More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Hi Guys

Herr Gaul's writing is testing me again! I would very much appreciate help in translating the comments written against the following three flights on this page of Oberleutnant Willi Gaul's Flugbuch:

20.3.42 flying from Brest 15:27 to 16:30 (just above the KG40 stamp)
14.7.42 flying from Merignac
26.7.42 flying from Merignac

The latter two flights follow Gaul's transfer from 2./906 to III./KG 40 and were flown in an Fw200, the first flight is with 2./906 and in a He115.

Any help appreciated.

Best wishes
Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Tim,

as far as i was able to decipher

20.3.42 - ???? geborgen (??? rescued/recoverd)
14.7.42 - Feuergefecht mit Whitley (gun fight with Whitley)
26.7.42 - Fühlung gehalten (holding contact)

Hope this is of help.

Best Regards
Norbert

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

The only recorded combat with a Whitley on 14 Jul 42 was D/58 Sqn which damaged a Ju 88 off the SW Approaches at 2133 hrs

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

I think 20.3.42 is: Harlinghausen geborgen [Oberst Martin Harlinghausen]

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Thank you Norbert. That is a tremendous help.

A word that appears during training is 'Verbandsflug'. I had thought this meant 'formation flight' but now I am not so sure! Can you guide me on this one?

Thanks again

Best wishes
Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Thanks Chris and Nick. That is helpful and intriguing information.

Best wishes
Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Nick - just been checking and from what I can see, Harlinghausen had been relieved from his role as Fliegerführer Atlantik in January 1942 and put in charge of torpedo training at this time. Could this be Harlinghausen making a visit ('returning')?

Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Hi Chris

I hope all is well with you.

More from hope than evidence-based but on this day Gaul was flying with Major Robert Kowalewski as pilot. Although Gaul's flugbuch shows the aircraft as an Fw200, Kowalewski did at least on occasion fly a Ju88, as I think is shown by these two photos from Gaul's album if my aircraft I.D. is up to scratch (which it may not be!).

Clutching at straws, I know but the mission that day was a patrol of the Bay of Biscay lasting 8 hours 21 minutes, which could have put them in the right place perhaps. Then again, the duration perhaps suggests it must have been a Fw200. I guess the Whitley could have mis-identified the aircraft - but in July it was not yet dark at 21:33, which might have explained why a Condor was reported as a Ju88. Maybe, maybe, maybe….

Best wishes
Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

[quote=Tim O.;180713Could this be Harlinghausen making a visit ('returning')?

Tim O.[/QUOTE]

No idea what Harlinghausen was doing that day but "geborgen" means that he was recovered, e.g. from the sea or some kind of mishap. (You could use the same word for recovering a bogged down vehicle, for instance).

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Thanks Nick

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Verbandsflug = flight in formation.

All the best

Andreas

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Thanks Andreas. I thought that was the meaning but some of the training flights identified in this way are just a few minutes in duration, which seems odd.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Best wishes
Tim O.

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Name on 20.March is Dabringhausen hans ,uffz bf from KGr.906

20 3 42 3 2 KGr,906 H Cap du Raz PQ 5978/14 W A see BF HE115C 2773

The only member of that crew recovered

Rémi

Re: More Help with Flugbuch Please
 

Just to add details to Remi's post, the crew was: Ofw Heinz Schucht (F), Lt Ulrich Porsch (B), Uffz Kurt Engelmann (Bm) and they were on a transfer flight from Brest to Hourtin. Sorry, I don't have the codes for this machine, although it was employed by 3./106 in June 1940, so Gaul may well have seen the machine floating around in his travels as a member of 1./106!