Ghostbombers updates

[Nick Beale]

New material uploaded this morning to my site:

• Background and sources for my c. 25,000-word history Sonderstaffel Einhorn and III./KG 200: from Self-sacrifice to Surrender in Axis Wings Volume 1 (just published by Chandos Publications).
• The destruction of 14 Focke-Wulf Ta 152's at Cottbus-Neuhausen on 16 January 1945 plus a short piece about the Gefechtsverband Kommando der Erprobungsstellen.
• Geschwader Bongart: a detailed report of operations round Limoges on 16 June 1944 (with thanks to Georg Schlaug)
• Kommando Koch: specifications of the Karl I and II jamming transmitters.
• Listening and Jamming: specifications of the Kettenhund, Nervtöter and Starnberg jamming transmitters.
• 1.(F)100: some addtions about flights and movements in late April/early May 1945 and to the order of battle at Appendix 3.
• Nachtjagdstaffel Norwegen:figures for monthly allocations of night fighters.
• SG 4 in Italy: note about the fate of Horst Wegener of 7./JG 53.

[Nick Beale]

After a long gap, I've updated my site. It's now up to 820 pages in all:

• New article: Nachtschlachtgruppe 8 on the Oder Front, 1945.
• The Luftwaffe and St.-Exupéry: several additions including new evidence from the Bletchley Park Archive about German air activity on 31 July 1944 and a summary of Guy Julien's counter-arguments to my interpretation of the day's events.
• Markings and Camouflage: a report about Hakenkreuze being mistaken for white rings and a Göring order about an "imminent large-scale operation of the fighter arm" in November 1944.
• I./JG 2 in Italy: addtions regarding 10-day strength returns, loss and damage, events in the calendar of operations.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: strength figures for 1, 10, 20 and 30 September and 10 October 1944.
• Kommando Kunkel: some new strength figures for February, March and April 1944.
• NSG 9: additional order of battle data for February–April 1944
• Geschwader Bongart: information about the Luftwaffe's stocks of the Re. 2002, a new entry for 4 June and a correction regarding operations on 30 and 31 July 1944.
• Jagdgruppe 200: small biographical addition about Ltn. Kurt Bell.
• Air Raid Damage: a note on the cover designation Airfield 1463 and more about Erprobungskommando 152's strength.
• Sonderstaffel Einhorn: additional sources.

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Wow Nick,
What a nice update that is ! I read the ongoing research about Saint-Exupery and your amount of arguments against the 'German fighter claim' is very convincing to my opinion. Keep up the good work!

Best wishes, Marcel

[Martin388]

Thanks a lot for the indebth research on fate Ta152s at Cottbus!

[Nick Beale]

Today, believe it or not, it's 20 years since ghostbombers.com went live and the latest additions, taking the site to 829 pages, are:

• Complete works: addition of two pieces I contributed to Axis Wings Volume 2 (Chandos Publications, 2024)
• III./EJG 2: Gone but not disbanded, April 1945, a 4,000-word spin-off from research I did in support my piece 'Panthers Taking Pictures' which appears in in Axis Wings Volume 2.
• 1./NAGr. 6: information about the Staffel's relocation to Hohn, referred to in Panthers Taking Pictures.
• Sonderstaffel Einhorn: several additional bits of information following on from my Axis Wings articles.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: additions regarding the events of 24 and 25 August, 3 and 5 September and 1 Oct.ober 1944.
• Nachtschlachtgruppe 8: additions about operations during February, March and April 1945.
• Kommando Olga and Agent Cornelius: Ob. West's guidelines of 24 November 1944 for the unit's future operations.
• Unternehmen Zeisig: 23 January 1945: an assessment by the Luftwaffe Operations Staff of LG 1's performance in this operation.
• LLG 1 and Kommando Schäfer: added item from the diary of Armeegruppe G.
• The Ar 234 in Norway and Denmark: damage inflicted when Kaltenkirchen was bombed on 7 April 1945; revised paragraph about the disbandment of 1.(F)/5.
• Gefechtsverband Kommando der Erprobungsstellen: Werk Nummern of six Ar 234s proposed for service with the Gefechtsverband.
• Geschwader Bongart: additions about German attacks on Lamastre on 5, 6 and 16 July and 20 August 1944 (thanks again to Philippe Canonne); losses from the Quartermaster General's statistics for June–September 1944.
• Markings and camouflage: a Naval message about the markings of the Bloch 151 and 152 in German service.

Twenty years in, and I'm still finding typing and layout issues to correct.

[Siko54]

Thanks for the update - it's such a great resource and I am enjoying browsing through it again as I write this. Happy Christmas Nick and keep up the great work!

[Nick Beale]

I've updated my site this morning with the following new material:

• New article: The Dillingen bridge and »Wasserballon«, April 1945.
• Sonderstaffel Einhorn: information supplementing my two Axis Wings articles including: a proposed Bombentorpedo operation by I./SKG 10 in July 1944; a conference about using Schlachtflieger against ships on 9 July 1944; General Staff discussions in June 1944 about deploying 'self-sacrifice' pilots; 6th Airborne Division's account of a night attack by an Fw 190 on 20 April 1945; and more order of battle figures.
• Me 262 reconnaissance: information supplementing my Axis Wings article 'Panthers Taking Pictures'.
• NSGr. 8: some additions about the unit's early days, including congratulations on its 1,000th night sortie.
• He 111 torpedo operations, July–August 1940: information about the first conversions of He 111s to carry torpedoes.
• Kommando Rastedter: added a radar reconnaissance flight on 30 July 1944.
• Geschwader Bongart: additions about early Luftdienstkommando arrivals in France; the search for two mines jettisoned over German-occupied territory on 18 June 1944; more about a Ju 88 which crashed on 17 August 1944 (with thanks to Laurent Battut) and authorisation to use guided weapons against land targets.
• Kommando Schäfer: additions for 9 June and 24 July 1944.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: sighting of a Bf 109 by German army unit near Belfort, on 30 September 1944.
• Jagdgruppe 200: the 11. Flak Division's claims of two B-17s over Toulouse-Blagnac on 25 June and Nineteenth Army's report on fighter and Flak successes against the 5 July 1944 raid on Toulon.
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4 (page 339): Army Group B diary entry about IX. Fliegerkorps' belated interventions against the U.S. Army's Operation COBRA.

[Steve Coates]

Nick

Thanks for the update.

Steve

[Rolfeb]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

I've updated my site this morning with the following new material:

• New article: The Dillingen bridge and »Wasserballon«, April 1945.
• Sonderstaffel Einhorn: information supplementing my two Axis Wings articles including: a proposed Bombentorpedo operation by I./SKG 10 in July 1944; a conference about using Schlachtflieger against ships on 9 July 1944; General Staff discussions in June 1944 about deploying 'self-sacrifice' pilots; 6th Airborne Division's account of a night attack by an Fw 190 on 20 April 1945; and more order of battle figures.
• Me 262 reconnaissance: information supplementing my Axis Wings article 'Panthers Taking Pictures'.
• NSGr. 8: some additions about the unit's early days, including congratulations on its 1,000th night sortie.
• He 111 torpedo operations, July–August 1940: information about the first conversions of He 111s to carry torpedoes.
• Kommando Rastedter: added a radar reconnaissance flight on 30 July 1944.
• Geschwader Bongart: additions about early Luftdienstkommando arrivals in France; the search for two mines jettisoned over German-occupied territory on 18 June 1944; more about a Ju 88 which crashed on 17 August 1944 (with thanks to Laurent Battut) and authorisation to use guided weapons against land targets.
• Kommando Schäfer: additions for 9 June and 24 July 1944.
• Sonderstaffel Kaatsch: sighting of a Bf 109 by German army unit near Belfort, on 30 September 1944.
• Jagdgruppe 200: the 11. Flak Division's claims of two B-17s over Toulouse-Blagnac on 25 June and Nineteenth Army's report on fighter and Flak successes against the 5 July 1944 raid on Toulon.
• Kampfflieger Vol. 4 (page 339): Army Group B diary entry about IX. Fliegerkorps' belated interventions against the U.S. Army's Operation COBRA.

Nick, thanks for the update.
from 1995 until 2013 I lived just 5 miles apart of the bridge and did a lot of reaserch. In that time Fritz Wegner, Ballewski, Christian Alt and other pilots were still alive and I took the chance to interview them.
Therefore special thanks to you. Your report brings up a lot of memories.
Rolf