Axis airplanes captured by Allied troops on Klagenfurt airfield, Austria, 1945

[Steve Coates]

Sadly no. FIU Report No. 39 refers to 3 Hs 126s but gives no markings details. It does comment that the Hs 126s were probably used against the 'Jugo-Slavs'. It further mentions that: One of the Henschel 126 has an attachment under the fuselage filled with four ETC 50-VIIId bombslips capable of carrying in all 4 - 100 lb. bombs.

I've got a decent quality photo of + EL but no Verbandskennzeichen can be made out.

[ChristianK]

Thank you both for the quick reply. And of course, Staffel not Gruppe. You are right, Nick.
And in regard to the "L": I figured this might have been one the cases which occured in the last days of war, when older tactical markings were carried on with their planes to new units without a change. But all these Hs 126 are marked pretty consistently and not like a rag-tag bunch assembled from various sources. So I guess they could very well have belonged to a "real" 3. Staffel of another unit.

But to be honest, the number of possible contenders is low. The only other He 126 user besides NSGr. 7 in southeastern Europe at this time was NAGr.12, and there also just its 2. Staffel...

Guess this remains a mystery for now.

[stefaan]

Hi Guys.
Thx for the help.
It looks like 40 SAAF flew at least one of the Ju 52s on the base.
The Ju 52s flown by the SAAF is a real problem.
I have photos of a number of them but CQ HH I still need a photo as it was found in the desert.
It is recorded that it was found in the desert and came to the Union, at least after the War. It is noted as named Sidi Haneish, but I don't have a photo of it.
That a/c may have been found at Sidi Haneish as it looks like the SAAF named them according to where they were found.
I also have two a/c that I can see were restored but not painted into SAAF colours yet.
C3+KH
1Z+AK W.Nr. 7605.
Don't know if anybody has any gen on them.
If so if you can find out where they were found one may be able to link them to a SAAF serial.
Stefaan

[Merlin]

The Nahaufklärungsstaffel Kroatien flew since May 1944 with the unit code 9H+xL.

[ChristianK]

Ok, thanks Gerhard for this info, very appreciated! This sounds like a match. May I ask which is your source (or sources) for this?

[cproyston]

I also have the Klagenfurt Hs126s noted as Nahaufklärungsstaffel Kroatien. I believe a description of the most reproduced photo in the Luftwaffe Verband first made the assertion of the 9H unit code being applied, but I’ve never seen one.

BTW at least another 4 identically marked (at least in terms of Luftflotte 4 ID markings) were photographed at Bad Aibling (and seen/found on Marc’s excellent Flickr page):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/280920...7631640861826/

Cheers,
Chris

[edwest2]

I hope the following is helpful:

https://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/bkroatien.html
https://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/kroatien.html

An old thread that adds detail. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/archiv...p?t-17097.html

[ChristianK]

Thank you both!

Chris, this photo was actually taken at Klagenfurt-Annabichl and shows the five identically marked Hs 126 I mentioned before (three in the center of the picture, two in the background).

A sixth, marked (white?) "30" and with a blackened fuselage can be seen in the left foreground. Perhaps this one had belonged to a different unit, or was an aircraft actually used for night-attack purposes. Maybe this is the one mentioned in the FIU Report No. 39, equipped with bombslips...

[edwest2]

Additional information:

https://www.asisbiz.com/Luftwaffe/nbalkan.html

[Steve Coates]

Just to clear things, it's been established in correspondence with Stefaan that CQ+HH was indeed found at Klagenfurt rather than in the Western Desert. Bizarrely though the Stkz was misquoted in the FIU Report.