Luftwaffe aircraft with same Wnr.?

[Revi16]

While doing some research for a recent post I ran across two different aircraft with the same Wnr., first time I've come across this.

Is this an error or common place? Are there other examples of duplicate Wnr's?

08/09.07.41: Target Filton Airfield: KGr 100.
He 111H-3, Wnr.5725, of KGr 100
Oblt. Ferdinand Cartes (Bm) killed
Uffz. Alosius Menzel (Bs) POW died later
Damaged 60% following night-fighter attack over the Bristol Channel.


Bf 109F-1 WNr.5725 06.07.41 I./JG3 N.N., Spritmangel - Notlandung, Luzk-Nord - 75%

Regards,
Mike

[harrison987]

Hi Mike!

There is also a Ju88 with the W.Nr. 5725.

Werk numbers were not specific to only one aircraft type. The models themselves were specific, meaning there will be no other Me109 with 5725...no other Ju88 with 5725, no other He111 with 5725, etc.

It would be like buying a Mercedes with a serial number of 5725...and finding a Lamborghini with the same serial....if that makes sense.

...not that I have ever seen a Lamborghini serial...ha!





Mike

[Graham Boak]

Later in the war the Luftwaffe did introduce a WNr system that operated more like the RAF's serial numbers. This had six figures and did not repeat for different types.

[Micke D]

Both the Fw 190D-9 and Me 262's have numbers in the 500xxx range.

[Graham Boak]

The same numbers? Or in different blocks?

[Tomislav Haramincic]

The six figure WNrs were also not unique. Here just an example:

WNr.110 051 Bf 110G-4 BE+QK
WNr.110 051 Fi 156C-3 DJ+UK
WNr.110 051 He 111H-11 GL+EA

best regards,
Tomislav

[ArtieBob]

In some of the CIOS field reports are tables of RLM W.Nr., STZ and manufacturer's W.Nr., based on captured documents and interrogations at the end of the war. This would seem to indicate that although in some cases, manufactuers issued their own W.Nr. (and in some cases I have been able to track these versus the 6 digit W.Nr.), the RLM did indeed control both the assignment of the six digit W.Nr. and SKZ. In the case "skipped" W.Nr., the key to the actual airframe sequence is the SKZ which in most of the cases is continuous across the gaps (hypothetical example-620455 (XC+FJ), 620486 (XC+FK), 620507 (XC+FL), 620508 (XC+FM)....).

Best Regards,

Artie Bob

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by ArtieBob

This would seem to indicate that although in some cases, manufactuers issued their own W.Nr. (and in some cases I have been able to track these versus the 6 digit W.Nr.), the RLM did indeed control both the assignment of the six digit W.Nr. and SKZ.

This is a very interesting piece of news. Can you give us an example?
Where was the manufacturer's W.Nr. used? Was this number applied on the airframe?

As for the StKZ., during my in-depth research on the Hs 129 it turned out that these sequences did not cover the entire alphabet, namely they weren't always from A to Z. Often they had a gap at the end, or sometimes at the beginning of the alphabet.

Thanks,