Junkers Ju290A-7

[mjbollinger]

Paul,

At least ten Ju 290 A-7 aircraft were completed and delivered to FAGr(5): #186 (9V+FH), #87 (9V+LK), #188 (9V+FK), #189 (9V+KK), #190 (9V+MK), #191 (9V+AB), #192 (9V+HH), #193 (9V+FK), #195 (9V+LK) and #196 (9V+IH). Your photo could be this last one.

One other aircraft (#184) was the prototype and not delivered to FAGr(5). One A-7 (#194) was destroyed in an Allied air raid before it could be delivered. Aircraft # 185 is often listed as an A-7 variant but if such was deployed instead as a transport aircraft on special duties until lost over the Eastern Front. Aircraft #181 is also listed as an A-7 variant may have been delivered to FAGr(5). Aircraft #164 was converted to the A-7 configuration in July 1944 but never delivered to FAGr(5).

The A-7 variant of course was designed to carry and launch the Hs 293 glide bomb. (Hence my personal interest). It seems clear that they were used operationally in the same capacity as other Ju 290 maritime recce aircraft, to shadow convoys. I have never come across evidence that Ju 290 A-7 actually launched an Hs 293 operationally against an Allied target.

There are claims to the contrary, including a reference in Poolman (Allied Escort Carriers of WWII) that such an attack was launched on convoy ONS-67. Poolman relies on contemporary observers. Their account is incorrect, as Kössler and Ott clearly indicate. The aircraft involved was not an A-7, could not carry the Hs 293, and actually dropped the FuG 203 “Schwan-See" buoy, which fell vertically to the sea and was taken by some to be an Hs 293.

You photo is quite interesting. I hope to publish a book on German glide bombs (and Allied countermeasures) this year. Might you be willing to allow the photo to be published? Do you have information on its original source?

Marty