Where and why

[Carsten Petersen]

I bought these pictures about 10 years ago. Does anybody know where the pictures were taken and why ?

[Leendert]

Airplane appears to have code P1+H? KG60 Ju-88?

Regards,
Leendert

[Thomas H]

Or

Code: PI+HM

Regards, Thomas

[Strange]

The fire fighter in img#4 appears to wear a German M34 Police/Fire helmet.

[ArtieBob]

The factory codes PI+HM look fresh and the inverted Ju 88 on fire inside a damaged building points me to the following SWAG. The Ju 88
in question (W.Nr. 3237?) appears on neither the operational nor the non-operational loss list copies I have. That might lead to the possible
conclusion that this aircraft might have crashed during initial flight testing. It apparently reached final assembly at Henschel in the
September-October 1940 time period.

Best Regards,

Artie Bob

[Carsten Petersen]

Thanks for the information
Carsten

[red-star25]

It´s indeed Ju 88 A-5 0883237, which crashed on 30.09.1940 in Schönefeld.
All 3 crew members and 2 workers were killed.
Source: RL 3/1542
Regards
Dirk

[Carsten Petersen]

Thank you for clearing that up. I thought for many years that it was staged photos

[Rabe Anton]

Grüß Gott Carsten!

Thank you so much for posting your five photographs of the mishap to Ju 88A-5 WNr. 3237 at HFW Schönefeld on 30. Sept. 1940. And thanks to all who have added additional information. Out of such cooperative efforts a more complete story emerges.

I have noticed that one source on the above mishap has not yet appeared. That is in a published history of HFW Schönefeld which contains a few lines on the production situation and accidents in the 1939-1940 period. The passage is in Horst Materna, Die Geschichte der Henschel Flugzeug-Werke in Schönefeld bei Berlin 1933-1945 (Bad Langensalza: Verlag Rockstuhl, 2010), p. 198. I quote it here:

. . . am 26. September 1940 bereits der 500. Rumpf die Werkhalle 7, in der die Einbauten erfolgten. Vier Tage später erschütterte eine Katastrophe die gesamte Belegschaft. Die Ju 88 mit der Werknummer 3273 [sic, 3237] stürzte während eines Ausdauerflug aus geringer Höhe in die im Endausbau befindliche Halle 12 und ging in Flammen auf. Die dreiköpfe Besatzung unter Feldwebel Ludwig Hildt uns zwei Belegschaftsmitglieder kamen dabei ums Leben.

RA