Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Hello!


Has anyone researched Luftwaffe planes in the photos of Eastern Prussia airfields taken during the Red Army offensive on April 1945? They are almost all well known and appeared in various period sources … but I have got my own piece of this pie now from a photo album that acquired recently.
I appreciate any help with these images.


The first ones are three Fw190, is this possible to ID what variants are they and which LF unit?


Thanks In advance and best regards,
Alexander



https://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp001.jpg



https://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp002.jpg


https://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp003.jpg

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

By April the eastern regions of East Prussia were already in Soviet hands, and the final siege of the capital was taking place.

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

I think it will be very difficult to accurately name the unit to which these aircraft belonged. JG51 and JG54 were operated this area during the last moths of Third Reich.

But any chance to ID variant of these Fw190, are they A-8 or may be A-9?

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

The first one, with the collapsed landing gear and four cannon in the wings is an A-8 or A-9; the second may be an F-model with cannon only in the wing roots but it does not seem to have underwing bomb racks.

According to Bundesarchiv RL 2-III/735 (which is free to download) on 16 April 1945 the only Fw 190 fighter unit in Luftwaffenkommando Ostpreußen was Stabsstaffel JG 51, which had 18 of them. The ground-attack Fw 190s were with I./SG 3 which had 24.

Also, 2./NAGr. 4 had 6 Focke-Wulfs. These were recorded as Fw 189 until the lists for 14 and 16 April which say Fw 190. I suspect that this was a typng mistake (unless someone knows better). The last photo-reconnaissance aircraft of 2./NAGr. 4 was destroyed by enemy action on 30 April but four Bf 109s did operate that day (according to National Archives HW 5/701).

NOTE: On 1 April, Stabsstaffel JG 51 reported having 2 Fw 190 A-9 and 20 Fw 190 A-8 (National Archives HW 5/697).

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Thanks! Hadn't seen this one. I find it a little odd that this file is available but almost no other 'Bereitschaft' file after 1941 is ? Always amazes me that some-one (or some persons) were sitting there typing these out just days from total collapse...I guess this may partially explain the occasional 'errors' that crop up.

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

It's probably a matter of what people requested for digitisation. The ones for 20 February–16 April 1944 are downloadable too.

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

I've been requesting quite a few of these files. Only one of them has been uploadad so far, 716b. And it's not clear if my request has anything to do with it. Maybe the point is that one person's request is not enough.

Does anyone know if there are any plans to digitize the ZA 3 series?

Best regards,
Andrey

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Nick thanks a lot for so detailed information about the photos!

There is another one plane from the same airfield, destroyed and burned-out Messerschmitt Bf109.

1. Is this “Gustav” of “Kurfürst”, any chance to ID?
2. The armament looks like MG131 to me, is this correct?


Thanks in advance!



Best regards,
Alexander




http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp004.jpg



http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp005.jpg

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

That is an MG131 weapon. I am unable to post images here, but I do have a similar image of a MG131 in a Bf109 G-6.

Tony

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Greetings,
Its curved left engine bearer and raised oil filler hatch narrow it down to a G-14/AS, G-10, or K-4. Final identification would be easier if we could see its lower cowling, radio access hatch, and its DF loop position. Finally, if the white characters visible on the upper front of its crankcase are “DB” as it appears, that would mean it was either a DB605D-powered Bf109G-10 or Bf109K-4.
Respectfully,
Steve Sheflin

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Stive and Tony many thanks for your comments.



Here more plane deatails for review.



http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp006.jpg


http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp007.jpg


http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp008.jpg


http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp009.jpg


http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp010.jpg


http://www.photo-war.com/wa/ostp011.jpg

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Agreed.

It's most likely an A-8 because it appears to have a 12-bladed fan, as opposed to the A-9's 14-blade fan. In the close-up of the nose below, you can see that each group of 3 blades spans an arc of 90 degrees.

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/pictur...pictureid=1721


Because it has the rear support ("Abstützblech") behind the armored headrest, it would be a late-production A-8.

However, nothing about the late-war Luftwaffe is straightforward, so it's still possible that it's an A-9. I read somewhere that some A-9s were retro-fitted with the 12-blade fan because the increased cooling effect of the 14-blade fan was negated by the extra power required to run it. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of the source of that info. Does anyone know more about it?

Leon Venter

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Good point about the fan.

Just to make things even harder, wasn’t the blown canopy also available as a retro-fit?

Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.
 

Yes, indeed -- it seems it was just a matter of what was available.

Below is a quote from Ernst Schröder of 5./JG 300, which appears on page 271 of Peter Rodeike's "Focke Wulf Jagdflugzeug: Fw 190 A, Fw 190 'Dora', Ta 152 H":

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/pictur...pictureid=1723


Schröder describes the chaotic situation at the end of the war, in which repaired A-8 airframes would be fitted with the BMW 801 TU engine (an interim replacement for the problematic BMW 801 TH that was intended for the A-9.)
Similarly, damaged old-style canopies were replaced with the new blown canopies.

A real hodge-podge for us to decipher ...

Regards,
Leon Venter