[Legion]

Hello All,

There are excellent books on the subject one is called "On Special Missions" (The luftwaffe's Research and Experimental Squadrons 1923-1945) by J. Richard Smith, Eddie J. Creek & Peter Petrick.

The other is "Strangers in a strange land," by Hans Heiri Stapfer.

It appears that they didn't use any captured enemy aircraft in actual combat...

The book says...
"With new allied fighters appearing on all fronts, the luftwaffe was finding itself hard pressed to fulfil its reconnaissance missions because its aircraft were losing their previous performance advantages.

It was then realised that if the speed & manoeuvrability of luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft could be measured in mock combat against the best enemy opposition, the knowledge thus gained would do much to improve the survival rate of the German crews."

When enemy fighters that were captured had finished being tested & evaluated at the luftwaffe testing station at Rechlin, they were given to the experimental squadron for enemy aircraft (Versuchsstaffel fur Feindflugzeug) under the command of Hauptman Rosarius. They were tested against the latest german reconnaissance aircraft at extreme altitudes. later on, they were used to instruct the german fighter pilots on how to deal with enemy fighters in mock combats.

Spitfire PR XI (MB945) German coded T9+EK.
P47D-2RA Thunderbolt (42-22490) German coded 7+9 then T9+FK later
P47D-16-RE Thunderbolt (42-75971) German coded T9+LK
*P47D-5-RE Thunderbolt (42-8476) German code unknown.
P38 F-5E lightning (44-23725) German coded T9+MK
P51B Mustang (43-24825) German coded T9+HK
P51B Mustang German coded T9+CK
Hawker Typhoon Ia (EJ956) German coded T9+GK
De Havilland Mosquito IVB (Sno unknown) German coded T9+XB - non airworthy

*= from Strangers in a strange land.

Rosarius said after the war that the maximum number of aircraft available to the "zirkus" at any one time was estimated at 22. He remembers that these included 4x mustangs, 3x thunderbolts, 3x spitfires (a IX, XI & XII) 2x typhoons 2x tempests
2x lightnings, 2x mosquitos a harvard & 2x soviet fighters=( a yak9 & a yak3)

The above info was taken from the two books listed above.

Hope it helps

Regards
Tony.