[bearoutwest]

Thank you for your responses.

Yes, CJE, I have seen copies of several similar photos – possibly different frames from the same gun camera footage. There are also several photos of strafing attacks on LeO 451 in Luftwaffe colours. Which leads to a side question of: would the Luftwaffe training squadrons flying “advanced trainers” such as the D520 or Bloch 152, 155 aircraft have flown them fully (or partially) armed when there was a chance of encounters with marauding Allied fighters?

Back to the question of Luftwaffe D520s, Gilles, thank you for the pointer to the Thomas Genth site. I chanced upon it while generally net-surfing a few days before asking the question. That site, plus the passage I’ll quote below, formed the question in my mind about possible Luftwaffe D520 combat encounters.

The following is from a description on the aviationartstore website:
(extract)
“ …Horst Petzschler joined the Luftwaffe in April 1941 at the age of nineteen. His enlistment was for twelve years. Basic training is how every enlisted man is introduced to the military. After finishing boot camp and receiving NCO training, in September 1941, Master Sergeant Petzschler reported to A/B-10 Pilot School in Grottkau/O/S. In May Horst was assigned to the JG 101 fighter school squadron located at Villacoublay, which is near Paris. After all, Germany owned France at this point in time.

In May 1943, Horst experienced combat for the first time while still in training school. By chance his fighter school squadron JG101 tangled with Colonel Robert Morgan flying the Memphis Belle and 200 other B-17’s over Guyancourt, north west of Paris. The incident was mostly a taunting harassment by the Luftwaffe flying students with their formation getting the opportunity to get close and actually observe the American formation and get a good look at the defensive guns of the Fortress. Horst would be attacking formations of bombers like the ones he confronted with his Luftwaffe pilot trainees in the next few years. Horst finished his training in the Fw190-A2 at Toulousein southern France. …”

If the description is accurate, what is the likely aircraft used by JG101 in these combat familiarization flights? D520, Bf109, Fw190?

Laurent, hello. I’m more familiar with the Regia Aeronautica and the Bulgarian combat use of the D520. I guess they were acquired for air defence operations, so not surprisingly we find more published information on their activities. With the Luftwaffe, JG101, at least, spent a considerable time around Paris (Villacoublay, etc). The French bases in the south were far away from USAAF (and RAF, etc) bases in England, but not as far from Allied bases in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy after mid-1943. If you are able to remember which French aviation magazine had the Luftwaffe D520 losses, can you give me a pointer in that direction? There appear to be a lot of losses in Luftwaffe D520s due to accidents – I wonder if the reverse throttle operation of French aircraft was significant in these occurrences?

Michael (Khorat). Thanks for the reference to the pilot names. Is your information something I can follow up on the internet; or is it from a published source (book, magazine, etc)? I’m curious and interested enough to want to continue my research….at least over the next few weeks (maybe months) anyway.

Thanks again.
...geoff