Pulver's He 111P without rudder art?

[ianatheling]

On eBay here is a photo of a crashed He111 with a WNr.1992. A KG55 code is also visible. The aircraft appears to have crashed inside German lines. This should be Gerhard Pulver’s He111P G1+HP, but without the rudder art. It is claimed that this was not the aircraft in which Pulver crashed and died on the 16th August 1940. Can anyone explain how/when this photo fits into the story?


Ian

[Nordpol54]

Ian,

this is just not to be taken serious:

1. Possibly Mr. Pulver was at stage when the photgraph has been taken "pulverized" long before
2. I wonder why silly dogs always are licking at men's family-jewels

Have Fun
Norbert

[Larry Hickey]

Ian,

I have a dozen photos of this a/c after this crash in the EoE DB. According to the EoE Luft loss list: "May 13, 1940: 6./KG55 Heinkel He111P-2. Attacked by Nos. 1 and 73 Squadron Hurricanes, then Lt Dorance, S/Lt Parnière, and Lt Vybiral of GC I/5 during sortie to bomb troop concentrations near Charleville- Mézières. Crashed and burned out at ‘La Fosse’, between Mairy and Amblimont 7.30 a.m. Possibly one of those also attacked by Potez 631s of ECMJ 1/16. BM Uffz Alois Freitag, BF Obergefr Paul Brandt, and BS Gefr Helmut von Spiegel all killed, FF Lt Otto-Wilhelm Pöhler and BO Obergefr Fritz Höfling captured wounded – both later released. Aircraft G1+HP a write-off."

This is a good example of where the chalked on temporary personal markings (man with umbrella) done during the early days of the war in 1939 had been completely washed off. The crashed and burned a/c in this photo was replaced with another G1+HP which was then shot down on 16.8.40 over England, and FL intact. I've got two photos of that one. So, we've got very good photographic coverage of both a/c that carried the code G1+HP from essentially the beginning of the war through mid-August, 1940. I don't have any photos of the a/c which replaced the 2nd one lost. Almost certainly the version with the chalked on tail markings, WNr1992, will be a subject of a color profile in the EoE book series.

Regards,

[ianatheling]

Many thanks Larry

[Larry Hickey]

Ian,

The problem with this one has been that the captions about it in the KG55 book by Hall and Quinlan (Sp?) are very misleading, and Walter Waiss mid-identies it in his KG27 photo section as KG27, when it was KG55. I think that the photos with the chalk markings date to the Polish Campaign period or very soon after during the Phoney War. II./KG55 fought in the PC, so I'm not quite sure why the personal markings show the guy with an umbrella with bombs raining down on Britain, unless is was just a general commentary on the opening war situation. Your opinion?

Regards,

[ianatheling]

The dates may be relevant here. Chamberlain resigned on the 10th May and we should expect that the Germans became aware of this very soon. The chalked rudder art may then have been removed before the aircraft then crashed on the 13th May. As to the initial date of the rudder art, as you are aware, Chamberlain was a very popular subject of mockery from early stages of the war (and before). I don’t think that the inclusion of Britain on the rudder is an issue. Since the drawing is such a poor rendition of Great Britain it may suggest that it was drawn before Luftwaffe crews became well acquainted with real maps of the UK!!

I have attached a copy of the original rudder art associated with Pulver for those readers who are not familiar with what we are discussing.

Ian