Ghostbombers updates

[SES]

So my premonition was right :-)
bregds
SES

[Nick Beale]

Just uploaded (a week ahead of the site's 14th anniversary):

• Ghost Bombers … NSG 9: OB SW's communiqué the morning after NSG 9's first operations over the Anzio beach head.
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: orders of 30 August 1943 for a reprisal raid on Oxford; a situation report on the raids on Corsica on 12/3 May 1944; and two Fw 190 G-3 of III./KG 51 which crashed on 11 October 1944.
• Kittyhawk vs. Fw 190: A prisoner of war's assessment of the damage inflicted by Kittyhawks on SG 4's base at Rieti during April 1944.
• Markings and camouflage: a rebuke of September 1942 over non-regulation markings on ambulance aircraft.
• Kommando Koch: more about WIM-Bodenstellen; film stills showing a COL radar on Malta and an RAF attack on an Axis convoy; addition of Werk Nummern for three Ju 52; a personal account of service with the Führungskette X. Fliegerkorps; two new quotes from a pilot of 6./KG 100; a warning to No. 201 Group about the possibility of jamming; and two planned Western Mediterranean search radar sorties in November 1942.
• Kommando Kunkel: strength figures for 3 December 1944.
• Geschwader Bongart: the 79th Fighter Group's impressions of its attack on Valence; additional illustrations of wrecked Re. 2002 aircraft at Valence and revisions to the captions.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: correction of a pilot's name (thanks to Xerumbe).
• I./JG 4 returns home: addition of victories claimed on 12, 28 and 29 September 1944, and two losses on the 28th.
• Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen: correction to Kurt Keilig's last victory (thanks to Rod McKenzie).
• Kommando Olga: a Dutch court's verdict on the captured agent, Willem Copier (thanks to René Voulon).
• Heinz Hauck and 6.(F)/123: more about the unit's predecessor, 3./KG 66 (thanks to a lead from Bruce Dennis); a proposed 6.(F)/123 operation in July 1944; and something more about where that Staffel ended up.
• The Ar 234 in Norway and Denmark: an additional sortie flown on 4 April 1945.
• Invasion Watch: addition of a reconnaissance of Chatham on 15 February 1944.
• Numerous corrections throughout.

No promises about what comes next (or when) but I am working, amongst other things, on incorporating some additional missions by Sonderstaffel Kaatsch and adding some ground war context for the sorties they flew.

[Nick Beale]

Newly uploaded, taking the site to 656 pages:

• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: three new pages about the raid on Paris on 26/27 August 1944; additions about the abortive attack on Bristol on 14/15 May 1944; more about the Kettenhund jamming transmitter.
• Kommando Koch: extensive new material on the unit's operations; more about the loss of an He 111 of Führungskette Fl.Kps. X; anti-jamming operations by the RAF's Nos. 49 and 86 Squadrons; a new page on British development from 1941 of systems to home on jamming aircraft; characteristics of the German Kobold jamming set.
• Kommando Rastedter: a year-end assessment for 1943; more about development of the Roderich jammer and various smaller additions; a new page about radar-monitoring operations over the North Sea in Summer 1944.
• Heinz Hauck and 6.(F)/123: an additional paragraph about suspected radars on Mediterranean fishing boats.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: numerous additions concerning the unit's operations during September 1944.
• Geschwader Bongart: some information about the French Resistance's own airpower; an Re. 2002 abandoned at Reims.
• II./SG 10 in Yugoslavia: an addition about Ogefr. Franz Antes.

[Nick Beale]

Updates for 31 March 2019 are:

• Geschwader Bongart: additional material regarding Glières; a "special operation" by 9./SG 4 from Valence on 5 June 1944; the Battle of Guéret (thanks to the continuing efforts of Philippe Canonne); the later career of Bongart's Obltn. Higgelke, Kapitän of the 13. Staffel; a Kriegsmarine reference to Operation CADILLAC; sorties against Murat on 15 August.
• I./JG 2 in Italy: extracts from Ob. SW daily situation reports.
• Kommando Koch: various additions, mainly about No. 89 Squadron operations from Malta.
• Kommando Rastedter: more about Thetis decoys (January 1944) Naxos (February) and the vulnerability of Allied systems (March).
• Invasion Watch: several additions from Kriegsmarine sources including reconnaissance results from the early months of 1944.
• Staffel Kaatsch: various small additions including reconnaissance of the Franco-Italian border by Luftflotte 2 in August 1944.
• JGr. 200: a table of pilots' victory clams.
• III./SG 4 and the Battle for Normandy: expanded to include (amongst other things) more about live-fire exercises early in 1944 and operations in response to the Invasion.
• Kampfgruppe 100, the first weeks in France: various additiona including a German assessment of the first attack on Castle Bromwich.
• KGr. 100 and the Coventry Blitz: German reports on damage casued by Operation Medium; figures for bomb tonnages dropped on Coventry and Birmingham; some duplicated material removed.
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: a German communiqué about a raid on Hull; the attack on Paris, 26 August 1944, additions about AA and civil defences.

[ouidjat]

Thanks very much Nick for your constant update ! Great Man.


Regards,
Franck.

[Siko54]

Super website....amazing how much is there and really appreciate your efforts to bring these long lost stories back to life.....

[Nick Beale]

Updates and additions for 1 July are:

• Kommando Koch: extensive additions including No. 89 Squadron's "special Beaufighters" and centimetric radar; a little more about Führungskette X. Fliegerkorps; the Northolt Defiant Flight and the RAF "Moonshine" jamming sorties; German airborne jamming during The Channel Dash; RAF homing-on-jamming trials; and an early offer to the RAF of a VHF jammer.
• Geschwader Bongart: additions throughout, including new pages on Kdo. Schäfer (3./KG 200).
• Operation Paula: addition about the involvement of signals relay aircraft.
• Ghost Bombers … NSG 9: a letter from September 1944 about Canadian troops' experience of attacks by NSG 9.
• Ultra and Adlertag: minor additions.
• Invasion Watch: addition of two reports by the Japanese Military Attaché on the results of sorties.
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: more about the 1944 raids on Bristol and the August 1944 attack on Paris.

Not to mention the inevitable corrections to typos and layouts and evening out some page lengths.

[canonne]

Nick, You add another very interesting information. These fields of History are exciting ! Philippe

[Nick Beale]

I've just uploaded a new set of updates (should have been yesterday but the server refused to connect):

• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: an expanded account of the raid on Bari (2 December 1943)
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: a report of aircrew opinions about the He 177 (19 February 1944)
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: an extensive account of the operation against convoy UGS-40, "ELEMENT" (9–11 May 1944)
• Operation Paula (3 June 1940): numerous additions.
• Adlertag (13 August 1940): additional details from OKW conferences.
• He 111 torpedo operations: extracts added from Kriegsmarine War Diaries.
• KGr. 100, the first weeks in France: two small additions (3 and 17 August 1940)
• Camouflage and markings: an instruction given on 29 August 1940.
• 1940 loss reports: more about the RAF's attack on Eindhoven (9–10 September 1940)
• Kommando Koch: an addition to the Operation Cerberus page from a Kriegsmarien chronology.
• Geschwader Bongart: an addition about Operation Maibaum.
• Operation Zeisig: more about two captured airmen.
• NSG 9: Bernd Schewen and SG 151 aircraft, corrections thanks to Nigel Moore.

[Nick Beale]

To mark 15 years of www.ghostbombers.com, I've posted the following updates today:

• Kommando Koch: additions throughout
• Kommando Rastedter: several additions, including more about Aphrodite, Thetis and Unternehmen Cerberus
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: one addition about reconnaissance from Italy in support of 157. Reseerve Division
• Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen: one addition from a Kriegsmarine report
• SG 4 and the Battle for Normandy: a British account of the bombing of Horsa Bridge on 8 June 1944
• Invasion Watch, an addition for 5 May 1944
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4: additions regarding the 26/27 August 1944 raid on Paris, including a bomb-damage photograph courtesy of Philippe Cannone.
• Geschwader Bongart: SOE Jedburgh Team reports on actions at Le Cheylard and Privas