He.115 at Orbetello seaplane base (Italy)

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Luftwaffe personnel with He.115 TI+HG was based at Orbetello from march to 22 april 1941 and from 4 august 1941 (coming from Fredrichshafen) until one of the last months of that year. They made "trials about german weapons".

Does anyone know other detail about these missions (unit, number of the personnel involved, commander)? Were these trials related to aerial torpedoes?

Thanks

Gianandrea

[RT]

TI+H. is some special code for the planes used by Erpr. Stelle Travemünde, plane is Wn 1855, an A-0, prob. D-ADJL, at least from end 39 to end 42 " at work" no data concerning the "italianische Reise"

Remi

[RT]

A-05 !

[AndreasB]

Could it have been related to depth-charge testing? From autumn 41 the Regia Marina equipped some of its units with German depth charges.

All the best

Andreas

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Thank you for the answers.

I don't think that the trials were aimed to test weapons for the italian navy.

The source states several time that german personnel made "trials about german weapons" at Orbetello, receiving support by the locally based Regia Aeronautica personnel.

ciao

Gianandrea

[Seaplanes]

The most likely reason for the visit of this He 115 to Italy was to test the Italian built Whitehead aircraft torpedo that later was purchased in some quantities by the Luftwaffe as the F.5W torpedo.

[Larry deZeng]

In addition to the Torpedowaffenplatz d.Lw. at Gotenhafen-Hexengrund, there were also:

Torpedowaffenplatz d.Lw. Lucrino (Mobilisation Nr. 210 067), and
Torpedowaffenplatz d.Lw. Porto San Stefano (Mobilisation Nr. 210 068).

The two in Italy existed from 1941-44. It seems a little strange that they would carry out torpedo experimentation or trials at Orbetello when they already had two locations set up in Italy for this purpose.

My guess might be that the He 115 was at Orbetello for aerial mine-dropping tests? Perhaps Italian industry was producing aerial mines that the Germans were interested in and giving thought to purchasing provided the tests were successful? Wasn’t the He 115 used extensively for night mine-laying missions over estuaries and shipping channels? Trials on the He 115 C-3, which was developed specifically for mine-laying, were underway in summer 1941.

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Porto Santo Stefano is next to Orbetello, only a few km away, in the Promontorio of the Argentario.
There was a Depot of the Regia Aeronautica (and it's still used by the Italian AF now).

In my source no mention of connections between the trials at Orbetello and the Lw Torpedowaffenplatz at Porto S. Stefano: but the trial of italian torpedoes is probably the more logical answer.

Are you sure that Lw Torpedowaffenplatz at Porto Santo Stefano was established in 1941?

Porto Santo Stefano and Orbetello are both in the Grosseto area, where KG 26 trained and where KSG 102 was based in 1943.



Thank you

Gianandrea

[Larry deZeng]

Are you sure that Lw Torpedowaffenplatz at Porto Santo Stefano was established in 1941?

No. Its mobilization number was issued in 1942, but my experience is that a unit, establishment or other entity was usually in existence for some months before its Mob. Nr. was issued.

[Gianandrea Bussi]

Do you know when that unit was disbanded? It's not included in the german document listing the Luftwaffe ground units in Italy compiled around jan. 1944 held by the IWM.

Thanks

Gianandrea