[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Ed,

I found your link most helpful. The easiest way to gain attention is to link something to the Me 262 - in this case, the carapace facility at Mühldorf to Me 262 production. However, this connection is wrong, but others, possibly even Jerry Crandall, may have used this Internet source to make the caption claim of nearby Me 262 production to the airfield at Mühldorf. Thus, you have provided me with one erroneous source and likely there are others, possibly cross feeding upon themselves.

So, what is the truth? For carapace facility related matters, I rely primarily on 3 sources:

TNC Air 10/3873: German Experience in the Underground Transfer of War Industries: Historical and Statistical. Underground Structures Panel, British Bombing Survey Unit. 1946

IWM: German Underground Installations, Part One of Three, Unique Design and Construction Methods, British Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee, report prepared by Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency, Washington, D.C., Sept. 1945

NARA II RG No. 319: Air Technical Service Command Industrial Planning Project: Industrial Planning Project: A Recommended Program for the Underground Manufacture of Aircraft (Initial Phase), Industrial Planning Section, Logistics Planning Division, Plans (T-5), Air Materiel Command, Army Air Forces, Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, 26 June 1946.

Let me start with the NARA II report, which clearly could contribute to the confusion:

"Plans for 12 of these bunker type plants were formulated during the war and work on four of them was actually initiated, but because of lack of manpower, materials, and time, none of the projects was ever placed in full operation. For example, the Landsburg plant (Weingut II) located in Bavaria, Germany, was approximately three fourths completed at the time of capture, and although designed as a complete aircraft factory, from fabrication through final assembly, only fabrication operations were taking place when captured."

The highest number I've seen claimed is 7 or 8, so 12 is new to me. But, being formulated (planned", I guess they could have considered the higher number, even if no construction ever started on at least 4 of them.

"1. Bunker Plant. -- During the latter part of 1944, construction was initiated on four large semi-underground Messerschmitt factories in the general vicinity of Munich. The purpose of this program was to provide bomb-proof, concealed large buildings in which Germany could produce the latest type of Messerschmitt jet-propelled plane without major interruption to production. None of the four structures was completed when the European war ended, although a six month construction period had been originally estimated. Typical of the four plants is "Weingut II" located northwest of Landsburg, Germany."

Now, it is possible that, at one point of time or another use of all these facilities to produce the Me 262 may have been planned, but that certainly isn't how the final planning went.

The report gives information on the 2 most prominent of these facilities:

"Plant & Location
Landsberg (on Lech River) 40 mi. West of Munich

Name of Firm
Messersschmitt

Description of site
Bunker Plant: New arched semi-buried reinforced concrete building, 84 ft. high, 287 ft. wide and 1,092 ft. long at first floor level, 60 ft. protrudes above surface; 16' 6" thick at top of the single broad arched concrete shell or carapace. 60% complete. Two other similar structures were under construction in this area but were not as far advanced.

Production
Messerschmitt aircraft was planned."


"Plant & Location
Muhldorf (near Ampfing)

Name of Firm
Not available

Description of Site
Bunker plant; arched roof was to be 16 ft thick, 1200 ft. long, and 260 ft wide at the base; to contain 8 floors.

Production
Buna rubber planned for part of plant; ammonia plant in middle section and tire factory in rear section. No production obtained."

So, not only was Me 262 production at the end of the war not planned for Mühldorf, what was planned never got started.

The IWM report had this to say:

'1. Description of Targets - During the latter half of 1944, the Organization Todt started construction of four large semi-underground Messerschmitt factories in the general vicinity of Munich. The purpose of this construction was to provide bomb-proof, concealed large buildings in which Germany could produce the latest type of Messerschmitt jet-propelled plane without major interruptions of production. None of the four structures were complete when the European War ended although a 6-month construction period had been originally estimated originally. The geographical location of each of the four factories is indicated in Fig. 1.

For purposes of secrecy the Germans assigned the following code names to the four plants:

Plant Located / Code Name

NW of Landsburg, Germany / Walnuss II
NW of Landsburg, Germany / Weingut II
North side of NR (Landsburg to Buchloe) / Diana II
Vicinity of Mühldorf, Germany / Weingut I

All four plants were to be essentially of the same construction. Best progress was made on "Weingut II" and "Weingut I." '

Obviously, for the descriptive text, one of these reports borrowed off of the other.

The most in-depth information is to be found in the TNA report:

"Production was obtained from only one of the seven carapaces; Messerschmitt began limited production in the completed end of the carapace Weingut II at Landsberg in January, 1945. By this time the weight of Allied attack had shifted to the German Oil Industry, and it was planned to install a shale oil refinery in the sister site, Weingut I at Mühldorf. A third carapace was to house plants of the chemical industry: a buna rubber plant, a tyre factory, and an ammonia plant were all scheduled for transfer into carapace plants."

Apparently, usage priorities got shifted based on needs of the time. Now, however, the TNA report said there were seven carapace facilities, not four or twelve. The report does give us some indicators. Let's start with the known four.

"158. Landsberg

Code: Walnus II. Diana II (Ringeltaube).
Type: Carapace.
Production: R.O.M. state jet aircraft. Firms transferred to Weingut I (Muhldorf) and II.
State: Excavation or conversion begun - abandoned in October, 1944.
Source of information: C.I.O.S. Team 660. R.O.M. Projects Lists B and E. List D (O.T.)
N.B.--Diana II one mile south-west of Weingut II.
Walnus II one mile north of Weingut II."

"159. Landsberg

Code: Weingut II.
Type: Carapace.
Production: Aircraft components for Messerschmitt. R.O.M. state jet aircraft.
Firm: Messerschmitt.
State: Some production obtained, but still under construction.
Floor space: 1,513,169 sq. ft. planned (i.e. ground floor plus five floors); 160,000 sq. ft. available.
Source of information: C.I.O.S. Team 660. R.O.M. Projects List B. List D (O.T.). "

"192. Muhldorf

Code: Weingut I and Eckstein.
Type: Carapace.
Production: Buna rubber planned, also plans to house ammonia plant and tyre factory in carapace.
Firm: Weingut-Betriebe G.m.b.H.
State: Excavation or conversion begun.
Floor space: 2,496,000 sq. ft. planned; 156,000 sq. ft. available. (Similar to Weingut II.)
Source of information: C.I.O.S. Team 660. U.S.S.B.S. Oil Div. Report on Underground and Dispersal Plants in Greater Germany, dated 23rd October, 1945. R.O.M. Projects List B."

A fifth I can add for sure, the carapace facility at Bedburg/Blerichen:

"26. Bedburg/Blerichen

Code: Biber.
Type: Carapace (Bunkerwerk).
Production: Construction abandoned due to Allied advance.
Firm: Deutsche Edelstahl.
Floor space: Seven floors.
Source of information: B.B.R.M. Team. ROM Project List A."

The report contains an aerial photo of the site. A sixth site was:

"6. Allach
Code: Walnus I.
Type: Carapace.
Production: Aero-engine components.
Firm: B.M.W., Munich.
State: Not complete. No production.
Source of information: List D (OT).

A possible site, but only defined as a carapace or bunker, was:

"101. Glatz/Mühldorf

Code: Dachs VIII.
Type: Carapace or bunker.
Production: Lubricating oil planned.
Firm: Kontinental Öl A.G.
Source of information: C.I.O.S./C.A.F.T. Report Q.2604. Official list of German underground factories. List D (O.T.)."

And a possible eighth:

"243. Roudnice/Hnevice

Type: Probably carapace u/c.
State: Abandoned. No production.
Source of information: P.I. Report., U.53, File No. 47."

So, there is about as complete an overview as I can provide regarding the various carapace facilities. From this information, we see that even original documentation can be misleading. It is clear how one might associate Me 262 production with the carapace facilty at Mühldorf. But, as the above clearly shows, this never happened.

Regards,
Richard