Luftwaffe anti sea mine sweeping aircraft North West Europe WW2

[Kirmington]

Does anybody know any units involved in anti-mine operations in support of Kriegsmarine coastal forces/convoys plus any sources (in English) on the subject?

[Nick Beale]

As far as I know it was all done by Minensuchgruppe 1 (Ju 52s with degaussing rings). It had 6 Staffeln which were deployed individually (or split into smaller detachments) wherever they were needed. I've seen references in ULTRA to their working in the Elbe and Gironde Estuaries, in the Aegean and along the Danube.

There's some basic organisational information here but a quick search suggests most online sources are in German.

[Adam]

Off the top of my head I seem to remember seeing the odd reference in HW 13/98 at the National Archives. As far as I am aware Nowarra's book is the only one dedicated to the unit, but it is a few years old and is in German. Also, you can search through the Luftwaffe Officer Career DB for men involved (found on Holme's ww2.dk website and the search string MSGr). Similarly, there is a small amount of text in the Classic Colours edition, Seeflieger.

[Larry deZeng]

Here are some more citations. As already stated by the other contributors above, the published material and magazine articles on this subject are all in the German language, at least I never found any in other languages.

H.J.Nowarra- Minensuchgruppe Mausi: Mit der Tante Ju im Kampfeinsatz.
F.Kurowski-Seekrieg aus der Luft: Die deutsche Seeluftwaffe im Zweiten Weltkrieg:277.
AFHRA Maxwell: decimal 512.619 British AirMin CSDIC P/W Interrogation Reports in microfilm rolls A5415-18, interrogation CSDIC/CMF A.446.
Flugzeug magazine, Heft (issue) 6/1995:52-53.
Jet & Prop magazine, Heft (issue) 6/1997:7.

In addition to the HW 5 signals, there are 32 DEFE 3 ULTRA signals that concern "Mausi" operations.

L.

[Soren Flensted]

Hi
We also had them operating in Denmark. Go to http://www.flensted.eu.com/ and search for MSG. THis is however only about those that crashed while operating over Denmark.

[Kirmington]

Thank you so much Gents. I am writing a dissertation on Bomber Command aerial mine laying and part of it is about German efforts to counter act it. Hence the interest in Luftwaffe expenditure on the subject. Sources in English are very limited. I have some photos from the NA showing JU52s with the anti-mining 'ring' but they are recon pictures and the a/c is minuscule otherwise I would have posted them!

[Adam]

From what I understand, operations were limited. For instance, according to prisoner interrogations in NA AIR 40/2415, between 11 November 1942 and 11 February 1943, the 1./MSGr 1 flew only seven sorties.
Part of the role of the coastal and sea reconnaissance undertaken by the Küstenfliegergruppen and Seeaufklärungsgruppen was also to spot for mines. Any sightings were then reported up the line and were presumably taken care of by naval mine sweeping vessels (if determined to pose a hazard). However, the former units were under-equipped and increasingly marginalised by 1944, but still offered some hope in supporting anti-mining operations.

[Andy Mitchell]

There is a chapter in Robert Forsyth's "Junkers Ju 52 A History 1930-45"

[Kutscha]

Bv138

[Seaplanes]

The testing of a BV 138MS was carried out in December 1942 by the E-Stelle (See) Travemünde. The plane did not handle well in speeds of less than 200 km.h. which was necessary to be effective during mine-sweeping. Further testing was abandoned. Can someone identify this aircraft.
On 19. July 1943, Do 24T-3 CM+IM W.Nr.0047 was tested with a MS-ring at Weserflug in Nordenham. The flying caracteristics remained more or less the same with the MS-ring, but further testing seems to have been abandoned.
In July 1943 the He 111H-16 W.Nr. 8208 NN+BU, was fitted with a MS-ring at the repair works at Stendal in addition to FuG 200. The trials with this aircraft was carried out well into 1944. In Aufust 1944 the plane was reported not ready.
In addition to a few Do 23 (MS) the Ju 52/3m (MS) was the major mine-sweeping aircraft used operationally by the Luftwaffe.