LW-Gruppe Schädlingsbekämpfung (Pest Control Group)

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Leendert,

Have you found any pilot or aircrew member related to this particular unit?

Was it a pre-war Gruppe or did it maintain its functions during the war? And...60 machines is quite a number of equipment fo forest protection...Am not doubting the number itself, no way would I doubt such information, but why this huge number I mean?

I guess you found something we had never heard about....and surely it is a fantastic topic to further investigation...to discover the kind of missions they usually flew...how they were scheduled and planned...what kind of insect spraying was done and where... the results of those, etc...

A mervellous topic and keep us informed...I do bid that many of us had never heard anything about it...

A.

[ghostwriter]

hello leendert, adriano and all,

the keyword for a further research is: "Flieger-Forstschutzstaffel" or only "Forstschutzstaffel" ...

so you can find some more informations and pictures on this interesting topic!?

in this link for example, the fifth picture from above:
Do 23 G, D-APYN, of a forestry protection squadron
http://www.luftarchiv.de/index.htm?/...rnier/do23.htm


best regards
marc

[ghostwriter]

an addition ... found and translated:

Test Command 40:

The Air Force Forestry Protection Association was formed on March 5, 1940 as an independent association from the "Pest Control Group" of the Berlin Air Command, which had existed since 1936. It was mainly used for forest pest control and from October 1941 also took over the fight against malaria in the occupied territories. Numerous spraying and pollination flights were carried out for this purpose. Another focus of his activities was the sowing of agricultural and forestry seeds and the spreading of artificial fertiliser. After it was placed under the command of the E-Stellen on 1 January 1944, the Air Force Forestry Protection Association was renamed E-Kommando 40. By order of September 3, 1944, the command stationed in Göttingen was dissolved and the remaining command was transferred to Coburg in November 1944, where it was used to set up E-Kommando 41.

source: https://www.archivesportaleurope.net...e-a39beea3b0e4 (german)