it was usual on theWestern Front. Such a practice was possible thanks to low threat from Russi-an ghters. Flights of up to 100 km deep in enemy territory were commonlyused to map the situation and trac on the main railway lines. During eachight, about 93mi (150 km) of the railway was observed, so total length of themission was about 350 km. Brothers joined the operations of the unit, but,after some time, their ways parted, because Willi was transferred to FFA 44operating on the Western Front in the Verdun area.New engagement with Schutzstael 15During their service with FFA 34 Gabriel brothers had been witnessing arrivalof rst Fokker Eindeckers and both were attracted by these aircraft withWalter being initially more captivated than Willi. So it was no wonder heapplied for transition to one of the Kampfseinsitzer Komando (one-seatersghting group). His desire materialised only after he has returned to thewestern area of the war in the spring of 1917. He was assigned to the Jasta19 (the KEKs were gradually converted to the Jagdstaeln about this time),but his spell with ghters was quite short as he reported to the commanderof Flieger-Abteilung (Artillerie) 250 (Artillery-observing aviation unit) shortlyafterwards. There he ew long-range reconnaissance ights with RumplerC.IV capitalising on his Eastern Front experience.Willi was in a similar situation, ying at FA (A) 207 at the time. But, as themore dynamic and impulsive person of them both, he was gradually gettingmore and more bored with the monotonous observation ights. When theSchutzstaeln (protective squadrons) began to form in 1917 as the protectionforce of the observation aircraft, he did not waver to request reassignment.His request was approved and Willi became part of the Schusta 15, yingHalberstadt CL.IIs. These successful airplanes were armed with two machi-ne guns (one moveable for rear gunner and one forward ring synchronizedone) and performed tasks focused primarily on the protection of observationplanes. Although not thoroughbred pursuit aircraft, the CL.II oered Willisignicantly more combat opportunities. He was not scoring any victories ho-wever, despite number of combats. Instead, he learned, that his brother hadnot returned from a ight over England in August 1917. The Britons reporteddowning of the Rumpler C.VII ying at an altitude of about 18,000 ft (5,500m) that day. According to the report, the hit of anti-aircraft re destroyed thetail of the aircraft, causing it to fall in spiral and crash. Willi was downcastwith the news as he had no hopes his brother might survive. What a relief forhim, when a British plane dropped a mail bag over German territory with anup-to-date list of prisoners of war and the name Walter Gabriel was there!Fighter pilot made “easily"At the beginning of 1918, the protection of observation aircraft was alrea-dy fully provided by Jagdstaeln (ghter squadrons), while Schutzstaelnwere increasingly used for ground attack tasks. Therefore, their designati-on was changed to Schlachtstael, abbreviated Schlasta (attack squadron).At this time Willi already had a reputation for being an extremely "wild" pilot,frightening not only the enemy but also his own gunners with violent mano-euvrers. It was more and more evident, the ghter instincts were inherentto Willi´s personality. But, despite his undeniable piloting skills and courage,there were still zero kills on his account. He had to wait until March 22, 1918.That day he nally shot down the French SPAD and his desire to becomea ghter grew to another height. He had been considering application fortransition to ghter unit for some time, but hesitated. The reason was quitesimple and telling: In case of approval, he would have to complete ghtercourse with a training unit with rigid discipline. Something Willi was not a fanof… Now, he was one of the most experienced pilots of two-seaters, he hada number of ghts on his account and he also had problems nding a perma-nent gunner, as each of them preferred to y with anybody but him. He the-refore took advantage of situation, when his unit shared the air base at Cappywith the entire Jagdgeschwader I (Fighter Wing No. 1). He went on his own tothe tents on the other side of the aireld and asked for a hearing directly withManfred von Richthofen, leader of JG I. Famous ace heard the Schlasta pilotout, and since he had heard already about him, he agreed to request for histransfer to JG I. Gabriel informed his commanding ocer subsequently abouthis visit at JG I, but it was a mistake. His commandant felt like he should notloose him and so he sent a "counter-request" to the headquarters to keep Ga-briel with Schlasta 15. Therefore Willi's rst attempt to become ghter pilotfailed. Instead, he earned the Iron Cross of the 1st degree, which he receivedin March 1918 for his bravery and achievements.After von Richthofen's death, Wilhelm Reinhard took command of JG I andGabriel decided to repeat his attempt. The story was similar, Reinhard agreedto his transfer as well. And as Gabriel's commandant have given up furthereorts to keep him with the unit, Willi reported himself with the JG I leaderon May 19, 1918, becoming a member of the famous Jasta 11. However, hehad not won yet.Reinhard's ultimatumReinhard made it clear to Gabriel during the rst report, that he knew of hispiloting skills, but his unit was no place for training newcomers or resting onlaurels. That said, Willi had been tasked to achieve at least one victory inthe next four weeks. If case of fail, he would return to where he came from.It was quite hard requirement, given that Gabriel had not own single-seatghters and had not undergone ghter training until then. He therefore didnot waste time, conducted two training ights with the Dr.I to familiarisehimself with the nimble ghter powered by rotary engine and asked Reinhardfor the place in the evening patrol the same day he had joined the JG I.Reinhard agreed on condition the newcomer would stay close to him, turningtail in the event of a clash with the enemy. Well, that was not what Willi hadin mind! When the patrol encountered a formation of DH-9 bombers beforeeight o'clock in the evening, Reinhard began to climb and manoeuvre to getthe best position for his men to attack. For all bar Gabriel, who separatedfrom the formation attacking the rearmost DH-9, shooting it down. Delightedat his success, he spiralled with his prey watching it to hit the ground andGabriel brothers as military pilots. Willi on the left.Willi Gabriel in front of Halberstadt CL.II together with his gunnerand observer Vzfw. Hilsbein during the service with Schusta 15.eduard7INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 8
Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYwhen he “awakened” and looked back and over he saw the rest of the squad-ron circling above him. If it were not his comrades defended him, he wouldbe done, as the French Spads were above the German patrol to protect thebombers… However, he achieved his mandatory victory on the rst day at theJG I and so he could unpack denitely…1)Two aces by one combatWilli didn't do much ying with Triplane, as Jasta 11 replaced these aircraftwith new Fokker D.VIIs during the second half of May. One of them, the exam-ple of the early production from the Schwerin factory, was assigned to Gabri-el. It was a well-known 286/18 with a Mercedes D.IIIa engine. This aircraft gotthe marking of the unit (red nose) and personal marking, consisting of orangeand light blue stripes on the fuselage and elevator added gradually.Jagdgeschwader I was an elite unit under command of famous Manfred vonRichthofen. After his death on April 21, 1918, Reinhard respected the legacyof the “Red Baron” and led the unit in similar way as von Richthofen did, gi-ving his pilots relatively large degree of freedom, including the possibility toy "free hunts." That was a blessing for the indomitable Gabriel, as indepen-dent ights suited him much more than disciplined group operations. But the“free hunts” were also dangerous adventures, as Willi learned soon.He took o for lone hunt on June 13, hoping to achieve his fth victory, whichwould grant him the status of an ace. After spotting formation of Spads, hesneaked up from behind and gave the rearmost plane of the formation burstof his machine guns. The victim fell and remaining eight enemy pilots poun-ced on him wildly. Gabriel not only had to use all his strength and skill, butalso had to hope for luck. He zigzagged at the height of the treetops, whilenumber of hits increased, luckily with no bullet hitting him or anything impor-tant on the plane. The hope of getting out of the mess was diminishing, butthen one of the pilots of overying formation of Jasta 41 Albatroses spottedhis “dance of death” and rushed to help. All but one of the Spad pilots deci-ded to call it a day than and Gabriel managed to shoot down the importunateopponent. The Spad pilot made an emergency landing at the German territo-ry and Willi together with his saviour headed to the base. After landing, Willifound it was Josef Schwendemann, who, like Gabriel, had four victories on hisaccount so far. Grateful for his rescue, Willi oered one of his two victoriesof the day to Schwendemann and adjusted his report accordingly. Both pilotsbecame aces that day…2)Involuntary renunciationLeaving one victory to another pilot was not anything new to Gabriel, butit was for the rst time he did so voluntarily. He has been “forced” to do itnot once, but two times before. The day before his abovementioned ght heclaimed the same victory as Reinhard. It would be twentieth victory for hiscommander, meaning he would reach the limit for the Pour le Mérite award.In rather unusual manner adjutant of JG I, Lieutenant Bodenschatz, approa-ched Gabriel with request to waive his claim. But Gabriel refused, becausea few days earlier he had been dealing with the same situation occurring withanother pilot. In that case he agreed on condition he would be awarded thenext disputed victory.3)More to it, in the case of the dispute with Reinhard,Gabriel was striving for his fth victory, and thus the ace status. No wonderhe insisted on the victory. However, Reinhard was scheduled to test the newZeppelin-Lindau D.I ghter at Adlershof Airport near Berlin in a few days andwould like to leave his unit with the valuable award virtually "in his pocket".Bodenschatz therefore asked Gabriel again and oered that not one, but twosubsequent disputed victories would be automatically awarded to Gabriel.Considering it fair, Willi nally agreed. No one could have guessed that therewould be no more disputes with Reinhard…During the tests at Adlershof on July 3, Hermann Göring tried out the newtype rst, followed by Reinhard. During the dive one of the wing struts toreo and Reinhard was killed in the subsequent crash.4)Gabriel recorded his seventh victory three days before Reinhard´s death.His victim was Sopwith Dolphin, and it was a special event, as it was alsothe 300th victory of Jasta 11. Willi therefore went to celebrate with his oldcomrades-in-arms from Schlasta 15, using his new D.VII F for the trip. It wasBMW IIIa powered aircraft and so very valuable, as it was more powerful andbetter performing than Daimler-powered ones.The party at Schlasta 15 was a bit longer, than expected. Because it wasa clear and “light” summer night, Gabriel decided to y back home short-ly after midnight, but from the air the ground looked much darker, and heWalter Gabriel from the time of his service with FFA 21 on the Eastern Front.Fokker D.VII Early, 286/18, Vzfw. Willi Gabriel,Jasta 11, Cappy, France, May 1918eduard8INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 9
Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngarden Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenAlex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYfound no airport after more than an hour of ying. Willi eventually landed ona pasture near Valenciennes, but the chassis struck the fence, the aircraftlost its lower wing therefore and nally ended up with its tail pointing hel-plessly to the sky.The warningAfter Reinhard's death, the JG I was without lead again, and the pick of theheadquarters for the position was probably the worst possible choice fromGabriel's point of view. To the great disappointment of the JG I pilots, noneof their ranks was chosen to command the unit. Experienced pilots in ocerranks, such as Udet or Loewenhardt, were not professional ocers and sodisqualied to lead such a large unit as the Jagdgeschwader was. It had to beprofessional soldier. Somebody like Hermann Göring, then commander of Jas-ta 27 and an ace with 21 victories... Immediately after his arrival on July 14,he gathered all the pilots and informed them about the changes that wouldtake place under his leadership. He asked for better discipline and morale inthe air with commanders of the formations giving the signal to attack witha signal pistol. The most important change was quite painful, as it was forbi-dden to carry out “lone hunts” with immediate eect. Most of the membersof JG I did not like the new order, most of them also hoped that it was justa kind of mandatory process for Göring to demonstrate his determination,and soon everything would return to the old tracks. But they were mistaken…On July 18, Willi took part in formation led by Göring. The ight did not lastlong, and although there was a combat with the French Spad squad, none ofthe pilots, according to Gabriel, achieved any victory.As the Fokker formation approached the home base, Gabriel felt there is still“something in the air” for him. He had still enough fuel, so he left the forma-tion and headed back to the front. Soon he spotted another Spad formation,approached from behind and pounced up for the rearmost one. The victimwent down, and the situation already described repeated, as eight Spadswere hunting lone Gabriel again. Willi had to manoeuvre furiously to savehis life, but he managed to shoot down another Spad and the rest eventua-lly gave up the ght, thus pleasing sweaty Gabriel. Approaching the base atBeugneux, already on the landing nale, he noticed three Bréguet bombersoverying at an altitude of about 10 000 ft (3050 m), heading for Neuilly. Hedid not hesitate, opened the throttle of the BMW engine, pulled his Fokkerinto climb, and headed towards the enemy formation. He also noticed ano-ther D.VII climbing, with Richard Wenzl of Jasta 6 in the cockpit. Flying D.VIIwith more powerful BMW engine compared to Wenzl´s Daimler version, Willioutclimbed him easily and set for attack. He ran in and red on the starboardBréguet repeatedly. When closing in for the third time, he noticed both pilotand observer collapsed in the cockpit and after another burst also the engi-ne stopped. Gabriel ran out of ammo, but Bréguet was done and went intoa spiral, hitting the ground a mile away from the airport.He was receiving congratulations from his comrades after landing, but Wenzlsaw the situation dierently: "We cut o a French bombing squadron thatwas approaching Neuilly, intending to bomb Fére en Tardenois. I cut one ofthem out and really went to work hard on him. At rst the observer was stillring, but then he was quiet. He´d had enough. My opponent crossed thelines, stinking and smoking, with his engine shot in pieces. I was convinced,he was done. I broke o and watched the outcome of the operation. One ofmy comrades (Gabriel) suddenly thought that he should intervene and pum-ped another series of rounds into the Bréguet, which didn´t even moved butcontinued quietly on. lt went into the ground near lgny and bumed. Whenwe got back, I got involved rather undiplomatically in throwing the dice intoit – and lost my victory, naturally."5)For Gabriel there was a bigger problem waiting than dispute with Wenzl, ashe had to hear annoyed Göring out. The JG I commander clearly expressedhis thoughts and warned him, that anything like going o on his own must nothappen again. Göring then asked him to conrm his victory over the Spad, butGabriel refused because he did not observe any combat between Göring andFrench airplane. He certainly did not improve his situation by this…Too “expensive” tripAn afternoon patrol followed the same day and Willi, who thought the bestway to prove Göring is wrong on banning pilots from the lone hunts, went oon his own again. Leaving the formation, he overew the front at very lowaltitude to avoid the British anti-aircraft “Archies” and spotted a two-seater(probably Spad XVI) guarded by two Spad ghters. Willi concentrated on thetwo-seater, as observer was ring at the trenches, losing his vigilance a bit.Gabriel sent his victim down by rst burst, frightening probably the escortghters, as they turned sharply and disappeared in the haze.After landing, Gabriel met furious Göring, for whom four victories Willi hadachieved that day were no excuse for disobeying the rules. He ordered himfour weeks leave to get rid of him, at least for a while. Before departure,First of Gabriel´s Fokker D.VIIs was the aircraft with military number 286/18.The orange stripes were not painted on the fuselage at that time.Intimidating pose of Willi Gabriel. It is quite common on the photos of him…A mood before take-off to the operational ight. Willi Gabriel (in the middle of the group on the left side) is just putting on his ying suit. His D.VII stands on the left ofa row and sports complete paintwork with orange fuselage stripes.eduard9INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 10
archiv autora Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYGabriel was ordered to deliver an Albartos D.Va to the airport in Metz, wherethe air assembly base (Flugpark) was located. During the ight, however, Willidecided that as he is already on vacation, he could y it all the way home.And home meant some 620 miles (1000 km) of distance to Bromberg! Hehad to make several landings en-route to ll the fuel tank but, surprisingly,nobody asked him for a ight authorisation. His aliation with the famousJG I was a sucient "authorisation" for everyone, except for the commanderof the base in the Bromberg, who did not let himself be outwitted.Whole the matter was getting through the ocial military channels and thenal blame was on Göring. As soon as Gabriel returned to the unit, he wasinformed by his angry commander, there was no place for somebody like him.Gabriel was sent him to the Army Flug Park II in Montmédy, where he wastasked with test-ying the airplanes assembled after rail transport to thefront. As he said later, after serving with the elite Jasta 11, he no longer wan-ted to join any other unit, so he endured the war there and returned homeimmediately after armistice.Home againReturning home, he found his hometown changed the name. It was no longerBromberg, but Bydgoszcz, as Gabriel's birthplace became part of the newPoland. German citizens could stay, but on condition they accept Polish na-mes. And so, Willi became Jan and Walter, who returned from the captivity,became Pawel… But the change was only an eye candy to satisfy the Polishauthorities.To the advantage of the aviation-bound brothers, there was no ban on aircraftproduction in Poland, as was the case in post-war Germany. And, although thebrothers joined the family furniture company (later took over it complete-ly), they also founded their own company called Aeroplan Gebrüder Gabriel(Aircraft Brothers Gabriel) where they started building their own sports air-craft. Their eorts materialised in 1920 in form of the Gabriel P-V parasol6),the rst independent Polish aircraft. The Gabriel P-V was powered by HaackeHFM-2 engine with an output of 22 kW, enough for small and light (just 297lb;135 kg) aircraft. Its shape resembled scaled-down Fokker D.VIII with one inte-resting improvement, swivel wing for easier ground transport.The aircraft was performing well and after a series of various improvements,the brothers decided to present it at the Poznan Industrial Fair in 1924. Williwas to y it over, while Walter took a train. However, the April weather withvery low clouds, rain and fog made ying nearly impossible. Willi did not giveup and took o, not worried by the fact the plane didn't even had a compass!He believed that following the rails, he would nd the way. But he lost hisorientation and had to land in order to ask where he was. To his amazement,he learned he was in Germany and so took o quickly before the police mightarrive. The subsequent ight lasted only a few minutes, as the crankshaftbroke and sudden stop of the engine torn the propeller to pieces. One ofthem cut through the wing damaging its inner structure. Willi landed quicklyand found that he was still in Germany, near Woldenberg...The plane was conscated, Willi was imprisoned, and the whole issue rece-ived considerable publicity to little liking of the Polish government. As partof the subsequent trial held in 1926, both brothers were banned from yingin Poland. Another blow to their dreams of aircraft company was the ordercancellation for 50 Farmans yet to be built for the Polish Air Force. That wastoo much for brothers. Willi decided to quit ying for good to continue withthe family furniture business7)while livelier Willi, who could not imagine hislife without ying, decided to move to Germany.A two-time pilot jobsShortly after his relocation, Willi Gabriel founded the small company Gab-riel-Flugzeugbau in Johannisthal and continued with his eorts to becomean aircraft manufacturer. At the same time, he worked as a ight instructorand was frequently hired for various demonstration or advertising ights.With the reputation of a Great War ace and former member of the JG I, histhings were a little bit easier at least. In the late 1920s, he introduced hislast aircraft design, a two-seater biplane with folding wings, called the Wespe(wasp). It turned out to be his most successful, fully aerobatic plane. Willitook part in aerobatic competitions with it, competing also with Ernst Udet,his more famous colleague from JG I.Willi was still very “dynamic” pilot and during one advertising ight for themovie company, he decided to increase the attractiveness of his performan-ce with reversed ying. But as he rolled back to normal position, the looseseatbelts and the upholstery of the unoccupied front seat stuck the controlstick in the pulled position. The aircraft raised its nose, lost speed, and wentinto the spin. Willi was unable to control the plane, so he crashed into theroof of the factory. Apart from the substantial property damage the death ofone female worker was much worse consequence… Willi himself remained un-harmed miraculously but was temporarily banned from ying until the courtacquitted him.At the beginning of the 1930s, the Luftwae, German Air Force, was secretlygetting its future shape, ocially introduced to the world in 1935. Number of“old hands" were recalled for military reserve pilot training and Willi arrivedat Döberitz Airport, where he ew He-51s. During the course, which alsoincluded air-to-ground ring, interesting oer emerged for him. At the time,Ernst Udet was performing popular performances on air shows called the“Flying Professor". As his new duties with the Luftwae prevented him to car-ry on, he remembered Willi, who was more than keen to take over the famousact. After Udet rst have seen him in this role, he allegedly declared, "Willi,you're even more crazy than me!" Gabriel then ew these performances untilthe beginning of the war. He also earned the attention of moviemakers whoneeded a pilot for an aerial movie with the meaningful title "Pour le Mérite".One old Fokker Dr.I was overhauled to the ying condition for the lmingpurposes, getting a Clerget engine instead of original Oberursel one. Also,one D.VII was prepared. Willi took over Dreidecker while his old colleaguefrom Jasta 11 Alfred Niemz ew with D.VII. The Clerget engine had beenresting for some twenty years and so not in the best condition. During theight to the lming location in Rechlin, one cylinder of the engine exploded.Without power and with destroyed engine cover, Gabriel managed to savethe plane with an emergency landing at Berlin-Staaken Airport. He causeda considerable upheaval there. The old Dreidecker has been repaired andWilli ew it during all the shooting sequences of the movie, which, by theway, is available on Youtube, albeit in very poor quality.Gabriel worked as a movie pilot for the second time in 1941, i.e., during thewar, when he was temporarily released of his duties as a pilot instructor. Hehad been working on two movies at the time. He ew his “good old friend”,the Dr.I used during the shooting of Pour le Mérite for the purposes of propa-gandistic movie "D.III 88" (it is probably not necessary to explain the meaningof the number 88), while another overhauled Dreidecker was in the hands ofa test pilot from Rechlin. Willi´s Dr.I was at this time powered by the Oberur-sel engine, but it did not mean the end of the engine problems. Moreover, ashe later recalled, due to the demanding requirements of moviemakers, yingfor them was perhaps more dangerous than the war ying!Another movie he was cooperating on during the war was the comedy "Quax,Der Bruch Pilot" (Quax, the crash pilot), where he allegedly used his ownplane (matriculation D-EMAZ). According to Willi's memories, it was a Klemmplane, but Udet Flamingo with matriculation D-EMMA ies in the movie…Second time in the warWilli Gabriel was promoted to Hauptmann der Reserve (Captain in reserve)in October 1937 (he ended the Great War as Wizefeldwebel, i.e., Sergeant1st Class). A year later, at the age of 45, he took a training for reserve ghterpilots in Döberitz and became an instructor. From 1939 he provided retrainingof pilots at the Jüterborg-Damm base, during 1943 he was ying as an instruc-tor with the JG 104 training unit at the base Kiel-Holtenau. Here he trainednew pilots also on two-seater Bf 109G-12. According to unveried data, heThe consequence of the night ight home from the celebration. The aircraft wasdamaged badly, but the valuable BMW engine stayed unharmed.Gabriel brothers in front of their G-V design. Willi made emergency landing withit in Germany.eduard10INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 11
Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenAlex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYtrained 800 pilots during his instructor career, and, at the end of the war,52-year-old Willi even ew the Ju 88 and Me 210 night ghters.It is interesting that Gabriel came into conict with the authorities includingthe SS several times during the war years. The reason was not ideological,but rather materialistic, as he reportedly sent several Ju-52s to Germanywith unspecied contraband. It was very close several times and even themighty Hermann Göring himself had to save Willi from bigger troubles. Yes, itwas the same Göring who red him from JG I, and who didn't get to like himany more later. But the unwritten law of the old guard of JG I ordered themto keep together and was superior to everything else. Göring may have alsointervened earlier, in 1936, when Willi was accused of attack on the state andthe party. The accusation was based on denunciation from four of his colle-agues and the reason was supposed to be an unspecied conversation aboutLeni Riefenstahl and her relationship with Adolf Hitler.At the end of second world war, Willi Gabriel fell into British captivity, andthe Britons asked him for help with the training of RAF pilots to convert oncaptured German aircraft. Willi refused this "honor" and so he was releasedon August 25, 1945. He returned home to Berlin but only to mourn. His bro-ther Walter died during the Russian shelling of Genthin, where he escapedfrom his native Bromberg to avoid the progressing Red Army. Even worse lossfor Willi was the death of his son Manfred.8)He shot himself in Berlin in frontof approaching Russian soldiers on May 1, 1945. His body was found on Gas-teiner straße. Two weeks later, Manfred would turn 19. By the way, the guywas able to y with the aircraft at the age of twelve…Valuable helperShortly after returning home, Willi volunteered as a pilot for the air bridgesupplying West Berlin, but his oer was turned down. Luftwae pilots werenot sought after… Coincidentally, he met someone who was ying the airbridge, the British pilot Alex Imrie, who became one of the founders of post--war aerial research focused on the First World War. Willi and Alex becamefriends, and, as Bruno Schmäling writes in his book Jasta Colors, Willi wasso close friend, Alex invited him to his wedding. In 1962, Cross & Cockademagazine published an extensive article, which Alex wrote based on Willi'snarration. This article also draws on it.Willi Gabriel opened many doors to Alex in his eorts to contact former Ger-man First World War pilots, helping to preserve valuable information, photo-graphs, and documents. After the imperial military archive in Potsdam wasdestroyed during one of the bombing raids, private albums and memorieswere the only thing left… Alex Imrie9)then passed on his knowledge and…and during the work on the D.III 88. It is the same Fokker Dr.I.Výhružná póza i grimasa. Gabriel se snažil působit na fotograích nebezpečně…A rest during the movie making of the Pour le Mérite…eduard11INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 12
Alex Imrie via Greg VanWyngardenHISTORYcontacts to a new generation of researchers like Bruno Schmäling, GregVan Wyngarden or Eduard's collaborator Jörn Leckscheid.Getting old, Willi gladly accepted invitations to various commemorativeevents. As long as it was possible, occasional meetings of former membersof JG I were organized, but the meetings of Alte Adler (The Old Eagle) weremore frequent. This organization was found in 1927 and after World War II,it brought together only notable people who worked in aviation before 1919.Now, of course, this rule is already gone, and membership is decided by theexecutive committee.At a meeting of JG I members in 1960 in Braunschwig, Willi managed to getthe seat of the co-pilot of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza and was given chanceto pilot it. According to witnesses, he did such a violent ying that his formercolleagues, who were riding as passengers, got sick!Willi Gabriel was an impulsive, uncontrollable "element" who did not havetoo much understanding for tough discipline. He was an individualist and,according to witnesses, also entertaining companion. He died on July 1, 1968at the age of 75. It would be interesting to nd out how many victories hewould eventually achieve if he was allowed to y his solo missions. And whoknows if he would survive another ght of one against eight, which he mightget into again. Maybe Göring saved his life when he red him from the JG I…Willi looks quite tired on the photography taken during the WWII years…Register entry of the death of Willi´s son Manfred.Notes1) Many sources state that Gabriel did not achieve his rst victory until a month after his arrivalat Jasta 11, and so he did not meet Reinhard's original deadline. This mistake is due to theerroneous dating of Gabriel's arrival at Jasta 11 on April 15. However, the "Red Baron" died onApril 21, and Reinhard took command of JG I on April 25.2) Josef Schwendemann achieved a total of seventeen victories.3) Disputes over victories were nothing special. Concurrent claims occurred relatively frequently.In the erce air battles in a relatively small area, several pilots often red at one target andit was not easy to determine whose shot was the fateful in the end. It was mostly up to whosecured a better testimony.4) The motif of Reinhard's fatal crash during rehearsals of a new type appeared in a modiedform in the movies Pour le Mérite from 1938 and also in the better-known The Blue Max (1966).5) Richthofen´s Circus; Hunting Squadron I; Greg VanWyngarden, Osprey Publishing Limited 20046) The Gabriel brothers also designed P-VI (two-seater biplane training aircraft), P-VII (sportstwo-seater parasol aircraft) and sporting aircraft P-VIII. The P-IX project remained only on paper,and none of the projects was produced.7) The Mebli Gabriel factory was nationalized on August 16, 1950 by order of the Council ofMinisters. It was located at Aleja 1 Maja 138, Bydgoszcz.8) Gabriel brothers named their sons after von Richthofen brothers. Walter´s son was Lothar,Willi´s was Manfred.9) Alex Imrie; April 29, 1926 – June 4, 2011SourcesCross & Cockade 1962; Alex Imrie; Die Gebrüder GabrielRichthofen´s Circus, Jagdgeschwader I; Greg VanWyngarden, Osprey Publishing Limited 2004Above the Lines, Norman L. R. Franks, Frank W. Bailey, Russel Guest, Grub Street London, 1993www.theaerodrome.com; www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de; www.bwfsg.deRegisters of the Berlin and BydgoszczAuthor would like to thank to Greg VanWyngarden for providingthe valuable photos and additional informations.The rst volume in a landmark series of theGreat War aviation books with detailedmarkings of German ghter planes is out!The rst volume of a series of books dealing with thecolours of German WW I ghter aeroplanes oers aninsight into the research process of looking for thetrue colours of the Fliegertruppe ghter aircraft.A detailed presentation covering the author´s longterm research, conducted mainly in the 1970s and80s, sheds light on the process of uncovering longlost documentation revealing the true colours ofthe aircraft and recounting the adventures of theirpilots. The book contains 58 colour proles, manyof these not seen before, while others correctprevious misinterpretations of markings. Moreover,some 223 photographs and 61 reproductionsof documents are published here.Renowned historian and author Bruno Schmälingcompleted this book with the cooperation of fellowresearcher Jörn Leckscheid, a long-time friendof Eduard.The book has been published byAeronaut Boooks (USA) andis availabe worldwide from theAmazon.com and its localrepresentations.More about publisher at:www.aeronautbooks.comeduard12INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 13
The rst volume in a landmark series of theGreat War aviation books with detailedmarkings of German ghter planes is out!The rst volume of a series of books dealing with thecolours of German WW I ghter aeroplanes oers aninsight into the research process of looking for thetrue colours of the Fliegertruppe ghter aircraft.A detailed presentation covering the author´s longterm research, conducted mainly in the 1970s and80s, sheds light on the process of uncovering longlost documentation revealing the true colours ofthe aircraft and recounting the adventures of theirpilots. The book contains 58 colour proles, manyof these not seen before, while others correctprevious misinterpretations of markings. Moreover,some 223 photographs and 61 reproductionsof documents are published here.Renowned historian and author Bruno Schmälingcompleted this book with the cooperation of fellowresearcher Jörn Leckscheid, a long-time friendof Eduard.The book has been published byAeronaut Boooks (USA) andis availabe worldwide from theAmazon.com and its localrepresentations.More about publisher at:www.aeronautbooks.comPage 14
We have made references to the date of September 11th, 1944, several times now within the pages of our Eduard newsletter.It’s not only thanks to the obsession with the date that is held by the author, but also the fact that this date holds manydiverse and fascinating aspects that are attached to it. The recounted stories that have been documented here have thusfar been tied to the specic conict between the 13th Combat Wing, notably the 100th Bomb Group, and Jagdgeschwader 4,that has come to be known as the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains.This time around, we’ll take another gander at aboutthe same time window – approximately 1145h to 1215h– but about 250km further to the west. The centre ofinterest will continue to be the stream of bombers fromthe 3rd Bomb Division, but we will move from its leadingedge, specically the rst three combat boxes headedtowards Hyrierwerke Brabag in Ruhland, and shift ourattention to the rear of the bomber group, to its ghterescort. The next to last grouping of the 3rd Bomb Divi-sion stream was a pair of combat boxes from the 490thand 493rd Bomb Group heading towards the Sudetenlan-dische Treibstowerke AG Brux (this is currently a majorchemical production facility called Zaluzi just outsideof Most in the northwestern part of the Czech Republicand is visible from the main Eduard building in Obrnice.It is also rmly connected to the history of the compa-ny.) Two boxes designated 93A and 93B Combat Wing,located in positions 7 and 8 within the 3rd Bomb Divisi-on formation, were under the protection of the 352ndFighter Group, commanded by Lt. Col. James D. Mayden.The bomber protection duties included close air supportas well as clearing the air en route for the bombers aswithdrawal support.The 352nd Fighter Group was composed of threesquadrons – the 328th (that day led by Lt. Col. Meyden),the 486th (Capt. Franklyn N. Greene), and the 487th(Lt.Col. John C. Meyer). Each squadron for this missionconsisted of sixteen to eighteen ghters and was dividedinto White, Blue, Red and Yellow Flights, where eachight was made up of four aircraft.By the time all three squadrons of the 352nd FG andtheir 53 Mustangs formed up and turned eastwardsCommanding Ocer of 487th FS Lt.Col. John C. Meyerin the cockpit of P-51D ‘Petie 2nd’, s/n 44-14151at Bodney, Great Britain.Page 15
We have made references to the date of September 11th, 1944, several times now within the pages of our Eduard newsletter.It’s not only thanks to the obsession with the date that is held by the author, but also the fact that this date holds manydiverse and fascinating aspects that are attached to it. The recounted stories that have been documented here have thusfar been tied to the specic conict between the 13th Combat Wing, notably the 100th Bomb Group, and Jagdgeschwader 4,that has come to be known as the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains.This time around, we’ll take another gander at aboutthe same time window – approximately 1145h to 1215h– but about 250km further to the west. The centre ofinterest will continue to be the stream of bombers fromthe 3rd Bomb Division, but we will move from its leadingedge, specically the rst three combat boxes headedtowards Hyrierwerke Brabag in Ruhland, and shift ourattention to the rear of the bomber group, to its ghterescort. The next to last grouping of the 3rd Bomb Divi-sion stream was a pair of combat boxes from the 490thand 493rd Bomb Group heading towards the Sudetenlan-dische Treibstowerke AG Brux (this is currently a majorchemical production facility called Zaluzi just outsideof Most in the northwestern part of the Czech Republicand is visible from the main Eduard building in Obrnice.It is also rmly connected to the history of the compa-ny.) Two boxes designated 93A and 93B Combat Wing,located in positions 7 and 8 within the 3rd Bomb Divisi-on formation, were under the protection of the 352ndFighter Group, commanded by Lt. Col. James D. Mayden.The bomber protection duties included close air supportas well as clearing the air en route for the bombers aswithdrawal support.The 352nd Fighter Group was composed of threesquadrons – the 328th (that day led by Lt. Col. Meyden),the 486th (Capt. Franklyn N. Greene), and the 487th(Lt.Col. John C. Meyer). Each squadron for this missionconsisted of sixteen to eighteen ghters and was dividedinto White, Blue, Red and Yellow Flights, where eachight was made up of four aircraft.By the time all three squadrons of the 352nd FG andtheir 53 Mustangs formed up and turned eastwardsCommanding Ocer of 487th FS Lt.Col. John C. Meyerin the cockpit of P-51D ‘Petie 2nd’, s/n 44-14151at Bodney, Great Britain.Page 16
around 1000h, their charges had been in the air and over enemyterritory for some time. Despite each squadron operating inde-pendently, their rendezvous with the bombers at the designa-ted location was almost simultaneous. The group with the callsign ‘Balance One Four’ was to come in from the North Sea, overHolland and the Ruhr to the area south of Hanover and from therecontinue on southeasterly towards Plauen, where they were tomeet up with their ‘big brothers’. Although the assumption wasthat meeting the Luftwae was unlikely, the route to meeting thebombers was several times interrupted. The rst encounter withthe enemy occurred at around 1130h when the 328th FS stumbledupon a ght in progress between the 4th FG and German ghters.Although subsequent reports put this event at 20 miles east ofMeiningen, it was in all likelihood actually in the area of Eisenach,over 50km away. The engagement proved successful especiallyfor Blue Flight of this squadron, with its CO Capt. William E. Hen-drian and his Number 2, Lt. Richard F. Semon, each claimimg anFw 190. However, this came at the cost of the unit’s Number 3 man,Lt. Garland Rayborn, who was shot down and taken prisoner.The bad guys in this ght, which lasted over a half an hour, wereBf 109s and Fw 190s from I./JG 76, JGr. 10, II./JG 27, andII.(Sturm)/JG 300. Besides the aforementioned 352nd and4th Fighter Groups, the American side also included the 359thand 364th FG.Shortly after that, at around 1150h, and further to the northnear Gottingen – Nordhausen – Mulhausen, pilots of the 328thFS, dubbed ‘Meyer’s Maulers’ spotted a group of around thirtyGerman ghters forming up. These were, no doubt, connected tothe German units taking part in the battle described immediatelyabove and located about halfway between them and an unspeci-ed group of American bombers. The latter were most likely B-17sfrom the 1st Bomb Division headed for Merseburg/Lutzkendorf.The squadron leader, Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, later reported: ‘Theywere pulling contrails and appeared to be forming up. We headedtowards them and as we got closer they dove out of contrailslevel in ones and twos. Contrail level was 28000´plus. At 29000´,I identied them as Me 109s and attacked one as he headed downin a 60° dive. The whole squadron then engaged small groups ofthe E/A after their original gaggle had been split up. At about17000´ the E/A I was chasing leveled o and I closed rapidly.He saw me and started in a steep climbing turn, my rst burstwas about 20° deection at 300 yards. I observed few hits.I closed on him in the climbing turn and at 30° deection and 200yards I got hits on the rear portion of his fuselage, pieces comingo. He split S´d, recovered and turned into me. I had little di-culty in overtaking and in turning inside of him. At 20° and 300yards I got good strikes on wing root and E/A started to smoke.It rolled over and crashed straight into the deck from 8000´.Pilot seemed inexperienced, his breaks were conspicuously non--violent. He was hesitant in all his maneuvers.’John C. Meyer did not get the described kill while in the coc-kpit of his iconic Mustang s/n 44-14151 HO-M, named ‘Petie 2nd’,which remained on the ground. Good fortune on this day wasbestowed on Meyer by a borrowed, and a little orphaned, Mustangnamed ‘Stardust’, which carried the serial 44-13597 and codeHO-F, who’s pilot, Lt. William E. Fowler, had just completed a com-bat tour.Sudetenländische Treibstowerke AG Brüx, September 11th, 1944, was the target for the 93rd Combat Wing (490th and493rd Bomb Group) with ghter escort provided by the 352nd Fighter Group.Page 17
around 1000h, their charges had been in the air and over enemyterritory for some time. Despite each squadron operating inde-pendently, their rendezvous with the bombers at the designa-ted location was almost simultaneous. The group with the callsign ‘Balance One Four’ was to come in from the North Sea, overHolland and the Ruhr to the area south of Hanover and from therecontinue on southeasterly towards Plauen, where they were tomeet up with their ‘big brothers’. Although the assumption wasthat meeting the Luftwae was unlikely, the route to meeting thebombers was several times interrupted. The rst encounter withthe enemy occurred at around 1130h when the 328th FS stumbledupon a ght in progress between the 4th FG and German ghters.Although subsequent reports put this event at 20 miles east ofMeiningen, it was in all likelihood actually in the area of Eisenach,over 50km away. The engagement proved successful especiallyfor Blue Flight of this squadron, with its CO Capt. William E. Hen-drian and his Number 2, Lt. Richard F. Semon, each claimimg anFw 190. However, this came at the cost of the unit’s Number 3 man,Lt. Garland Rayborn, who was shot down and taken prisoner.The bad guys in this ght, which lasted over a half an hour, wereBf 109s and Fw 190s from I./JG 76, JGr. 10, II./JG 27, andII.(Sturm)/JG 300. Besides the aforementioned 352nd and4th Fighter Groups, the American side also included the 359thand 364th FG.Shortly after that, at around 1150h, and further to the northnear Gottingen – Nordhausen – Mulhausen, pilots of the 328thFS, dubbed ‘Meyer’s Maulers’ spotted a group of around thirtyGerman ghters forming up. These were, no doubt, connected tothe German units taking part in the battle described immediatelyabove and located about halfway between them and an unspeci-ed group of American bombers. The latter were most likely B-17sfrom the 1st Bomb Division headed for Merseburg/Lutzkendorf.The squadron leader, Lt. Col. John C. Meyer, later reported: ‘Theywere pulling contrails and appeared to be forming up. We headedtowards them and as we got closer they dove out of contrailslevel in ones and twos. Contrail level was 28000´plus. At 29000´,I identied them as Me 109s and attacked one as he headed downin a 60° dive. The whole squadron then engaged small groups ofthe E/A after their original gaggle had been split up. At about17000´ the E/A I was chasing leveled o and I closed rapidly.He saw me and started in a steep climbing turn, my rst burstwas about 20° deection at 300 yards. I observed few hits.I closed on him in the climbing turn and at 30° deection and 200yards I got hits on the rear portion of his fuselage, pieces comingo. He split S´d, recovered and turned into me. I had little di-culty in overtaking and in turning inside of him. At 20° and 300yards I got good strikes on wing root and E/A started to smoke.It rolled over and crashed straight into the deck from 8000´.Pilot seemed inexperienced, his breaks were conspicuously non--violent. He was hesitant in all his maneuvers.’John C. Meyer did not get the described kill while in the coc-kpit of his iconic Mustang s/n 44-14151 HO-M, named ‘Petie 2nd’,which remained on the ground. Good fortune on this day wasbestowed on Meyer by a borrowed, and a little orphaned, Mustangnamed ‘Stardust’, which carried the serial 44-13597 and codeHO-F, who’s pilot, Lt. William E. Fowler, had just completed a com-bat tour.Sudetenländische Treibstowerke AG Brüx, September 11th, 1944, was the target for the 93rd Combat Wing (490th and493rd Bomb Group) with ghter escort provided by the 352nd Fighter Group.P-51D-5 Mustang s/n 44-13597 ‘STARDUST’, with which Lt.Col. John C. Meyer took part in the escort missionof September 11th, 1944. (Photo: 352nd Fighter Group Association, Peter Randall)Page 18
After getting that rst kill of the day, Lt. Col. Meyer felt a littleabandoned. He spotted another group of German ghters, madeup of around fteen Bf 109s and Fw 190s, a little higher than him-self in altitude and further to the northwest. He climbed about2,000 feet above the level of his foes and attacked a mixed pairof aircraft, one of each type: ‘They had belly tanks and appearedto be forming up. I approached them from out of the sun andattacked the #2 of a pair of E/A that were farthest from the mass.I red at 15° deection from 300 yards to point blank range.The E/A burst into ames, I broke into the sun, cleared my tailand attacked the element leader, at 300 yards I got few strikeson his right wing tip and he broke. As he broke I got strikes in thevicinity of the cockpit and wing roots. The E/A rolled over andspiraled down, crashing into the ground.’Shortly afterwards, Meyer spotted his nal victim of this ght:‘A lone Me 109 was emerging from a cloud in the vicinity of thelarge enemy gaggle. And as I was not yet under attack, I attackedthe E/A. Only my right wing guns were now ring so I opened at200 yards and no deection closing to point blank range and 10°deection. I saw strikes all over the E/A and pieces ew o thetail and fuselage. He caught re at his left wing root. I broke othe attack and headed for the deck and home.’The combat that lasted only a few minutes brought Lt. Col.Meyer the rare triumph of four kills. The drama, though, was notat its end. After his last kill, pretty much out of ammunition andhis fuel reserves leaving much to be desired, he turned for homeand dropped down to a lower altitude where he would be safer.At that point, he spotted two Bf 109s below him that glued them-Lt. William ‘Flaps’ Fowler ended his combat tour on September 8th, 1944 with 3.5 enemy aircraft destroyed over69 combat missions (Photo: 352nd Fighter Group Association, Peter Randall).P-51D-5 Mustang s/n 44-13597 HO-F„STARDUST“, Lt. William E. „Flaps“ Fowler,Bodney, England, early September 1944(c) Jan Zdiarský, 2021Page 19
After getting that rst kill of the day, Lt. Col. Meyer felt a littleabandoned. He spotted another group of German ghters, madeup of around fteen Bf 109s and Fw 190s, a little higher than him-self in altitude and further to the northwest. He climbed about2,000 feet above the level of his foes and attacked a mixed pairof aircraft, one of each type: ‘They had belly tanks and appearedto be forming up. I approached them from out of the sun andattacked the #2 of a pair of E/A that were farthest from the mass.I red at 15° deection from 300 yards to point blank range.The E/A burst into ames, I broke into the sun, cleared my tailand attacked the element leader, at 300 yards I got few strikeson his right wing tip and he broke. As he broke I got strikes in thevicinity of the cockpit and wing roots. The E/A rolled over andspiraled down, crashing into the ground.’Shortly afterwards, Meyer spotted his nal victim of this ght:‘A lone Me 109 was emerging from a cloud in the vicinity of thelarge enemy gaggle. And as I was not yet under attack, I attackedthe E/A. Only my right wing guns were now ring so I opened at200 yards and no deection closing to point blank range and 10°deection. I saw strikes all over the E/A and pieces ew o thetail and fuselage. He caught re at his left wing root. I broke othe attack and headed for the deck and home.’The combat that lasted only a few minutes brought Lt. Col.Meyer the rare triumph of four kills. The drama, though, was notat its end. After his last kill, pretty much out of ammunition andhis fuel reserves leaving much to be desired, he turned for homeand dropped down to a lower altitude where he would be safer.At that point, he spotted two Bf 109s below him that glued them-Lt. William ‘Flaps’ Fowler ended his combat tour on September 8th, 1944 with 3.5 enemy aircraft destroyed over69 combat missions (Photo: 352nd Fighter Group Association, Peter Randall).P-51D-5 Mustang s/n 44-13597 HO-F„STARDUST“, Lt. William E. „Flaps“ Fowler,Bodney, England, early September 1944(c) Jan Zdiarský, 2021John C. MeyerJohn C. Meyer was born on April 3rd, 1919 in Brooklyn. He joinedthe Army Air Force in November, 1939, with the intention of be-coming a pilot. He got his wings and the rank of 2nd Lieutenantin July, 1940 and for a short time, fullled instructional duties atRandolph Field in Texas, and at Gunter Field in Alabama. Beforethe United States entered the war, he was assigned to the 33rdPursuit Squadron, with which he ew the P-40, and was tasked,among other things, with convoy support around Iceland. In Sep-tember, 1942, John C. Meyer was reassigned to the newly formed352nd Fighter Group and was given command of her 34th PursuitSquadron. The unit was redesignated as the 487th Fighter Squadron,and was re-equipped with the P-47 Thunderbolt, and in this form,along with the entire 352nd Fighter Group, was moved to Euro-pe. The new home of the unit all the way to the end of the warwas RAF Bodney, USAAF Station No.141. His rst aerial victory, andalso the squadron’s rst, was recorded in November, 1943. John C.Meyer was the 487th Fighter Squadron’s CO over the course of allimportant time periods in the evolution of strategic operations overEurope, during which the unit was again re-equipped, this timefrom the P-47 to the P-51. John C Meyer gave up his command ofthe squadron when he was named deputy CO of the 352nd FG inNovember, 1944. Under his command, the squadron would see theemergence of aces the likes of Raymond H. Littge, William T. Whis-ner and, perhaps most importantly, George H. Preddy, the leadingP-51 ace, Meyer’s friend and colleague who he was not able tobest even after Preddy’s tragic death over Christmas, 1944. As luckwould have it, fate would not oer much opportunity to do justthat. On December 31st, 1944, John Meyer was able to shoot downan Arado Ar 234 jet. Immediately the next morning, the nal bigshow for John Meyer in the Second World War began. During Opera-tion Bodenplatte, when one of the Luftwae targets was the 352ndFG’s temporary home, Y-29 Ash in Belgium, John Meyer managed toshoot down an Fw 190 before he could even get his gear up after ta-king o. He subsequently dispensed with another Fw 190 and raisedhis Second World War score to the nal tally of twenty-four. For thisrare feat, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Eightdays later, he was the victim of an accident, and although doctorswere able to save his life, it spelled the end of his ying days tothe end of the war. Up to that point, he took part in ca 200 combatmissions lasting some 462 hours, and besides the twenty-four kills,he was also credited with the destruction of 13 enemy aircraft onthe ground.After the war, he completed his studies, ear-ning a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Geography.Postwar service with the US Army, later theUSAF, was made up of various sta and adminfunctions up to August, 1950, when he was na-med Commanding Ocer of the F-86 equipped4th Fighter Wing. The unit was later moved toKorea, where John C. Meyer added anothertwo kills to his total from 1943 – 1945. One wasclaimed on December 22nd, 1950 and the otheron April 12th, 1951. Both victims were MiG-15s.After returning from Korea, he was taken onby the Air War College in Maxwell, where hewould later remain as an instructor. In 1963,he was promoted to Major General and wassubsequently given command of the 12th USAF.In 1967, this was followed by further promoti-on to Lieutenant General and function withinthe Strategic Air Command. He retired in July,1974.Among his military awards are, rst and fo-remost, the Distinguished Service Cross withtwo Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force DistinguishedService Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Silver Starwith Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit, Distin-guished Flying Cross with six Oak Leaf Clusters,Purple Heart, Air Medal with 14 Oak Leaf Clus-ters and the Croix de Guerre with Palm fromboth France and Belgium.John C. Meyer died on December 2nd, 1975 inLos Angeles at the age of 56.John C. Meyer during his stint as CO of the4th Fighter Wing in Korea between 1950and 1951. During the Korean War, he ewthe F-86 Sabre and downed two MiG-15s.Page 20
selves to his tail. For a short period of time, he set his thro-ttle to emergency boost and began climbing again at a rateof 300m per minute. The enemy aircraft pursued him ata distance of almost 300m, and still 100 to 120m from below.Every now and again, they would be able to lift their nosesup and get o a few rounds, but to Meyer’s luck, withoutsuccess. This unlikely group ew almost 180km betweenKassel and Bonn, and when they reached the Rhine, theGerman pilots turned back.Besides John C. Meyer, other members of the squadrongot a taste of success as well. Second Lt. Phanor B. Watersshot down an Fw 190, 1Lt. Duerr H. Schuh a Bf 109, Capt.John R. Bennett another Fw 190 with a Bf 109 probable andanother damaged (both ‘109s were credited to him as dam-aged), and Lt. James H. Forga was credited with three kills,two Fw 190s and a Bf 109. Other members of the squadrondestroyed four aircraft on the ground, and damaged ano-ther ve. These were 1Lt. Alex Sears, 1Lt. Ray. H. Littgeand Lt. H.M. Stewart. According to reports, this all happe-ned at the airelds at Gotha and Gottingen between 1155hand 1230h.The last of the 352nd FG squadrons, the 486th underthe leadership of Capt. Franklyn N. Greene, went throughsomething similar to the 487th Squadron. They went intocombat against a group of forming up German ghters ataround 1145h. However, over the course of jockeying forposition, the German ghters were lost in the sun andCapt. Greene took his unit down to an altitude of 3,000mwhere enemy contacts were reported. No enemy aircraftwere encountered, however, and so targets of opportunitywere sought out on the ground. After a short while, Gree-ne’s White Flight came across the rail yard at Herzberg amHarz and the rail line heading east towards Herzberg, whichhad several locomotives and rail cars on it. After a shortwhile, Greene and his Number 2, Lt. Cameron, destroyedtwo locomotives. White ‘3’, Lt. Howard R. Combs, attackeda third locomotive. Whether he was hit from the ground orif it was a miscalculated maneuver, we shall probably neverknow. All that is known for certain is that Combs’ Mustangpressed home his attack to the point where both piecesof equipment ended up a massive reball. Lt. Kenneth S.Williams, who ew as Yellow 3, wrote: ‘… I observed a loneBlue Nosed P-51 making an attack on a marshalling yard.I immediately formed in his pattern and was following himin on a pass at a string of eight or ten good cars. His passwas very steep and his ship was about a sixty degree bank.I observed many strikes on all of the cars and then thisship hit the last three cars and exploded…’. Combs’ CO,Capt. Greene, added: ‘… he was observed pilling into thelocomotive with his plane which blew up upon contact. Hisaction caused the destruction of the locomotive and threegoods cars. Five other cars were derailed.’ Lt. Combs, whoaccording to German records, crashed at 1218h, was sub-sequently buried in Herzberg. Other locomotives and carswere destroyed by members of Yellow Flight, Capt. Miklaj-cyk, Lt. Grabowski, Lt. Smigalski and Lt. Williams.Most pilots of the 352nd Fighter Group were engaged incombat before they could meet up with the bombers thatthey were tasked with escorting to their targets at Brux inthe Sudetenland on the border of the former Czechoslova-kia. That goal was eventually achieved by a single Flightfrom the 328th FS to the tune of four Mustangs. They joinedup on the pair of 490th and 493rd Bomb Group combat bo-xes at 1201h in the vicinity of Plauen, where the 3rd BombDivision split o. The bombers designated to hit Brux conti-nued on in a southeast course to their waypoint at the Klas-terec and Ohri (German name Klösterle/Eger), and then ondirectly along the Ore Mountains to their target. Althoughthis took them into airspace where only a few minutes priorthere took place a monumental air battle that destroyedover sixty aircraft shot down, the four 352nd FG Mustangswould be enough. By that time, all was said and done overthe Ore Mountains…A copy of the original combat report led byLt. Col. Meyer dated September 11th, 1944. (NARA)Page 21
selves to his tail. For a short period of time, he set his thro-ttle to emergency boost and began climbing again at a rateof 300m per minute. The enemy aircraft pursued him ata distance of almost 300m, and still 100 to 120m from below.Every now and again, they would be able to lift their nosesup and get o a few rounds, but to Meyer’s luck, withoutsuccess. This unlikely group ew almost 180km betweenKassel and Bonn, and when they reached the Rhine, theGerman pilots turned back.Besides John C. Meyer, other members of the squadrongot a taste of success as well. Second Lt. Phanor B. Watersshot down an Fw 190, 1Lt. Duerr H. Schuh a Bf 109, Capt.John R. Bennett another Fw 190 with a Bf 109 probable andanother damaged (both ‘109s were credited to him as dam-aged), and Lt. James H. Forga was credited with three kills,two Fw 190s and a Bf 109. Other members of the squadrondestroyed four aircraft on the ground, and damaged ano-ther ve. These were 1Lt. Alex Sears, 1Lt. Ray. H. Littgeand Lt. H.M. Stewart. According to reports, this all happe-ned at the airelds at Gotha and Gottingen between 1155hand 1230h.The last of the 352nd FG squadrons, the 486th underthe leadership of Capt. Franklyn N. Greene, went throughsomething similar to the 487th Squadron. They went intocombat against a group of forming up German ghters ataround 1145h. However, over the course of jockeying forposition, the German ghters were lost in the sun andCapt. Greene took his unit down to an altitude of 3,000mwhere enemy contacts were reported. No enemy aircraftwere encountered, however, and so targets of opportunitywere sought out on the ground. After a short while, Gree-ne’s White Flight came across the rail yard at Herzberg amHarz and the rail line heading east towards Herzberg, whichhad several locomotives and rail cars on it. After a shortwhile, Greene and his Number 2, Lt. Cameron, destroyedtwo locomotives. White ‘3’, Lt. Howard R. Combs, attackeda third locomotive. Whether he was hit from the ground orif it was a miscalculated maneuver, we shall probably neverknow. All that is known for certain is that Combs’ Mustangpressed home his attack to the point where both piecesof equipment ended up a massive reball. Lt. Kenneth S.Williams, who ew as Yellow 3, wrote: ‘… I observed a loneBlue Nosed P-51 making an attack on a marshalling yard.I immediately formed in his pattern and was following himin on a pass at a string of eight or ten good cars. His passwas very steep and his ship was about a sixty degree bank.I observed many strikes on all of the cars and then thisship hit the last three cars and exploded…’. Combs’ CO,Capt. Greene, added: ‘… he was observed pilling into thelocomotive with his plane which blew up upon contact. Hisaction caused the destruction of the locomotive and threegoods cars. Five other cars were derailed.’ Lt. Combs, whoaccording to German records, crashed at 1218h, was sub-sequently buried in Herzberg. Other locomotives and carswere destroyed by members of Yellow Flight, Capt. Miklaj-cyk, Lt. Grabowski, Lt. Smigalski and Lt. Williams.Most pilots of the 352nd Fighter Group were engaged incombat before they could meet up with the bombers thatthey were tasked with escorting to their targets at Brux inthe Sudetenland on the border of the former Czechoslova-kia. That goal was eventually achieved by a single Flightfrom the 328th FS to the tune of four Mustangs. They joinedup on the pair of 490th and 493rd Bomb Group combat bo-xes at 1201h in the vicinity of Plauen, where the 3rd BombDivision split o. The bombers designated to hit Brux conti-nued on in a southeast course to their waypoint at the Klas-terec and Ohri (German name Klösterle/Eger), and then ondirectly along the Ore Mountains to their target. Althoughthis took them into airspace where only a few minutes priorthere took place a monumental air battle that destroyedover sixty aircraft shot down, the four 352nd FG Mustangswould be enough. By that time, all was said and done overthe Ore Mountains…A copy of the original combat report led byLt. Col. Meyer dated September 11th, 1944. (NARA)The escort duty of this lonely 352nd FG Flight was ocia-lly fullled on the return trip after the crossing of the Rhineat 1345h at Sankt Goar. Although most of the members of thegroup came back individually, in pairs or in Flights, the ocialend time of the mission with the return to Bodney was recordeda 1430h, giving it a time span of 4 hours and 30 minutes.Although Fowler’s ‘Stardust’ brought John C. Meyer luck, hewas glad to see his old airplane again. He did not, however, gainany more kills ying ‘Petie 2nd’. His next successful day cameon November 21, 1944, when he would down three Fw 190snear Merseburg. That was while ying ‘Petie 3rd’, s/n 44-15041.Through to the end of the war, John C Meyer would accumulate24 kills, making him the fourth most successful USAAF pilot inEurope.Fowler’s ‘Stardust’ was reassigned to Lt. Jack C. Landrum,who renamed the P-51 ‘Moose’. On October 24th, 1944, duringa ground attack mission at Wildeshausen, he was brought downby ak and killed.Day of the Fighter AcesFor the given time frame, the unusual frequency of clashesbetween American and Luftwae aircraft on September 11th,1944, gave rise to, among other things, the emergence or pro-sperity of several American ghter aces. Many pilots achievedtwo or more kills on that date. There were three conrmedkills credited to Lt. James H. Forga (352nd FG), Lt. Earl W.Fryer (55th FG), Lt. Donald E. McClish and Lt. Ethelbert M.Graham (both 339th FG), Lt. Henry W. Brown (355th FG),Capt. Benjamin H. King and Cyril W. Jones (both 359th FG)and Lt. William F. Rilson (364th FG). And, not to be outdone,there was a pair of pilots that would be credited with fourconrmed kills. They were Lt. Frank R. Gerard (339th FG) andLt. John C. Meyer of the 352nd FG.B-17G Flying Fortresses of the 490th Bomb Group. The identifying markings of this unit were red vertical tail surfacesand longitudinal wing bands.Sources:US National Archives and Record AdmistrationAir Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell, AlabamaMuseum of Air Battle over the Ore Mountains on September11th, 1944, Kovarska, Czech Republic352nd Fighter Group AssociationPeter Randall Archive, Little Friends projectFold3 Archives; www.fold3.comen.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Meyerairforce.togetherweserved.com/usafwww.airforcemag.com/article/valor-four-star-ace/www.valka.cz/Meyer-John-Charles-t66982www.starduststudios.com/bill-fowler.htmlAmerican Air Museum in Britain; Roger Freeman collectionTitle artwork by Piotr ForkasiewiczPage 22
One of our planned new item releases for February, 2021includes an option for the Dornier Do17Z-5 coded “7T+HH”from Küsteniegergruppe 606. The Z-5 version was equippedfor operations over water and was mainly used by this unit.The crew of “7T+HH” experienced some extremely dramaticmoments during an attack on Liverpool that proved fateful formost of them. In the article, I will also touch on the citizensof Great Britain and Malta. There were those that succumbedto the eects of war, while others, as we shall see, were borninto it.Navy Personnel in the LuftwaffeKüsteniegergruppe 606 was a unit within the German coastalair service. From the end of 1939, it specialized in patrol dutiesand attacks on surface vessels. The unit was equipped with theDo 17 and was based at Kiel-Holten. After being engaged againstDenmark, Kï.Fl.Gr.606 was moved to the area of Brest in July,1940, and from September was made subordinate from Navy toLuftotte 3. The Gruppe was commanded by a former Navy ocer,Major Joachim Hahn, who became a naval cadet already in 1923.The unit had put into practice having the crew command functi-ons, and also those of the observer, performed by Naval Ocers.In terms of navigation over water, combat tactics and target iden-tication, this was deemed optimal. Over the course of the Battleof Britain, however, the main task of the unit became raids on Bri-tish cities, attacks against harbors, bombings of military targetsfrom heights of only a few tens of meters, and also target markingfor other bombers. Combat missions usually took the crews towestern areas of Great Britain. Kü.Fl.Gr.606 was in these tasksvery successful and Hahn was awarded the Ritterkreuz in October,1940 as a result. In 1942, he became Kommodore Kampfgeschwa-der 6, and he met his fate on June 3rd during an inspection tour,along with two other airmen, in a Messerschmitt Bf 108. Near LeTrepot, they were shot down by Spitres from No. 401 SquadronRAF, own by F/Sgt S.C. Cosburn and F/Lt E.L. Neal.Liverpool RaidsDuring the Second World War, the second most hit target inGreat Britain was Liverpool. The primary target was the city har-bor, which was among the biggest on the western shores of GreatBritain. Liverpool and the surrounding area lost some 4,000 ofits inhabitants between the summerof 1940 and the beginning of 1942.From one of the destroyed homesof Liverpool, paradoxically, cameHitler’s nephew, William PatrickHitler, who served in the United States Navy during the SecondWorld War.From the beginning of October, 1940, one of the units defen-ding Liverpool was No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, based atSpeke, which currently is Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. Therst kill achieved by the squadron is probably also the quickestin the history of the RAF. F./Lt D.E. Gillam and his wingmen AloisVašátko and Josef Stehlík were experienced pilots, and they shotdown a Junkers Ju 88 A-1, coded “M7+DK” of Küsteniegergrup-pe 806 shortly after takeo. The task of the Ju 88 was to bombthe Rootes aircraft factory at Speke. All three Hurricanes wereactually hit by defensive re coming from the German bomber.The bomber came down in the docks south of Liverpool. The crewcommander, Lt. z. S. Herbert was killed by re from the Hurri-canes, and another three crewmen, Oblt. Helmuth Brückmann,Uz. Helmuth Weth and Obfhr. Horst Lehmann, were taken pri-soner. The combat over the city grabbed a lot of attention, andthe gates to the air base had to be shut, because massive crowdsshowed up, wanting to show their appreciation to the Czechoslo-vak unit. Eighteen crews from Kü.Fl.Gr.606 attacked British tar-gets on the night of October 10th, thirteen of which were taskedwith hitting the factory at Speke and the production facility ofRolls-Royce at Crewe. All of the bombers returned to their bases.However, the next event would play itself out dierently.During the evening hours of October 11th, 1940, six Do 17s fromHahn’s unit approached the area around Liverpool. One was hea-ded for Birkenhead, and the other ve were tasked with again hi-tting Speke and Crewe. Three of the aircraft were from 1. Staeland three from 2. Stael Kü.Fl.Gr.606.Title photo: Do 17 Z-5 (W. Nr. 2787) „7T + HH“ from the1st Stael of Küsteniegergruppe 606 at Lanvéoc-Poulmicbase before the raid on October 11, 1940. White part ofthe fuselage cross is already painted in black, but you canstill see the swastika, the unit emblem and white tip of thepropeller cone. During the raid on October 11, all of that wasalready painted black to reduce visibility. The emblem of theunit was an eagle tearing Great Britain. Photo: Chris GossPortrait photo: Karl-Franz Heine. Credit: uboat.netPage 23
One of our planned new item releases for February, 2021includes an option for the Dornier Do17Z-5 coded “7T+HH”from Küsteniegergruppe 606. The Z-5 version was equippedfor operations over water and was mainly used by this unit.The crew of “7T+HH” experienced some extremely dramaticmoments during an attack on Liverpool that proved fateful formost of them. In the article, I will also touch on the citizensof Great Britain and Malta. There were those that succumbedto the eects of war, while others, as we shall see, were borninto it.Navy Personnel in the LuftwaffeKüsteniegergruppe 606 was a unit within the German coastalair service. From the end of 1939, it specialized in patrol dutiesand attacks on surface vessels. The unit was equipped with theDo 17 and was based at Kiel-Holten. After being engaged againstDenmark, Kï.Fl.Gr.606 was moved to the area of Brest in July,1940, and from September was made subordinate from Navy toLuftotte 3. The Gruppe was commanded by a former Navy ocer,Major Joachim Hahn, who became a naval cadet already in 1923.The unit had put into practice having the crew command functi-ons, and also those of the observer, performed by Naval Ocers.In terms of navigation over water, combat tactics and target iden-tication, this was deemed optimal. Over the course of the Battleof Britain, however, the main task of the unit became raids on Bri-tish cities, attacks against harbors, bombings of military targetsfrom heights of only a few tens of meters, and also target markingfor other bombers. Combat missions usually took the crews towestern areas of Great Britain. Kü.Fl.Gr.606 was in these tasksvery successful and Hahn was awarded the Ritterkreuz in October,1940 as a result. In 1942, he became Kommodore Kampfgeschwa-der 6, and he met his fate on June 3rd during an inspection tour,along with two other airmen, in a Messerschmitt Bf 108. Near LeTrepot, they were shot down by Spitres from No. 401 SquadronRAF, own by F/Sgt S.C. Cosburn and F/Lt E.L. Neal.Liverpool RaidsDuring the Second World War, the second most hit target inGreat Britain was Liverpool. The primary target was the city har-bor, which was among the biggest on the western shores of GreatBritain. Liverpool and the surrounding area lost some 4,000 ofits inhabitants between the summerof 1940 and the beginning of 1942.From one of the destroyed homesof Liverpool, paradoxically, cameHitler’s nephew, William PatrickHitler, who served in the United States Navy during the SecondWorld War.From the beginning of October, 1940, one of the units defen-ding Liverpool was No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, based atSpeke, which currently is Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport. Therst kill achieved by the squadron is probably also the quickestin the history of the RAF. F./Lt D.E. Gillam and his wingmen AloisVašátko and Josef Stehlík were experienced pilots, and they shotdown a Junkers Ju 88 A-1, coded “M7+DK” of Küsteniegergrup-pe 806 shortly after takeo. The task of the Ju 88 was to bombthe Rootes aircraft factory at Speke. All three Hurricanes wereactually hit by defensive re coming from the German bomber.The bomber came down in the docks south of Liverpool. The crewcommander, Lt. z. S. Herbert was killed by re from the Hurri-canes, and another three crewmen, Oblt. Helmuth Brückmann,Uz. Helmuth Weth and Obfhr. Horst Lehmann, were taken pri-soner. The combat over the city grabbed a lot of attention, andthe gates to the air base had to be shut, because massive crowdsshowed up, wanting to show their appreciation to the Czechoslo-vak unit. Eighteen crews from Kü.Fl.Gr.606 attacked British tar-gets on the night of October 10th, thirteen of which were taskedwith hitting the factory at Speke and the production facility ofRolls-Royce at Crewe. All of the bombers returned to their bases.However, the next event would play itself out dierently.During the evening hours of October 11th, 1940, six Do 17s fromHahn’s unit approached the area around Liverpool. One was hea-ded for Birkenhead, and the other ve were tasked with again hi-tting Speke and Crewe. Three of the aircraft were from 1. Staeland three from 2. Stael Kü.Fl.Gr.606.Title photo: Do 17 Z-5 (W. Nr. 2787) „7T + HH“ from the1st Stael of Küsteniegergruppe 606 at Lanvéoc-Poulmicbase before the raid on October 11, 1940. White part ofthe fuselage cross is already painted in black, but you canstill see the swastika, the unit emblem and white tip of thepropeller cone. During the raid on October 11, all of that wasalready painted black to reduce visibility. The emblem of theunit was an eagle tearing Great Britain. Photo: Chris GossPortrait photo: Karl-Franz Heine. Credit: uboat.netDornier bombers over UK city,in this case it is London. Photo: IWMAirmen holding down the tail ofa Supermarine Spitre Mark I, N3072,of No. 611 Squadron RAF duringa ring test at the gun butts at Digby,Lincolnshire. Photo: IWMCommanding ocers of No. 312 Squadronin September 1940 in Duxford. Fromleft: F/Lt Alois Hlobil, Czechoslovak unitcommander S/Ldr Ján Ambruš, Britishunit commander S/Ldr. Frank H. Tysonand Flight leaders F/Lt Dennys E. Gillam,DFC and F/Lt Josef Duda. Photo: IWMPage 24
This time, the RAF was ready, and Spitres from No. 611 (WestLancashire) Squadron were dispatched to the anticipated in-bound route just after 1730h. These aircraft came out of Ternhill.Berrie Heath and Tommy Williams of Yellow Section apparentlyshot down Dornier Do 17 Z-5 (W. Nr. 2772) “7T+EH” of 1. Stael,crewed by Lt. zur See Jürgen von Krause, who ditched the aircraftin the sea. However, the German crew was able to hit Williams’Spitre. The damage was bad enough for Williams to contemplatebailing from his stricken aircraft, but he ultimately did make itback to his base. One member of the German crew was listed asmissing, while the remaining ones were taken prisoner.Pilots of Red Section, F/L W. J. Leather, P/O P. S. C. Pollard andP/O J. R. G. Sutton claimed the destruction of two bombers, thesecond of which was observed to have ames coming out of bothengines, and two parachutes escaping from it. The rst victim waslikely Do 17 Z-5 (W.Nr. 3475) “7T+FK” of Oblt. Friedrich-WilhelmRichter of 2. Stael. None of his crew survived. The aircraft withboth engines aming was without a doubt Do 17 Z-5 (W.Nr. 2787)“7T+HH” of 1. Stael, under the command of Oblt. z. S. Karl-FranzHeine.F/O Heath, Sgt Angos and Sgt Pattison of Blue Section attac-ked another two Do 17s and came away with one probable andone damaged. During the ght, a lone Hurricane from No. 312Squadron joined in. Kenneth Clifton Pattison chased one of theattackers in his Spitre for some hundred miles to Kidderminsterin Worcestershire County. Ultimately, he was hit by defensive refrom the bomber and suered serious injuries in the ensuing crashat Cooksey Green, the results of which he did not survive.The Czechoslovak unit dispatched two three ship ights ofHurricanes against the German bombers at just before 1800h.P/O Alois Vašátko and Sgt. Josef Keprt of Yellow Section lost con-tact with their British leader F/Lt Harry A. G. Comeford. So, theyjoined up on Red Section that included both commanders of thesquadron, S/L Frank H. Tyson and S/L Ján Ambruš with P/O JosefJaške. The ve Hurricanes then attacked a lone Do 17 headingsouthward. After several hits, the left engine began belching smo-ke, but was soon lost in the clouds. Jaške’s Hurricane was badlydamaged from return re. The ve ghters used up virtually allof their ammunition, and some even red at point blank range.Harry Comeford, who’s Hurricane was observed by his colleaguesin the Spitres, also attacked one of the Dorniers, but other thanthe rear gunner got silent, no other result was observed. Unfor-tunately, the Intelligence Ocer of the Czechoslovak unit, P/OF. S. Lamping, did not prepare victory claims on time. But fromtoday perspective, it would appear that the end result was twodamaged Do 17s.Dornier Do 17 under the re of RAF ghter during Battle of Britain. Photo: IWMLiverpool docks photographed by RAF after bombing raids from 1800 feet. Photo: IWMPage 25
This time, the RAF was ready, and Spitres from No. 611 (WestLancashire) Squadron were dispatched to the anticipated in-bound route just after 1730h. These aircraft came out of Ternhill.Berrie Heath and Tommy Williams of Yellow Section apparentlyshot down Dornier Do 17 Z-5 (W. Nr. 2772) “7T+EH” of 1. Stael,crewed by Lt. zur See Jürgen von Krause, who ditched the aircraftin the sea. However, the German crew was able to hit Williams’Spitre. The damage was bad enough for Williams to contemplatebailing from his stricken aircraft, but he ultimately did make itback to his base. One member of the German crew was listed asmissing, while the remaining ones were taken prisoner.Pilots of Red Section, F/L W. J. Leather, P/O P. S. C. Pollard andP/O J. R. G. Sutton claimed the destruction of two bombers, thesecond of which was observed to have ames coming out of bothengines, and two parachutes escaping from it. The rst victim waslikely Do 17 Z-5 (W.Nr. 3475) “7T+FK” of Oblt. Friedrich-WilhelmRichter of 2. Stael. None of his crew survived. The aircraft withboth engines aming was without a doubt Do 17 Z-5 (W.Nr. 2787)“7T+HH” of 1. Stael, under the command of Oblt. z. S. Karl-FranzHeine.F/O Heath, Sgt Angos and Sgt Pattison of Blue Section attac-ked another two Do 17s and came away with one probable andone damaged. During the ght, a lone Hurricane from No. 312Squadron joined in. Kenneth Clifton Pattison chased one of theattackers in his Spitre for some hundred miles to Kidderminsterin Worcestershire County. Ultimately, he was hit by defensive refrom the bomber and suered serious injuries in the ensuing crashat Cooksey Green, the results of which he did not survive.The Czechoslovak unit dispatched two three ship ights ofHurricanes against the German bombers at just before 1800h.P/O Alois Vašátko and Sgt. Josef Keprt of Yellow Section lost con-tact with their British leader F/Lt Harry A. G. Comeford. So, theyjoined up on Red Section that included both commanders of thesquadron, S/L Frank H. Tyson and S/L Ján Ambruš with P/O JosefJaške. The ve Hurricanes then attacked a lone Do 17 headingsouthward. After several hits, the left engine began belching smo-ke, but was soon lost in the clouds. Jaške’s Hurricane was badlydamaged from return re. The ve ghters used up virtually allof their ammunition, and some even red at point blank range.Harry Comeford, who’s Hurricane was observed by his colleaguesin the Spitres, also attacked one of the Dorniers, but other thanthe rear gunner got silent, no other result was observed. Unfor-tunately, the Intelligence Ocer of the Czechoslovak unit, P/OF. S. Lamping, did not prepare victory claims on time. But fromtoday perspective, it would appear that the end result was twodamaged Do 17s.Dornier Do 17 under the re of RAF ghter during Battle of Britain. Photo: IWMLiverpool docks photographed by RAF after bombing raids from 1800 feet. Photo: IWMA panoramic view of bomb damage caused by the Liverpool Blitz dated 1942. Photo: IWMPage 26
Lennon‘s home at today 251 Menlove Avenue.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsOn the same page, a report on the birth of John Lennonwas published!Article on previous page: Liverpool Echo of October 12, 1940with air raid descripton with details of Heine´s bomber withtwo burning engines.The next day, Saturday, October 12th, the Liverpool Echonewspaper reported on its third page a thorough accounting ofthe raid, its results and also air combats. The paper, on the samepage, also reported that the Lennons had given birth to their son,John, three days prior.The Night Return of “7T+HH”The month of October, 1940, ended up as a tragic one for Kus-teniegergruppe 606. The unit lost over twenty airmen duringthe course of that month, which was more than the remainingmonths of the year combined. Heine’s crew lost two of its own du-ring the raid on October 11th. They were last spotted by ghtersfrom Yellow Section of No. 611 Squadron over their target. Twocrewmembers bailed out of the aircraft, which had ames comingfrom both of its engines. It was assumed that the aircraft camedown somewhere in the forests of Wales.Radio operator Fw. Hans Staas was quickly captured at Martha-lyn (Mart of Llyn?) after bailing out. His colleague, Flight EngineerUz. Heinz Johannsen was not as lucky. As he jumped out of theaircraft, he was struck by a section of the horizontal tail and waskilled before he hit the ground at Deiniolen.Hans-August Johannsen came from Gettdorf (probably Gettorf)at Eckernförde, where he was born on October 1st, 1914. Imme-diately prior to the tragic ight, he celebrated his twenty-sixthbirthday. From the records of this ight, we know that his targetthat night was Speke. The British buried him on October 15th inProllheli in northern Wales, and through the Red Cross notied theGermans, who, in turn, passed the information on to his wife, Elly.Pilot Ofw. Wilhelm Hagen and Observer, and also crew commander,Oblt. zur See Heine, remained with the aircraft. As incredible asit may sound, they were able to put out both res and land theaircraft on blown tires back at Brest! The damage to the aircraftwas placed at 45%, which typically meant that it was deemedrepairable.„7T + HH“ after returning from the Liverpool mission on October 11, 1940. Clearly visible is overpainted swastika, damagecaused by re from Spitres No. 611 Squadron and damage of tail section caused by the impact of Johannsen‘s body.Photo: Chris GossPage 27
Lennon‘s home at today 251 Menlove Avenue.Photo: Wikimedia CommonsOn the same page, a report on the birth of John Lennonwas published!Article on previous page: Liverpool Echo of October 12, 1940with air raid descripton with details of Heine´s bomber withtwo burning engines.The next day, Saturday, October 12th, the Liverpool Echonewspaper reported on its third page a thorough accounting ofthe raid, its results and also air combats. The paper, on the samepage, also reported that the Lennons had given birth to their son,John, three days prior.The Night Return of “7T+HH”The month of October, 1940, ended up as a tragic one for Kus-teniegergruppe 606. The unit lost over twenty airmen duringthe course of that month, which was more than the remainingmonths of the year combined. Heine’s crew lost two of its own du-ring the raid on October 11th. They were last spotted by ghtersfrom Yellow Section of No. 611 Squadron over their target. Twocrewmembers bailed out of the aircraft, which had ames comingfrom both of its engines. It was assumed that the aircraft camedown somewhere in the forests of Wales.Radio operator Fw. Hans Staas was quickly captured at Martha-lyn (Mart of Llyn?) after bailing out. His colleague, Flight EngineerUz. Heinz Johannsen was not as lucky. As he jumped out of theaircraft, he was struck by a section of the horizontal tail and waskilled before he hit the ground at Deiniolen.Hans-August Johannsen came from Gettdorf (probably Gettorf)at Eckernförde, where he was born on October 1st, 1914. Imme-diately prior to the tragic ight, he celebrated his twenty-sixthbirthday. From the records of this ight, we know that his targetthat night was Speke. The British buried him on October 15th inProllheli in northern Wales, and through the Red Cross notied theGermans, who, in turn, passed the information on to his wife, Elly.Pilot Ofw. Wilhelm Hagen and Observer, and also crew commander,Oblt. zur See Heine, remained with the aircraft. As incredible asit may sound, they were able to put out both res and land theaircraft on blown tires back at Brest! The damage to the aircraftwas placed at 45%, which typically meant that it was deemedrepairable.„7T + HH“ after returning from the Liverpool mission on October 11, 1940. Clearly visible is overpainted swastika, damagecaused by re from Spitres No. 611 Squadron and damage of tail section caused by the impact of Johannsen‘s body.Photo: Chris GossDo 17Z-5, WNr. 2787, 1./KGr. 606, Lannion, Francie, říjen 1940Heinz Johannsen‘s grave in Cannock Chase. Uz. Pelzer was member of the reconnaissance unit of the Luftwae High Command -2./Aufkl. Gr. Ob. D. L. He belonged to the crew of the Dornier Do 215 of Lt. Book shot down as well by a SpitreNo. 611 Squadron over Liverpool. Photo: Melvin BrownlessPage 28
Wilhelm HagenThere is not currently all that much known about the details ofWilhelm Hagen’s service with Küsteniegergruppe 606, but he didreceive not only the Ehrenpokal for “actions above and beyondthe call of duty” in air combat, but also the Deutsches Kreuz inGold (January 30th, 1942). He is one of ve yers from this unitthat are known to have received this award. This speaks to thefact that this was an extraordinary pilot, which he proved duringhis return ight from Liverpool. Towards the end of 1940, therewere discussions about whether or not to return Major Hahn’s unitto the Kriegsmarine, or to leave it as a Luftwae unit. Ultimately,the decision made was consistent with the latter. The Luftwaealso considered rearming Küsteniegergruppe with the He 111.Hahn was adamantly opposed to the idea, and the naval comman-ders supported him on this. In February, 1941, his unit began con-verting to the Ju 88. This was accompanied by a new designation,Kampfgruppe (Bomb Group) 606, but in subsequent loss reports,the unit was referred to as it was prior to the new designation.In October, 1940, Hahn’s unit went back to patrolling over wa-ter and attacking surface vessels. For example, on the 17th ofthat month, they recorded a hit against an enemy destroyer du-ring a clash of German and British ships. The tasks undertaken bythe unit would remain basically the same through most of 1941,by which time the unit had sunk several tens of thousands of tonsof transport shipping.At the end of November, 1941, KGr. 606 was moved to Cataniaon the island of Sicily. The date of December 7th was signicantfor two direct hits against enemy destroyer and a sunk merchantvessel northwest of Benghazi.From the beginning of 1942, combat operations often took KGr.606 over Malta, and several of her crews were shot down by Hu-rricanes and Beaughters or antiaircraft units. Among the tasksof the German crews was also the dropping of SD-2 ‘Buttery’bombs, a weapon that was hell on the civilian population of Malta.Stfw. Hagen failed to return from a raid on an ‘unsinkable’aircraft carrier. This was on April 19th, 1942, interestingly enou-gh, on a day when the RAF was not able to put up a single gh-ter against the bombers. Over 270 bombers in some ten wavesdropped over 430 tons of bombs on Malta. The main target of theraid were antiaircraft batteries , which killed several tens of men,but also killed were many inhabitants and the fatalities totaledsome seventy people.The defenders brought down two Ju 88s. The rst was Ju 88A-4 (W. Nr. 3641) “3Z+KN” of 5./KG 77 of Lt. Horst Rosenfeldt.He was able to bail out of the stricken bomber along with hisradio operator, Obgfr. Rudolf Krizek, but another two membersdid not survive.The second aircraft lost was Ju 88 A-4 (W. Nr. 1526) “7T+BH” of1./Kü.Fl.Gr. 606. Hagen’s entire crew went missing, including ob-server Fw. Heinz Uecker, Radio Operator Ofw. Ludwig Bachmannand Flight Engineer Ernst Althammer. The defenders reportedseeing a bomber take a direct hit and disintegrate in midair overGrand Harbour. Willi Hagen was posthumously promoted to Ober-leutnant.Karl-Franz HeineThe future pilot and submarine commander was born on Octo-ber 30th, 1915 in Kiel. He joined the military in April, 1934, andve years later, he achieved the rank of Oberleutnant zur Seeand was assigned as an observer in the aerial operations. Afterleaving Küsteniegergruppe 606, he was trained in the subma-rine force, and in March, 1942, he was promoted to Kapitänle-utnant, followed by being given command of U-303 (Type VIIC)in July. He undertook training with his crew through to the endof 1942, and over the rst half of 1943, they undertook two patrols.On February 23rd, 1943, he managed to sink the American merchantvessel ‘Expositor’ (Convoy ON-166), but it came down to beinga mercy kill. Initially, the ship was struck by U-606, and most ofthe crew were rescued by the corvette HMCS Trillium (K 172),which tried unsuccessfully to sink the damaged ship.As opposed to a list of other subs, Heine’s crew recorded noloss of personnel during tours on non-combat duty. That would,however, change on May 21st, 1943, when U-303 was on a trainingexercise south of Toulon. She got into the sights of the Britishsubmarine HMSM Sickle, commanded by Lt. J. R. Drummond, DSC,RN. The resulting explosion and sinking, which lasted somewherearound a half a minute, took the lives of twenty crew members,but another 28, including Heine, were rescued, which was a bitof a miracle.Heine took command of U-403 (Type VIIC) from Kptlt. Heinz--Ehlert Clausen in mid June, 1943, and took the sub southwesterlyinto the Atlantic a month later. In the middle of the ocean, he metup with U-43 (Type X) on July 30th to take on fuel. Unfortunate-ly, convoy GUS-10, which included the escort Carrier USS Santee,was passing through the area. Both of the subs were attackedrst by LTJG Edward van Vranken with a Wildcat, followed by anAvenger crewed by LTJG Robert F. Richmond. U-43 was hit witha Mk.24 FIDO torpedo, and the entire crew of Oblt. Hans-JoachimSchwantke was lost. U-403 was able to escape both depth chargesand a second torpedo. Heine then took the sub southeasterly, ona heading towards the coast of Africa. The voyage ended at Dakar.First, the sub was attacked on August 17, by a No. 200 SquadronRAF, Hudson own by F/O Philip Horbat, which was escorting Con-voy SL135. Twelve seconds after submerging, the British droppedfour depth charges, after which an oil slick was observed. Theconvoy escort duty was then taken over by a Sunderland of ano-ther unit, while another two No.200 Squadron Hudsons joinedin the search for U-403. The surface of the ocean yielded furtheroil slicks.The next day, U-403 was sunk by a Wellington Mk.XIII (HZ697)of 2. Flottille de Bombardement of the French naval air force.The crew of Lieutenant de vaisseau Ernest Bigo with pilot Premi-er-maitre Chevant dropped six depth charges on the sub. All 49crewmen, including Karl-Franz Heine, perished.Victoria Cross awarded on January 13, 1942 to submarinecommander, Malta. Left to right: Lieut F Ruck-Keene;Lieut Cdr Wanklyn, VC, DSO, RN; Lieut J R Drummond,RN and Sub Lieut J H Norman, RNVR. Heine´s U-303was sunk by Drummond. Photo: IWMDrummond´s submarine HMSM Sickle. Photo: IWMPage 29
Wilhelm HagenThere is not currently all that much known about the details ofWilhelm Hagen’s service with Küsteniegergruppe 606, but he didreceive not only the Ehrenpokal for “actions above and beyondthe call of duty” in air combat, but also the Deutsches Kreuz inGold (January 30th, 1942). He is one of ve yers from this unitthat are known to have received this award. This speaks to thefact that this was an extraordinary pilot, which he proved duringhis return ight from Liverpool. Towards the end of 1940, therewere discussions about whether or not to return Major Hahn’s unitto the Kriegsmarine, or to leave it as a Luftwae unit. Ultimately,the decision made was consistent with the latter. The Luftwaealso considered rearming Küsteniegergruppe with the He 111.Hahn was adamantly opposed to the idea, and the naval comman-ders supported him on this. In February, 1941, his unit began con-verting to the Ju 88. This was accompanied by a new designation,Kampfgruppe (Bomb Group) 606, but in subsequent loss reports,the unit was referred to as it was prior to the new designation.In October, 1940, Hahn’s unit went back to patrolling over wa-ter and attacking surface vessels. For example, on the 17th ofthat month, they recorded a hit against an enemy destroyer du-ring a clash of German and British ships. The tasks undertaken bythe unit would remain basically the same through most of 1941,by which time the unit had sunk several tens of thousands of tonsof transport shipping.At the end of November, 1941, KGr. 606 was moved to Cataniaon the island of Sicily. The date of December 7th was signicantfor two direct hits against enemy destroyer and a sunk merchantvessel northwest of Benghazi.From the beginning of 1942, combat operations often took KGr.606 over Malta, and several of her crews were shot down by Hu-rricanes and Beaughters or antiaircraft units. Among the tasksof the German crews was also the dropping of SD-2 ‘Buttery’bombs, a weapon that was hell on the civilian population of Malta.Stfw. Hagen failed to return from a raid on an ‘unsinkable’aircraft carrier. This was on April 19th, 1942, interestingly enou-gh, on a day when the RAF was not able to put up a single gh-ter against the bombers. Over 270 bombers in some ten wavesdropped over 430 tons of bombs on Malta. The main target of theraid were antiaircraft batteries , which killed several tens of men,but also killed were many inhabitants and the fatalities totaledsome seventy people.The defenders brought down two Ju 88s. The rst was Ju 88A-4 (W. Nr. 3641) “3Z+KN” of 5./KG 77 of Lt. Horst Rosenfeldt.He was able to bail out of the stricken bomber along with hisradio operator, Obgfr. Rudolf Krizek, but another two membersdid not survive.The second aircraft lost was Ju 88 A-4 (W. Nr. 1526) “7T+BH” of1./Kü.Fl.Gr. 606. Hagen’s entire crew went missing, including ob-server Fw. Heinz Uecker, Radio Operator Ofw. Ludwig Bachmannand Flight Engineer Ernst Althammer. The defenders reportedseeing a bomber take a direct hit and disintegrate in midair overGrand Harbour. Willi Hagen was posthumously promoted to Ober-leutnant.Karl-Franz HeineThe future pilot and submarine commander was born on Octo-ber 30th, 1915 in Kiel. He joined the military in April, 1934, andve years later, he achieved the rank of Oberleutnant zur Seeand was assigned as an observer in the aerial operations. Afterleaving Küsteniegergruppe 606, he was trained in the subma-rine force, and in March, 1942, he was promoted to Kapitänle-utnant, followed by being given command of U-303 (Type VIIC)in July. He undertook training with his crew through to the endof 1942, and over the rst half of 1943, they undertook two patrols.On February 23rd, 1943, he managed to sink the American merchantvessel ‘Expositor’ (Convoy ON-166), but it came down to beinga mercy kill. Initially, the ship was struck by U-606, and most ofthe crew were rescued by the corvette HMCS Trillium (K 172),which tried unsuccessfully to sink the damaged ship.As opposed to a list of other subs, Heine’s crew recorded noloss of personnel during tours on non-combat duty. That would,however, change on May 21st, 1943, when U-303 was on a trainingexercise south of Toulon. She got into the sights of the Britishsubmarine HMSM Sickle, commanded by Lt. J. R. Drummond, DSC,RN. The resulting explosion and sinking, which lasted somewherearound a half a minute, took the lives of twenty crew members,but another 28, including Heine, were rescued, which was a bitof a miracle.Heine took command of U-403 (Type VIIC) from Kptlt. Heinz--Ehlert Clausen in mid June, 1943, and took the sub southwesterlyinto the Atlantic a month later. In the middle of the ocean, he metup with U-43 (Type X) on July 30th to take on fuel. Unfortunate-ly, convoy GUS-10, which included the escort Carrier USS Santee,was passing through the area. Both of the subs were attackedrst by LTJG Edward van Vranken with a Wildcat, followed by anAvenger crewed by LTJG Robert F. Richmond. U-43 was hit witha Mk.24 FIDO torpedo, and the entire crew of Oblt. Hans-JoachimSchwantke was lost. U-403 was able to escape both depth chargesand a second torpedo. Heine then took the sub southeasterly, ona heading towards the coast of Africa. The voyage ended at Dakar.First, the sub was attacked on August 17, by a No. 200 SquadronRAF, Hudson own by F/O Philip Horbat, which was escorting Con-voy SL135. Twelve seconds after submerging, the British droppedfour depth charges, after which an oil slick was observed. Theconvoy escort duty was then taken over by a Sunderland of ano-ther unit, while another two No.200 Squadron Hudsons joinedin the search for U-403. The surface of the ocean yielded furtheroil slicks.The next day, U-403 was sunk by a Wellington Mk.XIII (HZ697)of 2. Flottille de Bombardement of the French naval air force.The crew of Lieutenant de vaisseau Ernest Bigo with pilot Premi-er-maitre Chevant dropped six depth charges on the sub. All 49crewmen, including Karl-Franz Heine, perished.Victoria Cross awarded on January 13, 1942 to submarinecommander, Malta. Left to right: Lieut F Ruck-Keene;Lieut Cdr Wanklyn, VC, DSO, RN; Lieut J R Drummond,RN and Sub Lieut J H Norman, RNVR. Heine´s U-303was sunk by Drummond. Photo: IWMDrummond´s submarine HMSM Sickle. Photo: IWMPart of USS Santee diary describing aircraft attack against U-403 and U-43. Photo: Fold3The Avenger crew attack on the U-Boot in 1944 shows a situation similar to that of Heine‘s submarine. Photo: IWMFlight deck crewmen of USS Santee race to retrieve the bridlefrom a Grumman TBF that has just been catapulted, November1943. Photographed by Lieutenant Charles Fenno Jacobs,USNR. Photo National ArchivesA crewman assists an ocer, while setting fuse on a 325 pounddepth bomb Mark XVII on the USS Santee carrier‘s hangardeck. Photo taken by Lieutenant Horace Bristol, at the timeof the North African Operation, November 1942.Photo: National ArchivesPage 30
USS Santee (ACV-29, later CVE-29) photograped circa mid--October 1942, shortly before she participated in the invasionof Morocco. Aircraft on her ight deck include (from aft) SBDscout-bombers, F4F ghters and TBF torpedo planes. She ispainted in Camouage Measure 17. Photo: National Archives.Crewmen checking Mark XVII 325 pound depth bombson the hangar deck, at the time of the NorthAfrica Operation, November 1942. Photographedby Lieutenant Horace Bristol, USNR. Note bombcarts, and Grumman F4F-4 and TBF-1 aircraft.Original color photo of Lockheed Hudson „J-Jig“ of No. 200Squadron, Royal Air Force, in ight over a coastal regionof Africa. This unit damaged Heine´s U-403 on August 17,1943. Photo: IWMPage 31
USS Santee (ACV-29, later CVE-29) photograped circa mid--October 1942, shortly before she participated in the invasionof Morocco. Aircraft on her ight deck include (from aft) SBDscout-bombers, F4F ghters and TBF torpedo planes. She ispainted in Camouage Measure 17. Photo: National Archives.Crewmen checking Mark XVII 325 pound depth bombson the hangar deck, at the time of the NorthAfrica Operation, November 1942. Photographedby Lieutenant Horace Bristol, USNR. Note bombcarts, and Grumman F4F-4 and TBF-1 aircraft.Original color photo of Lockheed Hudson „J-Jig“ of No. 200Squadron, Royal Air Force, in ight over a coastal regionof Africa. This unit damaged Heine´s U-403 on August 17,1943. Photo: IWMFrench naval Wellington Mk.XIII (HZ704) of 2. Flottille de Bombardement. On August 18, 1943 this unit sunk Heine´s submarineU-403. Photo: Chris GossI would like to express gratitude to Melvin Brownless, ChrisGoss and Matti Salonen for their help in the writing of this artic-le. For more detailed research I highly reccomend books of ChrisGoss and U-Boot im Focus Nr. 5 and 9 by Axel Urbanke.References:Publications:BLAIR C.: Hitler’s U-boat War (The Hunted, 1942-1945)CULL B., GALEA F.: Hurricanes Over Malta, June 1940 - April 1942GOSS C.: Dornier Do 17: The ‚Flying Pencil‘ in LuftwaeService, 1936 - 1945GOSS C.: Dornier Do 17: The Luftwae‘s ‚Flying Pencil‘HORN J.: Über allen Fronten, Chronik desKapfgeschwaders 6, 1941 bis 1945HURT Z.: Czechs in the RAF, A Photographic Album of theCzechoslovakians That Went to War in the RAF During WWIIPATERSON L.: Eagles Over the Sea: Luftwa-e Maritime Operations 1935–1942PATZWALL K., SCHERZER V.: Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945RAJLICH J.: Na nebi hrdého Albionu, 1. část, 1940THOMPSON A.: Kustenieger: The Operational Historyof the German Naval Air Service 1935-1944Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung, 1939 - 1945, Teil AU-Boot im Focus Nr. 9National Archives, UK:Combat reports Leather, Pollard, Sutton; AIR-50-173ORB No. 611 Sq.; AIR 27-2109-27, 28ORB No. 200 Sq.; AIR 27-1174-16BundesarchivKartei der Verlust- und Grabmeldungen gefallener deutscherSoldaten 1939-1945 (-1948)Internet:Fold3.comUboat.netwww.ww2.dkPage 32
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KITS 02/2021P7881, S/Ldr. Michael L. Robinson, CO of No.609 Squadron, RAF Biggin Hill, Great Britain, April 1941P8387, Sgt. Stanislaw Blok, No.315 (Polish) Squadron, RAF Northolt, Great Britain, August 1941The Spiire Mk.IIa P7881 carries type B camouage, although it has an odd serial number. The Rotol spinner is sky-coloured with a redstripe. There is a black B on the lower engine cover and a command pennant of the No.609 Squadron commander is on both sides of thefuselage. The code leers are made in Medium Sea Gray and PR-B are the inials of the base commander, Group Captain Philip Reginald Bar-well, who occasionally ew as wingman of "Sailor" Malan. Barwell was accidentally shot down by a Spiire pilot on July 1st, 1942 above sea,and his body was found on the French coast. Squadron Leader Michael Lister Robinson of No. 609 Squadron recorded with P7881 severalvictories in May and June 1941. In total, he scored 16 victories, 6 of them in the Bale of Britain. He later led Biggin Hill Wing and TangmereWing. He was killed on April 10th, 1942, ghng the Focke-Wulfs of II./JG 26. Along with him died his French friend and wingman MauriceP.C. Choron.Spiire Mk.IIa P8387 carries camouage type A. De Havilland spinner is in Sky color. Nickname BARTY is painted on the fuselage and thecode leer H is used for the female name Halina. Spiire served with No.611 Squadron since May 1941, but in the same month, Canadianace Alfred Keith Ogilvie DFC of No.609 Squadron, used it to shoot down a Bf 109. In July 1941 the machine was taken over by the PolishNo.308 Sqn where the naonal insignia was added on both sides of the cowling. In July 1941 Polish colleagues from the No.315 Squadrontook over P8387. Later on, the machine was converted to the Mk.V version and was used by No.266, No.123 Sqn and 58.OTU. In July 1942,it was wrien o aer a collision with another Spiire. P8387 ew 872 hours and 30 minutes. Sgt. Stanislaw "Charlie" Blok, among others,ew with this Spiire with No.315 Squadron. During World War Two, he recorded 5 aerial victories.eduard33INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 34
P8038, Fl/Lt. Brendan E.F. Finucane DFC, No.452 Squadron RAAF, RAF Kenley, Great Britain, August 1941P8081, Fl/Lt. Tomáš Vybíral, No.312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF Ayr, Great Britain, November 1941P7840, No.340 (Free French) Squadron, RAF Ayr, Great Britain, January 1942Spiire Mk.IIa P8038 is pained in type A camouage, although it has an even serial number. The Rotol spinner is in Sky color. Green shamrockwith the leers BF on both sides of the fuselage is the personal emblem of Irish ghter ace "Paddy" Finucane, who claimed a total of26 individual victories. He was transferred to Australian No.452 Sqn in April 1941 aer serving with No.65 Sqn. With the P8038, he claimed 4victories and 1 probable. In January 1942 he became commander of No.602 Sqn. At the end of June he took over command of theHornchurch Wing. He died on July 15th, 1942, in an emergency landing at sea aer his plane was hit by ak. Australians Sgt. Ian Milne andSgt. Richard Gazzard also ew the P8038 with No.452 Sqn. Spiire was originally used by the Polish No.303 Sqn later on was also briey usedby Czechoslovaks in No.313 Sqn. Aer conversion to Mk.Vb version, it was used by the No.611 and Norwegian No.332 Squadron.Spiire Mk.IIa P8081 was painted in scheme type A. From both sides of the fuselage there is a light gray inscripon GARFIELD WESTON IV.It is one of 16 aircra funded by Willard Gareld Weston, Canadian member of the House of Commons. This philanthropist was owner of theAllied Bakeries. He also helped to create a canteen system in the London Underground during the Blitz bombing oensive. P8081 rst servedwith the No.222 Sqn, where Sgt. Burgess used it to damage a Ju 88 in April 1941. Later on the Spiire was assigned to Australian No.452 Sqnfor about a month and from October ll December it was used by Czechoslovak No.312 Sqn. A number of pilots ew with P8081, includingF/Sgt Václav Šlouf. On November 17th, it was damaged by F/Lt. Tomáš Vybíral aer landing in poor visibility. This pilot scored 7 victories inthe French Air Force and achieved the rank of Wing Commander in the RAF. Aer the war he emigrated from Czechoslovakia and joined thean-communist resistance.Spiire Mk.IIa P7840 is painted in scheme type B. Rotol spinner is in Sky color. On both sides of the bow is a blue or dull red Lorraine crossin a white shield. Below the canopy is a light grey inscripon related to aircra funding. Belfast Telegraph founded in North Ireland theSpiire Fund during the Bale of Britain, where its readers raised enough funds to buy 17 Spiires. A total of 12 of their airmen were killedin combat. The P7840 was the 13th machine of the Fund. The upper part of the inscripon refers to the song of the same name by the Irishcomposer Percy French. This Spiire served with the No.64 Sqn from February 1941 and was taken over in December by No.340 Sqn. FreeFrench used it unl February 1942, when they switched to Spiires Mk.V. This unit conducted 7,845 combat ights, shot down 37 aircraand destroyed more than 500 ground targets. A total of 30 of pilots were killed and six were captured. Aer the war, unit received the Ordrede la Libéraon.KITS 02/2021eduard34INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 35
KITS 02/2021481026 Spitre Mk.I landing aps 1/48 (PE-Set)FE1112 Spitre Mk.I seatbelts STEEL 1/48 (PE-Set)644080 Spitre Mk.II LööK 1/48 (Brassin)648579 Spitre Mk.I wheels 1/48 (Brassin)648580 Spitre Mk.I exhaust stacks 1/48 (Brassin)648589 Spitre Mk.I undercarriage legs BRONZE 1/48 (Brassin)648610 Spitre Mk.IIa gun bays 1/48 (Brassin)EX709 Spitre Mk.I TFace 1/48 (Mask)3DL48007 Spitre Mk.II SPACE 1/48 (3D Decal)Recommended for Spitfire Mk.IIaOVERTREESSpitre Mk.IIaCat. No. 82153X1/48Cat. No. 644080Cat. No. 648610Cat. No. 648580Cat. No. 648589Cat. No. 82153-LEPTProduct pageProduct pageeduard35INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 36
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KITS 02/2021Nieuport Ni-17; N.1662; Paul Tarascon, Escadrille N.62, Chipilly, France, November 1916Nieuport Ni-17; N.1490; Charles Nungesser, Escadrille N.124, France, Bar-le-duc - Béhonne,France, July 1916Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon was a formidable ghter pilot not only because of his record of twelve aerial victories (plus ten probable), butalso because of his perseverance. He lost his right foot in an aerial accident during his ying courses in 1911, ying Blériot XI. He nished thetraining though and despite his handicap he was accepted to the air corps at the outbreak of World War One. His colleagues called him “l'asla jambe de bois“ (the ace with the wooden leg) later. He served in the military aviaon school as instructor from January 1915, but was sentto the combat unit on October 6, 1915 upon his own request, and joined the Escadrille N.31. Aer short spell with N.3 he joined N.62 on hisown request together with six other pilots in May 1916. Shortly aerwards he acted as interim commanding ocer from July 11 ll the endof the month, scoring his rst victory during this me (on July 15, 1916). Tarascon than started naming his mounts with the Zigomar name.The Zigomar was the name of conal criminal, who was terrorising France and the Europe with his accomplices. Tarascon ew this Nieu-port 17 in the autumn 1916. The aircra was painted in factory silvery paint coat, the red painng of the nose was heavily worn out. PaulTarascon parcipated in the resistance against the German occupaon During the World War II. He died at the age of 94 on June 11, 1977.Charles Nungesser was one of the most amboyant French aces of Great War and, together with his good friend Jean Navarre, also the bo-geyman for Paris pubs, clubs, and brothels. His apete for wine, women and dangerous adventures made him popular (apart from his seniorocers), while his ying capabilies, bravery and insncts made him the third highest scoring French ace of WWI with 43 victories. Volun-teering for the French Army on May 18, 1914, he was reassigned to the air corps and underwent a pilot training. From April 1915 he ew 53bombing missions with Escadrille VB.106. In November 1915, aer necessary training on Nieuports he moved to Escadrille N.65 sta. Aerone of his many wounds, he suered during the war, he was temporarily assigned to the N.124 Escadrille La Fayee in the period of July 12to August 15, 1916. Nungesser was eager to y before his wound caused by shrapnel fully hailed and the N.124 was located close to the hos-pital and so the physicians could take daily care of him. Nungesser’s aircra carried the personal marking in the form of black heart with skulland con between two funeral candles were painted and his camouaged Ni-17 from La Fayee snt was no excepon. Nungesser kept onying and risky ventures aer the war, but on May 8, 1927 disappeared together with Francois Coli during the aempt to cross the Atlancying the Levasseur PL 8 biplane.eduard37INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 38
KITS 02/2021Nieuport Ni-17; N. unknown, Jean Maon, Escadrille N.48, France, Lunéville, France, July 1916Jean Maon was a cavalryman at the outbreak of World War I, but reassigned to the air corps at the end of 1915 he underwent pilot trainingat the military aviaon school of Pau. He nished his training on January 14, 1916, sent to Escadrille N.57, but detached to MF20 (MF deno-ng the use of Maurice Farman aircra) for the period between 2nd quarter of 1916 unl July 23, 1916. He scored his maiden victory sharedwith Georges Lachmann and Georges Flachaire ve days later as the regular member of N.57. The vicm was an Albatros C.I. On October8, 1916 he took command of the Escadrille and led the unit unl his death on September 10, 1917. Maon connued to score during thisperiod with the eighth and ninth (and his last) one shared with Armand de Turenne on July 6, 1917. In the late aernoon on September 10,1917, he led the unit ying his SPAD VII (N.2416) for the aerial patrol. Near the Couckelaere (Belgium) the French pilots encountered combatwith Jasta 7 pilots. Jean Maon fell vicm to one of them at 19.05, it is believed, his fatal opponent was German ace Carl Jacobs, for whom itwas 7th of his 48 victories. Nieuport own by Maon during the summer of 1916 was in green and brown camouage, with the undersidesprobably in light blue colour (another opon is factory silver coat). The cock´s head, the unit´s symbol, was painted without usual circlearound it.eduard38INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 39
KITS 02/2021Nieuport Ni-17; N.1560; Mathieu Tenant de la Tour, Escadrille N.3, France, Cachy, August 1916Nine victories French ace Mathieu Tenant de la Tour was member of famous „Bande noire“ (Black Band) formed in June 1916 by four friends.Apart of him the members were Alfred Hertaux (21 victories), Albert Deullin (20 victories) and the most famous one – Georges Guynemer(53 victories). All had black triangle on the upper side of the fuselage painted. Although de la Tour began his military service with cavalry,he changed for air corps and received his military pilot license on May 6, 1915. He connued with advanced combat training, during whichhe survived an accident on October 30, 1915. He was assigned to Escadrille N.57 on December 29, 1915. His rst aerial victory was overobservaon baloon on January 25, 1916. Aer wounded in acon on April 25, 1916 he joined Escadrille N.3, the famous Les Cigognes, wherehe started ying Nieuports. During the period between July and September 1916 de la Tour shot down ve aircra and another baloon.Aer being promoted to Lieutenent, he changed the unit to command the Escadrille N.26 where he scored his last victory. On December 17,1917, de la Tour conducted an aerobacs exhibion in Auchel (Pas-de-Calais). He lost control of his SPAD XIII and died in fatal accident. HisNi-17 from the summer 1916 sported the famous stork on the fuselage, which might be full red, or red with black wing feathers.eduard39INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 40
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Do 17Z-1, 5./KG 3, Heiligenbeil, Germany, 1939Do 17Z-2, WNr. 1160, 7./KG 3, St. Trond, Belgium, August 1940Kampfgeschwader 3 was formed on May 1st, 1939 in Fürstenwalde in Brandenburg, with her II.Gruppe at the me ying from nearbyMagdeburg. All of the subordinate units were equipped with the Do 17Z, and at the end of May, Stab, II. and III. Gruppe were relocated toHeiligenbeil, located in East Prussia. Training of crews connued there unl the invasion of Poland. Both Gruppe took part in this aack. TheII. Gruppe, with its Do 17Zs, took part not only in the invasion of Poland, but also in the Bale of France and the subsequent Bale of Britain.The unit converted on to the more modern Ju 88 in the spring of 1941. Do 17Z bombers le the producon facility camouaged on the upp-er surfaces in RLM 70 and 71, with the lower surfaces sprayed RLM 65. Aircra of the II. Gruppe carried the unit marking below the cockpit,a scythe in a white circle. The 5th Stael marking of a stylized bird carrying a bomb was carried on the engine cowls.The last acon to be undertaken during the Bale of Britain by the crew commanded by Fw. Willi Emert (who was the pilot, bombardierUz. Ritzel, radio operator Uz. Reinhardt and observer Gefr. Huhn) was an aack on the base at Debden and Hornchurch, planned forAugust 26th, 1940. During the raid, this aircra was shot down by a Deant from No.264 Squadron, RAF. Only the pilot and the bombardiersurvived. The wreck of this aircra was discovered in 2008, not far from the coast of the County of Kent. It was raised in 2013 and is currentlyon display at the RAF museum in Cosford. The unit marking carried under the cockpit of aircra of the III.Gruppe were playing cards and theStab aircra all the card colours, and aircra of the 7. Stael carried clubs.KITS 02/2021eduard41INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 42
Do 17Z-2, WNr. 2555, 8./KG 76, Cormeilles-en-Vixen, France, September 1940Do 17Z-5, WNr. 2787, 1./KGr. 606, Lannion, France, October 1940On August 15th, 1940, at ten minutes aer noon, this aircra was shot down by Spiires from No.609 Squadron own by F/O Dundas andF/O Tobin. The pilot of the Dornier bellied in near Castle Farm at Shoreham. Outside of observer Fw. Schmid, who was fatally wounded inthe intercept, the crew was taken prisoner. Do 17Zs of the 8. Stael KG 76 carried the unit insignia under the cockpit, a red shield with threewhite bomber silhouees and a bomb in the background. Other idenfying markings were the red fuselage band behind the wing and redspinner ps. The aircra leer ‘F’ in red (the colour of the 8.Stael within the III.Gruppe) was edged in white. White, and in the case of KG76, pink, bands, used during the Bale of Britain as a formaon ying aid, were painted on the top surface of the le wing and on the out-side surfaces of the n and rudders.The Do 17Z-5 was equipped with oataon cells in the nose in order to give the crew more me to escape the aircra in cases of sengdown on water. These aircra were issued to Küsteniegergruppe 606 as a maer of priority, a unit that specialized in aacking surfacevessels. This aircra was heavily damaged on October 11th, 1940 during an aack on Liverpool, when No.611 Squadron Spiires lit up bothof its engines. Two members of the crew (the radiooperator and mechanic) bailed out of the aircra, while the pilot and observer were ableto actually make to France and make an emergency landing near Brest. The mechanic, Uz. Johansen, was struck by the tail surfaces of theaircra and died before he hit the ground aer bailing out over England. The radio operator reached the ground unscathed near Mart of Llynand was captured. Aer a change in taccs that involved the bombing of English cies under the cover of darkness, the undersides of the air-cra, as well as the white porons of the balkenkreuz and swaskas on other surfaces, were painted black, which was the case here as well.The unit emblem appears below the cockpit.KITS 02/2021eduard42INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 43
Do 17Z-2, 3./KG 2, Athens-Tatoi, Greece, May 1941Do 17Z, 7./KG 3, Wjazma, Soviet Union, Winter 1941One of the bomber units taking part in the Balkans campaign under Operaon Marita (the aack on Greece) was Kampfgeschwader 2. Thisunit’s Stab, I. and III. Gruppe (the contribuon of II.Gruppe was largely symbolic) aacked from the Bulgarian aireld at Plovdiv-Krumovo,and aer the occupaon of Macedonia, KG 2 moved to Thessaloniki, and by the very end of the acons against Greece, the unit operatedfrom Tatoi aireld in Athens. Aircra that took part in Operaon Marita carried RLM 04 engine cowls and control surfaces in the tail. The unitinsignia was carried under the cockpit.Over the course of the winter months of the war against the Soviets, ghters and bombers alike received applicaons of temporary whitepaint on their upper surfaces in an eort to beer conceal them from the enemy when on the ground or in the air. These paints wereapplied at unit level and with whatever method that was possible with no real preparaon, and the paint tended to wear away very quicklyunder the trac of the groundcrews, and the adverse weather condions played a role as well. It was the same with bombers of the 7.Stael KG 3, the last unit conducng operaonal ights with the by-then obsolete Do 17Z. Below the temporary, washable white paint, theoriginal camouage scheme consisng of RLM 70/71 was visible on the upper surfaces, and the lower ones were sprayed RLM 65. Serviceon the Eastern Front was signied by the yellow fuselage band ahead of the tail surfaces and the yellow lower wingps.KITS 02/2021eduard43INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 44
Do 17Z-2, 10./ZG 26, Castel Benito, Libya, 1941Do 17Z-3, fvänr. Olli Kepsu, 2/LeLv 46, Linnunniemi landing ground, Finland, February 1942The Do 17Z, used by several Luwae bomber units in the early phases of the Second World War, took part in every conict undertakenby Nazi Germany. North Africa was no excepon. Here, however, the use of the type was largely symbolic, and a few served with the 10.Stael Zerstörergeschwader 26, a unit ying the twin-engined Bf 110. This parcular aircra was discovered by advancing Brish troops atCastel Benito in Libya. Aircra used in North Africa were camouaged to suit the environment with upper and side surfaces painted RLM 79with squiggle paerns of RLM 80, while the lower surfaces were in RLM 78. It is not clear from photographs if this aircra had the RLM 80squiggle paern applied. As with other aircra on the southern front, this plane carried a white fuselage band ahead of the tail surfaces andwhite lower wingps.Finnish bomber units suered combat losses through the summer and fall of 1941 that they could not replace from local sources. Helpcame in the form of een Do 17Z aircra gied by the Luwae, which was in the process of phasing the type out of service. These air-cra entered Finnish inventory during January and February 1942, and began operaonal ights from April with LLv 46. Five of the Finnishairframes survived World War Two combat and the last was rered on October 1st, 1952. One of them was coded DN-55, which also wasthe last Finnish Air Force aircra to y a Second World War mission, when it photographed German units on April 4th, 1945, in the vicinity ofKilpisjärvi. The Dorniers reached the Finnish units at the beginning of 1942 camouaged in RLM 70/71/65, in the same scheme as they wereown by the Luwae. The Finns also used temporary white paint as a winter camouage, and in the case of DN-55, this paint was appliedover the RLM 71 elds.KITS 02/2021eduard44INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 45
Recommended for Do 17Z48896 Do 17Z-2 exterior & bomb bay (PE-Set)48897 Do 17Z-2 landing aps 1/48 (PE-Set)49789 Do 17Z-2 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 (PE-Set)644082 Do 17Z bomber LööK 1/48 (Brassin)648161 SC 250 German bombs 1/48 (Brassin)648162 SC 500 German bombs 1/48 (Brassin)648264 SC 50 German WWII bombs 1/48 (Brassin)648609 Do 17Z bomber guns 1/48 (Brassin)KITS 02/2021OVERTREESDo 17ZCat. No. 11147X1/48Cat. No. 11147-LEPTCat. No. 644082Cat. No. 648609Cat. No. 648264Product pageProduct pageeduard45INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 46
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BFC107Kampfstift: der Bleistift iegt weiter1/481/48, Cat. No. BFC107Complete Kampfstift kit(Limited edition Cat. No. 11147)Extended with the West and EastFront and from the Finnish Air Force.BFCFOR BFC MEMBERS ONLYDo 17Z-5, WNr. 1210, Flugbereitscha Luoe 2, 1940 – 1941Do 17Z-3, WNr. 1218, own by lun. Kalervo Kuula, 1./LeLv 46,Noljakka landing ground, Finland, June 1942Do 17Z-2, 15.(Kroat)/KG 53, Soviet Union, 1942Orders containing this item will be dispatched aer February 5th.Thank you for your understanding.Product pageeduard47INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 48
02/2021Brassin set - AIM-132 ASRAAM missiles in1/32 scale. The set consists of 2 missiles.Compable with F/A-18, Tornado ADV,Euroghter Typhoon.Set contains:- resin: 12 parts,- decals: yes,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.LööK set - Brassin pre-painted dashboardand STEEL seatbelts for Do 17Z bomberin 1/48 scale. Easy to assemble, replacesplasc parts.Recommended kit: Eduard / ICMSet contains:- resin: 2 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: yes, pre-painted,- painng mask: no.632165AIM-132 ASRAAM1/32644082Do 17Z bomber LööK1/48 ICM/EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard48INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 49
Brassin set - the gun muzzles for Bf 110G-4in 1/48 scale.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 7 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.Brassin set - German WW2 MG 81Z gunin 1/32 scale. Set consists of 1 gun.Set contains:- resin: 2 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.648604Bf 110G-4 gun muzzles1/48 Eduard632167MG 81Z gun1/32BRASSIN 02/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard49INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 50
BRASSIN 02/2021Brassin set - the undercarriage wheelsfor Do 17Z in 1/48 scale. The set consistsof the main wheels and a tailwheel. Easyto assemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: Eduard / ICMSet contains:- resin: 5 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: no,- painng mask: yes.Brassin set - the obliquely mountedguns for Bf 110G-4 in 1/48 scale. Ammomagazines included.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 8 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: no,- painng mask: no.648608Do 17Z wheels1/48 Eduard/ICM648605Bf 110G-4 Schräge Musik1/48 EduardProduct pageProduct pageeduard50INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 51
Brassin set - the gun bays for SpiireMk.IIb in 1/48 scale. The set consists ofgunbays for both wings.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 28 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.Brassin set - the guns for Do 17Z bomber in1/48 scale. The set consists of 6 guns. Easy toassemble, replaces plasc parts.Recommended kit: Eduard / ICMSet contains:- resin: 32 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.648611Spitre Mk.IIb gun bays1/48 Eduard648609Do 17Z bomber guns1/48 Eduard/ICMBRASSIN 02/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard51INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 52
BRASSIN 02/2021Brassin set - the SUU-23 gun podin 1/48 scale. Set consists of 2 pods.Set contains:- resin: 16 parts,- decals: yes,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.672253Z-37A spraying booms1/72 Eduard648612SUU-23 gun pod1/48Brassin set - the spraying booms forZ-37 / Z-37A Cmelak in 1/72 scale.Recommended kit: EduardSet contains:- resin: 7 parts,- decals: no,- photo-etched details: no,- painng mask: no.Product pageProduct pageeduard52INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 53
Brassin set - Russian / Soviet missileR-27R/R1 in 1/72 scale. Set consistsof 4 misiles. Compable with MiG-29,Su-27.Set contains:- resin: 32 parts,- decals: yes,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.Brassin set - the guided air-to-surface wea-pon GBU-31(V)1/B JDAM in 1/72 scale.The set consists of 4 bombs. Compablewith F-15E, F/A-18E/F, F-22, F-35 etc.Set contains:- resin: 20 parts,- decals: yes,- photo-etched details: yes,- painng mask: no.672256R-27R/R1 / AA-10 Alamo-A1/72672254GBU-31(V)1/B JDAM1/72BRASSIN 02/2021Product pageProduct pageeduard53INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 54
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Cat. No. D32007Die alten Kanonen1/32 MengDECAL SETS 02/2021479/17, own by Lt. August Raben, CO of Jasta 18,Monngen, France, October 1918503/17, own by Lt. Hans Körner, Jasta 19, Balatre,Belgium, April 1918450/17, own by Lt. Josef Jacobs, Jasta 7,Rumbeke, Belgium, March 1918557/17, own by Lt. Rudolf Klimke, Jasta 27,Halluin-Ost, France, May 1918Product pageeduard59INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 60
DECAL SETS 02/2021Cat. No. D32008Flying circus / JG I1/32 Meng564/17, own by Ltn. Werner Steinhäuser, Jasta 11,Cappy, France, December 1917586/17, own by Ltn. Ernst Udet, CO of Jasta 4,„La Ferme Puisieux” Aireld near Laon, France,May 1918Fokker Dr.I, own by Ltn. Hans Körner, Jasta 2,Halluin-Ost, France, May 1918545/17, own by Ltn. Hans Weiss, CO of Jasta 11,Cappy, France, April 1918Product pageeduard60INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 61
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53262 SMS Viribus Unitis 1/35053263 SMSViribusUnitisagsSTEEL1/35053264 SMS Viribus Unitis railings 1/35032976 Mirage 2000D 1/3233269 Mirage 2000D/N seatbelts STEEL 1/32JX263 Mirage 2000D/N 1/3232977 Mirage 2000N 1/3233269 Mirage 2000D/N seatbelts STEEL 1/32JX263 Mirage 2000D/N 1/32BIG5358 SMS Viribus Unitis 1/350 TrumpeterBIG33125 Mirage 2000D 1/32 Kitty HawkBIG33126 Mirage 2000N 1/32 Kitty HawkAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageProduct pageeduard62INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 63
481038 HH-34J cargo interior 1/48491132 HH-34J 1/48FE1133 HH-34J seatbelts STEEL 1/48FE1134 HH-34J cargo seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX736 HH-34J 1/4848699 S-2E bomb bay48700 S-2E undercarriage481039 S-2E exterior 1/48491135 S-2E interior 1/48FE1136 S-2E seatbelts STEEL 1/48EX326 S-2E/F 1/4872711 Beaufort Mk.I bomb bay 1/7272712 BeaufortMk.Ilandingaps1/7273725 Beaufort Mk.I 1/72CX588 Beaufort Mk.I 1/72BIG49276 HH-34J 1/48 TrumpeterBIG49277 S-2E 1/48 KineticBIG72163 Beaufort Mk.I 1/72 AirxAll sets included in this BIG ED are available separately,but with every BIG ED set you save up to 30%.Product pageProduct pageProduct pageeduard63INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 64
PE-SETS AND MASKS 02/2021EDUARD MASK IT FITS!JX269 Tornado GR.4 1/32 ItaleriJX270 Tornado GR.4 TFace 1/32 ItaleriEX745 Ju 188 1/48 RevellEX746 Ju 188 TFace 1/48 RevellEX747 F-104DJ 1/48 KinecEX748 F-104DJ TFace 1/48 KinecEX749 Il-2 1/48 ZvezdaEX750 Il-2 TFace 1/48 ZvezdaEX751 MiG-21bis Weekend 1/48 EduardEX752 Bf 110C TFace 1/48 EduardEX753 Bf 110D TFace 1/48 EduardEX754 Bf 110G-4 TFace 1/48 EduardCX593 F-4EJ Kai 1/72 Fine MoldsCX594 Nieuport Ni-17 Weekend 1/72 EduardEX745JX269EX746CX593EX749 EX750EX750EX754EX754EX746JX270JX270eduard64INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 65
KITS82153 SpitreMk.IIa 1/48 ProPACK11147 Kampfstift 1/48 Limited edition7404 Nieuport Ni-17 1/72 Weekend editionPE-SETS32462 Tornado GR.4 exterior 1/32 Italeri32981 Tornado GR.4 interior 1/32 Italeri36458 Merkava MK.2D 1/35 Takom481041 Ju 188 exterior 1/48 Revell481042 Il-2landingaps 1/48 Zvezda491143 Ju 188 interior 1/48 Revell491145 Il-2 1/48 Zvezda491147 F-104DJ 1/48 Kinetic73733 F-4EJ Kai 1/72 Fine Molds144016 P-47DRazorback 1/144 Eduard/PlatzZOOMS33274 Tornado GR.4 1/32 Italeri33275 Tornado GR.4 seatbelts STEEL 1/32 ItaleriFE1143 Ju 188 1/48 RevellFE1144 Ju 188 seatbelts STEEL 1/48 RevellFE1145 Il-2 1/48 ZvezdaFE1146 Il-2seatbeltsSTEEL 1/48 ZvezdaFE1147 F-104DJ 1/48 KineticFE1148 F-104DJ seatbelts early STEEL 1/48 KineticFE1149 MiG-21bis Weekend 1/48 EduardSS733 F-4EJ Kai 1/72 Fine MoldsSS734 Nieuport Ni-17 Weekend 1/72 EduardMASKSJX269 Tornado GR.4 1/32 ItaleriJX270 Tornado GR.4 TFace 1/32 ItaleriEX745 Ju 188 1/48 RevellEX746 Ju 188 TFace 1/48 RevellEX747 F-104DJ 1/48 KineticEX748 F-104DJ TFace 1/48 KineticEX749 Il-2 1/48 ZvezdaEX750 Il-2TFace 1/48 ZvezdaEX751 MiG-21bis Weekend 1/48 EduardEX752 Bf 110C TFace 1/48 EduardEX753 Bf 110D TFace 1/48 EduardEX754 Bf 110G-4 TFace 1/48 EduardCX593 F-4EJ Kai 1/72 Fine MoldsCX594 Nieuport Ni-17 Weekend 1/72 EduardBIGEDBIG5358 SMS Viribus Unitis 1/350 TrumpeterBIG33125 Mirage 2000D 1/32 Kitty HawkBIG33126 Mirage 2000N 1/32 Kitty HawkBIG49276 HH-34J 1/48 TrumpeterBIG49277 S-2E 1/48 KineticBIG72163BeaufortMk.I 1/72 AirxBRASSIN632165 AIM-132 ASRAAM 1/32632167 MG81Zgun 1/32644082 Do17ZbomberLööK 1/48 Eduard/ICM648604 Bf110G-4gunmuzzles 1/48 Eduard648605 Bf 110G-4 Schräge Musik 1/48 Eduard648608 Do17Zwheels 1/48 Eduard/ICM648609 Do17Zbomberguns 1/48 Eduard/ICM648611 SpitreMk.IIbgunbays 1/48 Eduard648612 SUU-23 gun pod 1/48672253 Z-37Asprayingbooms 1/72 Eduard672254 GBU-31(V)1/B JDAM 1/72672256 R-27R/R1 / AA-10 Alamo-A 1/72LookPLUS634023 A-26BInvaderLööKplus 1/32 HobbyBoss644085 Mi-24VLööKplus 1/48 ZvezdaDECAL SETSD32007 Die alten Kanonen 1/32 MengD32008 Flying circus / JG I 1/32 MengD48071 P-38stencils 1/48 Tamiya/Academy/HasegawaD48072 Harrier Gr.7/9 stencils 1/48 Revell/HasegawaSPACE3DL48002P-51D-5SPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48005SpitreMk.IearlySPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48006SpitreMk.IlateSPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL48007SpitreMk.IISPACE 1/48 Eduard3DL72003MiG-21PFSPACE 1/72 Eduard3DL72004MiG-21PFMSPACE 1/72 EduardFebruary 2021February ReleasesPage 66
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BUILTP8081, Fl/Lt. Tomáš Vybíral, No.312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF Ayr, Great Britain, November 1941Spiire Mk.IIa P8081 was painted in scheme type A. From both sides of the fuselage there is a light gray inscripon GARFIELD WESTON IV.It is one of 16 aircra funded by Willard Gareld Weston, Canadian member of the House of Commons. This philanthropist was owner of theAllied Bakeries. He also helped to create a canteen system in the London Underground during the Blitz bombing oensive. P8081 rst servedwith the No.222 Sqn, where Sgt. Burgess used it to damage a Ju 88 in April 1941. Later on the Spiire was assigned to Australian No.452 Sqnfor about a month and from October ll December it was used by Czechoslovak No.312 Sqn. A number of pilots ew with P8081, includingF/Sgt Václav Šlouf. On November 17th, it was damaged by F/Lt. Tomáš Vybíral aer landing in poor visibility. This pilot scored 7 victories inthe French Air Force and achieved the rank of Wing Commander in the RAF. Aer the war he emigrated from Czechoslovakia and joined thean-communist resistance.#648580SpitreMk.Iexhauststacks(Brassin)#648579SpitreMk.Iwheels(Brassin)Page 68
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BUILTF-6D-10, 44-14699, Lt. Cliord S. Slonneger, 109th TRS, 67th TRG, 9th AF, Gosselies, Belgium, 194567th TRG history begins in September 1941 when it was formed in Louisiana as the Observation Group and its rst task were anti-submarinepatrols alongside the United States East Coast which it carried out until March 1942. Transfer to the Great Britain followed in August 1942, where thetraining continued. In October 1943 it was ordered under the 9th Air Force command, renamed to 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group and 107thand 109th TRS under its command were equipped with F-6 Mustang. 109th TRS, in which ranks Lt. Slonneger ew 54 missions, operated this typeon photo-reconnaissance sorties until the end of hostilities. After the War, the unit was transferred back to the United States in August 1945 anddisbanded in March the following year. F-6D from this unit often had the oval window on the side of the fuselage covered. It is highly probable that itwas the case of the aircraft named Shady Lady.#648572P-51D108galdroptanks(Brassin)#648512P-51Dwheelsrhomboidtreat(Brassin)#648495P-51DundercarriagelegsBRONZE(Brassin)eduard69INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 70
BUILTBf 109G-10 WNF/Diana1/ 48Built by Oliver PeisslCat. No. 82161 + BFC099#648422 Bf 109G-10 cockpit (Brassin)#648265 Bf 109G external fuel tanks (Brassin)#644046Bf109G-10w/latewheelsLööKplus(Brassin)#49061SeatbeltsLuftwaffeWWIIFightersFABRIC(PE-Set)#648309Bf109GundercarriagelegsBRONZE(Brassin)eduard70INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 71
BUILTErnst Udet´s aircraft 1/48Built by Robert SzwarcCAMO FCat. No. 11137Fokker D.VII (OAW), 20xx/18, Jasta 4,Beugneux-Cramoiselles Aireld, France, June 1918eduard71INFO Eduard - February 2021Page 72
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BUILTF-6D-15, 44-14874, Lt. John E. Jacoby, 82nd TRS, 71st TRG, 5th AF, Johnson Field, Japan, September 1945Since November 1944, 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, within 71st TRG, participated in reconnaissance missions overPhilippines island of Luzon, ground units’ support, photographing and bombing of the airports on Formosa and China. Its next basebecame the island of Ie shima from where they were ying sorties over the Japanese island of Kyushu. Since the deployment over thePhilippines until the middle of June 1945 the unit was commanded by Capt. William Shomo, probably the most famous F-6D pilot. At theend of hostilities, the unit was transferred to Irumagawa airbase on the Tokyo outskirts. The squadron deployed aircraft nr.54 from thevery beginning of the combat on Philippines and she remained in the