Captured Ju 88 W.Nr. 3818..?

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hello,

I have published an original photo from my collection at my website (see here or below). It shows some USAAF personnel with what I think is a panel of the tail of a Ju 88 with the (partial?) serial number 3818.

Does anybody have information about the loss of Ju 88 W.Nr. 3818...? It must have been somewhere in North Africa judging by the two young arabs on the photo.

Thanks & regards,
Roger

[RossGmann]

Link http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org/stam-g.html
The only aircraft that I can find with that W.Nr. is a Bf109E-7 GA+LT from 1./JG 77

Kind regards

Ross

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

Hi Roger,
Ju 88 A-4 built by Henschel at Schönefeld in April 1942. The surrunding WNr. like 3817 was with 7./KG 76 Aug 42, 3819 IV./KG 76 Aug 43, 3820 7./KG 76 Aug 42. They were either lost or damaged on the Russian front. Nothing on 3818.

Regards,

Norbert

[RT]

Could hv not been lost, just changed this piece of the tail...

Rémi

[Nordpol54]

Hi all,

for my eyes it looks like a torn off inner planking of a fin (see rivet-holes) and i think it seems a bit too small as to belong to a Ju 88.
By the way: It was not unusual that LW a/c had been applied with only the last four numbers of W.-Nr., mostly roundabout in the first two or three years of WW2.
Just some thoughts, nonetheless hoping for having helped a bit.

y/f
Norbert

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

Hi All,
the only other possibility is a He 111. The He 111 had a similar shape of a piece of the rudder. I checked all Ju 88 WNr. blocks, at least to my knowledege, and there is no other combination possible. There is one He 111 with WNr. 3818 but it crashed on 04 Nov 1941 in Russia. Any idea on the location of this photo?

Regards,
Norbert

[Jim P.]

My Ju 88 WNr. data matches Norberts - which to me means, if not a captured airfield 'wreck' from a combat unit, that it may have been assigned to a school unit in western Europe (France?). Does this WNr. show up in any of the Allied Intel reports for captured aircraft (MAAF/ADI(K))? Or is it a machine that 'slipped through the cracks' of the fragmentary 1944 losses? Looking through the data I have there were definitely a significant number of older machines with 4-digit WNr. that appear in the what limited post-invasion losses that I have.

[Roger Gaemperle]

Dear all,

Thank you for your information and thoughts. I think the photo was taken in North Africa (look at the boys´clothes). The caption on the backside says "... with Arabs".

Maybe the tail was of a Ju 87 instead a Ju 88? If I look at pictures of the Ju 87, it could be, although I haven´t compared the panel with the actual panel on a Ju 87 carefully enough to be sure.

Regards,
Roger

[Roger Gaemperle]

PS: I am still pretty sure it was a Ju 88 panel. Looks at this relic for comparison:

[Nordpol54]

Roger,

yup - You're right. Even by ignoring the photographs different angles it's a perfect match.

Greets
Norbert

Attachment 6616