Fw190D-9 at Kitzingen, May 1945

[cobrahistorian]

Hey all,

I have several photos of Rudel's surrender at Kitzingen in May 1945 that were taken by 1Lt. Leslie Thompson. Several have been published, many others haven't. While going through them all and scanning at 3200dpi, I found a Dora in the scrapyard there. Can't tell much about it, other than the underside of the engine cowling has mottled camouflage. Are there any other published photos of this particular airplane? Fw190F-8 "Black 11+|" from SG2 is also there.

Several of the original photos I now own are in this article: http://www.historynet.com/the-iron-e...p07LmFcbLq67sU

Thanks!

Jon

[S Sheflin]

Hello Jon, and thanks for posting this sharp photo.
Regarding its location, unless I am mistaken, rather than Kitzingen, this photo was taken at Fl.Horst Straubing (48.824758 12.561153).
The Fw 190 D-9 in question is the well-known Fieseler-Kassel-built 15+ white (WNr. 600651). On the far left is the Arado-Warnemunde-built Fw 190 F-8/R1 (WNr. 580456) 11+ I black, probably last with III.SG10.
While I never mean to be dogmatic, I have numerous addition photos of these and other aircraft that were almost certainly were photographed at Straubing.
As always, I welcome corrections or additions.
Respectfully,
Steve Sheflin

[cobrahistorian]

Thanks very much, Steve (for this, and all of your fantastic research and publications over the years!) Between your reply and Kees' PM, i was able to find pics of it pretty quickly. Do we know what unit it was with?
Straubing would make sense as well, since it was the 509th FS's next station after Kitzingen. Lt. Thompson left there soon after they moved to Straubing and rotated to Iwo Jima in the final months of the war.

I've been working on figuring out which aircraft landed at Kitzingen with Rudel's flight and where on the airfield they landed, and it's gotten somewhat confusing with the Straubing shots mixed in. I've got them sorted out now.

There were two 190A-8s and at least one 190F-8 at Kitzingen. Haven't determined what the final 190 was just yet.

More soon!

Jon

[cobrahistorian]

Sources have identified the following aircraft flying into Kitzingen as part of Rudel's flight:

Ju 87G-2 black <- + - 494110 Stab/SG 2 Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel; Captain Ernst-August Niermann
Ju 87D-5 + TU ? 10.(Pz.)/SG 2 master sergeant, sergeant, female civilian
Ju 87D-5 + VU ? 10.(Pz.)/SG 2 First Lieutenant Hans Schwirblat
FW 190A-8 black << + - 171189 Stab II./SG 2 Major Karl Kennel
FW 190A-6 white 2 + - 550503 4./SG 2 4 Staffel II./SG 2 white (2+-)
FW 190F-8 white 9 + - 585584 4./SG 2 (Fairly certain this was Oblt Karl Biermann's airplane)
FW 190F-8 white 12 + - 583234 4./SG 2 ?
(http://fw190.hobbyvista.com/kitzingen.htm)
(http://www.historynet.com/the-iron-e...4yTtTngmVxckL0)

There was another Fw190A-8 there as well. Although I do not know the side number, there is definitely a white II Gruppe bar on the rear fuselage, yellow rudder, and at least a partial Luftflotte 4 yellow nose band. Stuka T6+TU is visible at the extreme right of the photo. Looking at the Gruppe bar, I doubt that this is Kurt Lau's Black 5+-, and with the MG131 cowling and blown canopy, it is definitely not Fw190A-6 "White 2+-".

[John Manrho]

I would be very interested to learn the names of the others (Ofw., Fw.) involved. At least one of the Fw 190's was flown by an Oberfeldwebel....

[cobrahistorian]

I've got pics of an Oberfeldwebel and a Feldwebel. Would like to know both of their identities.

[Stig Jarlevik]

Jon

While being able to locate all stated WNr except the two listed F-8, I wonder from what batches they were?

None of the two numbers 585584 and 583234 are known to me.

Cheers
Stig

[cobrahistorian]

Stig,

I'm not sure, to be honest. Going from two different sites, one that said White 9 was 584584 and one that said it was 585584. Admittedly, I haven't looked into Fw190 production blocks in about 20 years, having been focused on US equipment during that time. I started looking into the German aircraft photos that I've accumulated in my US aircraft photo collection and that opened a bit of a Pandora's Box. As a result, the addiction is now back in full swing.

Apparently 583XXX and 585XXX are Arado Warnemunde-built machines. I'm intrigued as to how these sites found the Werknummern for those birds. The photo I have of White 9 doesn't seem to have the werknummer on the tail cap.

J

[Stig Jarlevik]

So it goes Jon, so it goes

It's like opening that damn chocolate box (for those other addicts....)

Well, regarding the WNr 584584 it fits one WNr block while 585584 is a completely unknown entity. I will now change that in my own files, but noting the discrepancy....

Thanks for getting back on this one. Happy New Year to you

Cheers
Stig

[cobrahistorian]

Here’s White 9+-