FD5562/45 - Beitrag zur Beschaffungsmeldung Dec 44

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Marcel Hogenhuis

Your assumption is (again) right but now I have been through the RL 2/III-611 up/including RL 2/III-620 (daily aircraft allocations to the Luftflotten), it is a hell of a job to compare these numbers with Nigels magnificent analysis about production and deliveries.

We keep going ! Best regards, Marcel

Tell me about it! I've being trying to understand where all the Fw 190 F-8s equipped with TSA 2 bombing systems went — they aren't identified as such in strength returns and I know of only one that was captured. The problem for me is how big were the gaps between 'produced', 'allocated' and 'received'?

Did allocation come before or after an aircraft was completed? Were all completed machines allocated right away? Did units necessarily get what had been allocated to them? (Unlikely, given the state of transport and communications at the end of the war).

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Nick,

Good questions ! Keep also in mind that every aircraft that left the production line had to make a 'Werkflug' before the BAL accepted that plane. Only then (but by who?) it was decided where the aircraft went to. As the allocation files are found in the RL 2-III files, those decisions must have been made at the Gen.Quartermaster in the Generalstab der Luftwaffe.

Though it seems quite unlogical to produce modern aircraft (as the He219A-7 with DB603E and He219D-1 with Jumo213 were) to send these straight to the OKL Reserve, when you pass car production sites nowadays, you see the same: lots of brand new cars waiting for car sellers...

I am wondering how many He162's, Ta152's, Do335, Ar234 and Bf109K-4's were made of OKL Reserve aircraft... Perhaps we should look in the files of the Ministry of Armament, rather than Luftwaffe files.

Warm greetings, Marcel

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Hello,

it would probably be appropriate to ask here about the tables from NARA T177 roll 42 mentioned above.
These are tables compiled by the Chef Nachschubwesen and entitled "Beitrag zur Beschaffungsmeldung"; for example, the table for June 1944.

I’m interested in the meanings of some of the columns in this table.

Flugzeugmuster; Firma - that’s all clear

übern.i.Juni = übernommen im Juni = Aircraft taken delivery of in June? From Industrie to Lw.Gen.Qu?

gesamt; Truppe - that’s all clear

Schleuse - What does that mean in this context?

Umbau, Erpr.-Stelle - that’s all clear

zerstört; beschädigt - during which period? Between Industrie and Gen.Qu?

Best regards,
Andrey

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Andrey Kuznetsov

Schleuse - What does that mean in this context?

Best regards,
Andrey

As I understand it, it was a depot from which aircraft were issued to units. In the Gen.Qu. 6. Abt. losses there is at least one from Flugzeugschleuse Lfl. 6 for example.

The word literally means a sluice or a lock, so I think the analogy is for a place where something is held back to await a controlled release.

[Andrey Kuznetsov]

Thank you, Nick! That’s pretty much what I thought, but I decided to ask just in case.
Is my assumption about the columns with losses streams correct?

Best regards,
Andrey

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello all,

As I understood from Bf110's which were delivered to the I./NJG 1 in the early years, a 'Schleuse' also prepared the aircraft for their tasks: Bf110's for the I./NJG 1 went via 'Schleuse' Werl to get exhaust dampers and black camouflage for instance, before they were delivered in Venlo.

As my amount of info about this is quite small, my addition should be treated with some care.

Marcel

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Marcel Hogenhuis

Hello all,

As I understood from Bf110's which were delivered to the I./NJG 1 in the early years, a 'Schleuse' also prepared the aircraft for their tasks: Bf110's for the I./NJG 1 went via 'Schleuse' Werl to get exhaust dampers and black camouflage for instance, before they were delivered in Venlo.

As my amount of info about this is quite small, my addition should be treated with some care.

Marcel

Last night I was browsing the US National Archives site, Roll 59 of their Luftwaffe High Command material, and I came across instructions that Schleusen were only to carry out modifications to aircraft according to an approved list of changes. Most of the examples given were to meet the requirements of individual Luftflotten and included changes to crew seating, armament and additional fuel tanks.

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Nick,

Thank you for this documented valuable addition which precises what I thought to know. It always good to have sources as a fundament under our assumptions .

Best regards, Marcel