In General, What is Everyone Doing?

[SES]

Originally Posted by Larry deZeng

Then there are the 1%ers, the fringe element, those of us who swim against the tide, the outcasts, the non-Europeans. We are the tiny, tiny fraction of the whole who are not interested in the aircraft, their registration numbers (Werknummern) or their colors and markings. We might have been at one time back in the days of Royal Air Force Flying Review in the 50's and 60's, but after being awed by the pretty color profiles and the developmental history of the aircraft for a few years we moved on.

We, the outsiders, the outcasts, are interested in the organization and history of the Luftwaffe - not just the flying branches, but also the Flakwaffe, Luftnachrichtentruppe, Nachschubdienste and other components that comprised 95% of the Luftwaffe's manpower and 85% of its assets. We are also interested in the operations, the units, the officers, the airfields, the command and control, the strategic thinking and planning, and the air war over Europe in general.

So there are a few of us who don't fit the mold and share the mainline interests here, Bronc, but only a few.

Larry

bregds
SES

[Marc-André Haldimann]

An excellent question indeed.... Franck said it all, basically, and everybody will have his personal impetus. Here some elements for my personal drive...

It all started in my childhood, back in the roaring 60's, hiking with my father in the Swiss Alps to the spot he was in the morning of 13 July 1943, contemplating the twisted remains of Lancaster ED 531 PO-T, 467 RAAF Sqn, whilst a Swiss Army party removed the remains of the crew and started to clear up the crash site. He took pictures at that time, and as we were there in 1968, we still found odd bits and pieces from ED 531, including the flap indicator...
http://www.467463raafsquadrons.com/T...ss_account.htm

This moment was a fundamental one. My interest was continually fostered by the fact my dad was a meteorologist at the Swissair and this meant I've spent quite a lot of time with the flight crews, also in the cockpits of the Convair 440's and the Caravelles the company operated then. Some of them were former RAF "Heavies" pilots, and this brought near all their WWII histories , as translated and told by my dad. This kind of environment kept me going into a steady increase of literature and model building... With the passing of time, I "narrowed" down on the Luftwaffe, probably because having lost the war, it was less well documented especially so for the 1944 - 1945 period.

I became specially interested with the planes which flew in this last year of war, as documentation about this period was rare and wildly faulty in the 60's; in the early 70's the first books conveying corrected informations began to show up and, since then, their flow brings an unending wealth of new and surprising information.

Living in Switzerland and being not close to any important archive, I have to rely entirely on secondary sources. The value of forums like this one or LEMB, in English, or LBB in German, is thus immense for persons in the same position: here, noted aviation historians or archive buffs readily answer a wide variety of questions, most of them on the operational level, with primary sources at hand. So many unanswered demands were put here at rest...

My wished for focus is currently the Bf 109 late variants: so many built in around 18 months (estimates are around 20'000 planes) and so few documented. Having grown into an archaeologist, and knowing what importance visual documentation has, I try to move ahead in my aim to establish an open and evolutive photo database, broken down by manufacturers, of those elusive late war Messerschmitt (currently only 1679 pics strong, and probably will never be over 3'000 strong). Much help come from people visiting this forum, and the project takes shape.

As to the deeper background for my interest, it took me a full thirty years to finally understand why such an appeal for archaeology and the late war Luftwaffe: it was actually the strongest possible reaction against the inability of my mother to EVER talk to her only son about the horrors she had to endure as a teenager during the siege of Budapest in late 1944 and early 1945... Like many survivors, she just closed this part of her life for ever, not being able to cope with telling those harrowing times. Faced with this silence, my strive to bring again the Past nearer is such an evidence, isn't?

Sincerely
Marc

[edwest]

Like others here, the war was all I heard about growing up. Very little from my parents who spent the war in Germany in forced labor camps. In a nutshell, they wanted to be in a country where no one was shooting at them and no bombs were falling nearby. My father, who was a vet, prior to capture, and my mother, only wanted to raise a family, and we had a fine time growing up even though the Russians and Americans deployed ICBMs in 1959, quickly followed by warnings that nuclear destruction would rain down on the US at any time.

My interest began with seeing a book about German aircraft back in the 1960s, and I was stunned when I saw photos of the Me-262 and Me-163. The V-1 and V-2 were also quite impressive. Then I learned that German aircraft were painted in a variety of schemes and color combinations and carried unintelligible markings and emblems.

As the years passed, my primary focus became the technology the Germans developed during the years 1933-1945, and the exploitation of said technology by the Americans, British and Russians. After the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, more documents came to light. And then the internet. Thanks to this site, LWAG and the LEMB, I was made aware of many, many books and publications that I would have missed otherwise. For me, posting eBay photos helps everyone, along with flight log books and some documents. I regularly look for new and upcoming books as well.

So, for me, it is a treasure hunt. My primary interest is late-war Luftwaffe technology, and other German wartime technology. I'm finding more and more credible information and reports, and other information that ended up being published but little discussed until the past decade or so. I must admit, I'm the one looking for the fringe material - the sort of thing that people find uninteresting or too incredible or just unbelievable. And I'll just end there.


Perhaps a poll would be useful.

I am doing:

1) Research about about a particular squadron.
2) Research about a particular campaign or operation.
3) Research about a particular time period (like Larry Hickey).
4) Research about a particular bomber group.
5) Research that focuses on one or more pilots.
6) Research that focuses on the fate of a particular aircraft, or number of aircraft.
7) Aviation archaeology and searching crash sites.
8) Collecting new and interesting photos.
9) I specialize in emblems, including personal emblems and unusual markings and codes.
10) Camouflage. I'm on the hunt for that never before seen camouflage pattern and the identity of the aircraft/squadron that wore it.
11) I am working on a book or a few books. Please tell us more.
12) Other.


Feel free to add to or amend the above list.




Best,
Ed

[Andy F-P]

I am a very periferal figure on this discussion forum but the main protaganists have a wealth of knowledge and information on anything to do with the Luftwaffe. Most importantly, it is THE place to research the subject and to be honest, the dignity and manners of the people who frequent this board are the best around.
Regards,
Andy

[edwest]

Andy,


I could not have said it better. The dignity and politeness of the people here truly warms my heart. As I'm sure everyone knows, too many internet forums are filled with unruly and rude people. That is why, today, I only have a handful of forums I visit, and a few where I rarely post due to the aggressive nature of the moderators and other posters.


Regards,
Ed

[ahafan]

Originally Posted by edwest

Andy,


I could not have said it better. The dignity and politeness of the people here truly warms my heart. As I'm sure everyone knows, too many internet forums are filled with unruly and rude people. That is why, today, I only have a handful of forums I visit, and a few where I rarely post due to the aggressive nature of the moderators and other posters.


Regards,
Ed

Yes' Right!
we are friendly.an Ignorant to some.
Sharon

[Bas Maathuis]

Somewhere in the mid-nineties I got infected with a ‘historical aviation’ virus. I started to collect information off the gravestones of allied aircrew. The data was stored in a database that eventually became the Dutch Air War Study groups (or SGLO) database.
In 2005 I became a member with the SGLO and in spring 2008 I inherited all available SGLO data from my predecessor Frans Auwerda, and started to build the database and fill in all the gaps.
My personal goal was to have all SGLO data available online for everyone to see and search through.

“Wouldn’t be awesome if that youngster on the other side of the world could find out about his or her grandfathers last flight during WWII by using our online database….”

On the 29th March 2014 my dream came trough when the SGLO database went online thanks to my own son, aged 13 at that time, who build the environment to realize an online database.

I’m however fully aware that the database is not complete, and there still are many gaps to be filled with data that sometimes is already available. It will be a work in progress for the next couple of years. (If a day only had 48 hours instead of 24…)
I’m also aware that the database is not without faults and/or typos and it probably will never be.
Keep in mind that the SGLO database holds some 7400 a/c registrations, including over 22.000 names of aircrew.
Where humans are at work, mistakes will be made. I’m glad to be human!

Thanks to all who responded to my questions!

I have been undertaking research in my spare time as part of a project that a friend is putting together. This May marks the 75th anniversary of the Exeter Blitz (3/4 May) and it is hoped to have a DVD ready to mark the occasion.

Interviews have been conducted with surviving witnesses and archive photographs unearthed. My part in the project has been researching the graves of Luftwaffe crewmen buried in Higher Cemetery, Exeter. My first thread posted on this forum relates to one of the men buried there.

I have completed a model representing one of the aircraft shot down over the city (a Ju 88A-5) and hopefully will be able to add a Fw 190 (used in hit and run operations over the city) at a later date.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by I Stapley

I have been undertaking research in my spare time as part of a project that a friend is putting together. This May marks the 75th anniversary of the Exeter Blitz (3/4 May) and it is hoped to have a DVD ready to mark the occasion.

Interviews have been conducted with surviving witnesses and archive photographs unearthed. My part in the project has been researching the graves of Luftwaffe crewmen buried in Higher Cemetery, Exeter. My first thread posted on this forum relates to one of the men buried there.

My Dad who died last September was an ARP cycle messenger (at 14 years old) in the Exeter Blitz and I have his story written down: it includes the burning of the City Library and Castle Street. He also, via a junior Air Ministry job, got to know the pilots of 307 Polish Squadron and had joyrides in their Beaufighters. My Mum could give you her perspective (from an Anderson shelter in Ebrington Road) — she gives talks to primary school groups about her wartime childhood. Contact me on nick@ghostbombers.com if you're interested.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Ah Ferdinando,

So true what you say about the knight like idealized vision of air war and the German "dark side"...

Marc