Nachtaufklärungsstaffel Operations

[ju55dk]

Einsatzbereitschaft 6. april 1945:

2/(F) Nacht: Do 217 M, 9-5, Ju 188 D-2, 3-1 and Ju 88 A-4, 3-2.
4/(F) Nacht: Do 217 M, 8-2 and Ju 188 D, 1-0.

Junker

[ju55dk]

Operation of 2/(F) Nacht night 6-7 april 1945.
3 Do 217
12 SD 70 on motor vehicles south of Deutsch-Krone, shooting at a vehicle on road Naugard-Stargard. It was claimed destroyed. 8 SD 70 on vehicles at railway station Landsberg. Damage not observed. Dropping 122000 leaflets.

Junker

[Larry deZeng]

Originally Posted by Chris Goss

Has any account of the operations of these 4 staffel been published? I have the potted histories (which are thin) but from what I can see, 51 aircrew were awarded the DKiG and one, Hptm Franz Kustaz, the RK which is quite impressive. Matti has been helpful with the losses (they flew Do 17, Do 217 and He 111 but in very small numbers) but am I missing something?

Chris -

Some 30 years ago, I was in frequent touch with Werner Horst, a retired Oberst from the Luftwaffe and Bundesluftwaffe. He was the president of the Association of Aufklärungsflieger Veterans. The association had a comprehensive archive covering all of the wartime Aufklärungs units, and I know for a fact that this included all 4 of the Nachtaufklärungsstaffeln. The members were encouraged to write these and they are based on personal papers, Flugbücher and memories. Werner Horst, who lived in Bonn at the time, passed away years ago, but if you could find out what happened to the Association's archive, which at the time was in his possession, it would be a rich lode for the researcher.

L.

[ju55dk]

They did operate untill the very end. LFK Nordost.
BAMA
Junker

[Chris Goss]

Junker, Larry
Thanks for this-fascinating. My interest understandably is Do 217. Would not know where to track down this archive-maybe someone else has a lead?

[Del Davis]

Chris
Harald Rabeder is a member of this board and maybe he could respond. He runs a website called Luftwaffe Reconnaissance Association and has published 2 books on (F)123. He may be able to assist. Also I had a Nachtaufklärungsstaffel photo album that I sold several years ago but I still have scans of all the photos including several Do-217s, if you are interested. I have been hoping that someone would write a history of this unit for a long time.

[Chris Goss]

Del-thanks for this. I am already making contact with Harald and would be most interested in seeing scans of said photos

[Siko54]

Hi Chris/chaps, I don't know if this is any help but I have a Flugbuch/Leistungsbuch set to Flieger Gunther Kauschke, who flew (this may not be 100% correct as I have 2 differing sources) with the following units as Ju88/188 recon pilot: 4.(F)/AufklGr14, ErgSt (F) Nacht, ErgGr (F) Rahmel, 4. (F) 14, 2.(F) Nacht and FAGr.2.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Si-just one Do 217 trip and even that was not an operational one!

[Siko54]

Yes I know! Quite an interesting career though and lots of long-range night recon missions in his Ju188 over the Eastern front, last mission was 1 May 1945. I'm trying to fathom out his career and it's horrifically confusing - appears that he gets sent back for further training at one stage but guess we'll never know.