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Luftwaffe and Axis Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the German Luftwaffe and the Air Forces of its Allies. |
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#11
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
Larry
Thanks for your response. I've read Eckert's book. It was interesting on a general level but I didn't pick up any specific pointers. I am tending towards the opinion that there is little original Luftwaffe material which remains in the USA. Steve |
#12
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
Agreed, Steve. I've been on the trail for the scent of any document boxes squirreled away at NARA, DOD, CIA, Library of Congress, etc., for 35 years and I've concluded that they have all been returned to Germany by now or are buried so deep no one knows anything about them anymore.
L. |
#13
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
There are German historical groups that may have some information. I think the US Navy is a good possible candidate. The word Navy tends to turn the mind away from anything aviation related. However, I would point out that the Office of Naval Intelligence was collecting a good deal of material during the war, which included activities on land. I will add them to my current list of suspects.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, various documents related to the German and Soviet war effort came out of hiding. Around 1995, closely held information about Soviet war production was released. Some war crimes people requested documents from the former OSS. The CIA did everything it could to not release them. Nearly 90,000 pages were reluctantly declassified. Back to the subject. A book is coming out about the Blohm & Voss BV 155. Apparently, an example was sitting in the US in "deep storage" and somehow the author was able to get a few photos. Deep storage? For what? So the public, or perhaps the Russians, could not get a peek? Another example of how things can get put away - as if they never existed. Ed |
#14
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
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Nope, negative on that one sir, checked dosens of "most interesting" (accordin to catalogue) ... paper "US Navy, Germany, 1945" files at NARA(2) about two years ago. Intel transcripes on various things, aerdynamic, no losses or anything useful on types or history. edNorth |
#15
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
Ed
Thanks for your posting. I completely agree. The US Navy did get into a lot of interesting things but these were all of a technical nature. Steve |
#16
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
@edwest - are you suggesting that an unknown physical example of the BV 155 aircraft was in "deep" storage in the US - in addition to the well known and easily accesible example held by NASM? I've seen the NASM example on several occassions myself, even opened up hatches and peeked inside the cockpit so that one has not been deep storage for the last three decades.
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#17
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
NASM Udvar-Hazy opened in Dec. 2003. Late last year they added a new storage area behind the museum and artifacts are being brought over from Garber for better long term storage conditions.
I had the opportunity as a volunteer at Hazy to help work on various artifacts. The BV155 turbocharger had been removed from the aircraft long ago and recently it was brought over to the new storage. It is quite the large object. As part of this process its condition was assessed and required some treatment for rust on steel/iron parts, and corrosion on aluminum and magnesium parts. Tony |
#18
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
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I'm still hoping against hope that Bf 110 D, S9+CK, of 2./Erprobungsgruppe 210 will surface somewhere in the USA. Last seen at Vultee in 1941!
__________________
Wir greifen schon an! Splinter Live at The Cavern, November 2006: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxOCksQUKbI Danke schön, Dank schön ich bin ganz comfortable! |
#19
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
I can back up my statements. Perhaps the author of the BV 155 book was a bit overzerealous when he posted the following on another forum:
"I thought this deserved its own thread. It's composed entirely of new content that hasn't appeared in any of my bookazines. Incidentally, two new photographs of the only surviving BV 155 airframe at NASM are included, specially taken for this book. Apparently the airframe is in deep storage and very difficult to access ordinarily." Regarding other airframes, I do not know. As far as surviving German records, one approach I've taken involves a process of elimination. In other words, of all the files/documents that survived or were later found, what is missing? Also, I have seen references to documents held in "private collections." I will not bore anyone with lengthy examples, but of all the documents that were dutifully destroyed, a great number were not. Documents from the Foreign Office, the SS and other documents. And I have reason to believe that while paper documents were destroyed by the ton, that copies were put on microfilm for easy transport out of the country at the end of the war, perhaps multiple copies. Back to the US Navy, an item: https://www.history.navy.mil/researc...-normandy.html |
#20
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Re: Is there any evidence the 1944 losses were ever captured?
As the author of this thread, can I please request as I did in my initial post that content concentrate on the very specific query raised without veering off at a tangent.
We are almost two full pages in and it hasn't yet been able to add a single clear piece of documentary evidence to confirm or disprove the admittedly slender points I've put forward. Ia there anyone reading in who is able to add something concrete on this particular issue as I'd hate to see this thread go round and round? |
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