Gruppe 66

[S Sheflin]

Hello all,

Those of us with gray hair might remember a pioneering group of Luftwaffe research: Gruppe 66. I believe they were active in England in the late 1960s and 1970s. I do recall them being credited with many exciting photographs, especially of large collections of Luftwaffe aircraft.

Is anyone aware of what actually happened to the group, and the final disposition of their photo archives?

Thanks,

Steve Sheflin

[ArtieBob]

IIRC, some of the contributors to Gruppe 66 later were the cadre that formed Classic Publications in the 1990s. As such I believe that their collections of photos and documents were souce materials for several recent and most authentic Luftwaffe publications.

Artie Bob

[Nick Beale]

Richard Smith, Eddie Creek and Alfred Price were all involved in Gruppe 66. Classic's origins were a little different. Eddie Creek took time out of research to do an architecture degree in the late 80s and when he finished that, he invited a bunch of researchers to his house who he and Richard Smith had corresponded with as a result of their books. Among them were Arthur Bentley, Robert Forsyth, Martin Pegg, Steve Coates, Tom Willis and me. I remember Mark Sheppard, Phil Butler and Jerry Scutts being there at different times too. Everyone had a project of some kind and that's how a lot of the people who later did stuff for Classic met each other.