Ju 88 WNR 853 +(H)A

[Kari Lumppio]

Salut!

Thank you Gentlemen.

This seems to be a hard nut to crack without exact date.

The origin of my question is a photo series which shows the Ju 88 with bullet holes. Photos are official Finnish military photos, but there are no hint of the time and location. For my eyes the place looks like Helsinki-Malmi and photo record numbers put them in early July 1941. Caption says that the plane arrived from Königsberg and was damaged by enemy. There is no photo of the whole plane. Pilot was "a german Leutenant".

If I remember correctly the holes looked like caused by small calibre bullets and there was hits on fin, wing and propellers. My guess is that the propeller(s?) had to be changed. Would that necessitate a test flight? There are recorded "local flights" by Ju 88 in July 8th (23 minutes) and two "local flights" in July 11th (no flight time). Test flight would be one good reason for Ju 88 local flights around Helsinki. FinnAF did not have any Ju 88 at that time.

Records of Soviet aviation units might give possible matches but otherwise it seems we are out of luck with this one.


Thanks again,
Kari