Captured German planes, not from eBay

[David E. Brown]

Nick,

Good things come in threes.

I found the following photo of a third Ju 188 D-2 in my files. This is from the late (and sorely missed) Jim Crow and identified as "Ju 188 at Innsbruck Austria in 1945" (Holmberg #10161). It is a poor quality image but the wellen of RLM 76 sprayed on the forward fuselage under the canopy differentiates it from the two other machines at Innsbruck-Hötting.

It appears the last two letters of its V-kenn are "CP". If so, it is possibly another Italian refugee from 6.(F)/122, hence “F6+CP. Like “DP” and “PP”, the FuG 220 antenna is visible on the nose canopy, and it is fitted with the straight Eberspächer flame suppressors. Unfortunately, the wing-mounted FuG 216 antennas cannot be discerned.

Cheers,

David

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by David E. Brown

Nick,

Good things come in threes.

I found the following photo of a third Ju 188 D-2 in my files. This is from the late (and sorely missed) Jim Crow and identified as "Ju 188 at Innsbruck Austria in 1945" (Holmberg #10161). It is a poor quality image but the wellen of RLM 76 sprayed on the forward fuselage under the canopy differentiates it from the two other machines at Innsbruck-Hötting.

It appears the last two letters of its V-kenn are "CP". If so, it is possibly another Italian refugee from 6.(F)/122, hence “F6+CP. Like “DP” and “PP”, the FuG 220 antenna is visible on the nose canopy, and it is fitted with the straight Eberspächer flame suppressors. Unfortunately, the wing-mounted FuG 216 antennas cannot be discerned.

Cheers,

David

That reminded me that I had the same photo from Jim Crow. Here it is after a bit of adjustment. F6+CP is quite possible (the unit had one with those codes in January 1945) and maybe +GP (they lost a GP at the end of December but I don't know if they received a replacement). It looks like there's a four-digit number below the cockpit but no chance of reading it.

I can't make out any tail-warning radar antennae either. Worth noting though that a decrypt of 26 March 1945 complained that increased Allied night fighter activity was making operations from Bergamo (base for the Ju 188s of FAGr. 122 and KG 200's Kdo. Carmen) impossible and ops would only resume after tail-warning FuG 217 had been fitted.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hi there Gang,

Innsbruck-Hötting keeps on popping up it seems. This time thanks to three very crisp photos taken by Sgt. Richard E. Heavrin, Battery "A" 534th AAA (AW) Bn, which negatives were scanned by M. L. Woolfolk and uploaded on Flickr here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwoolf...-apaGH4-apdrfd

Given that the mountains are still white with snow - which fell as late as 1 May 1945 - and that two of the JV 44 machines have still camouflage material on their wings or near the tail in the case of "Schwarze 1", I wonder if those photos might have been taken right after the arrival of the US troops on 4 May.

Cheers
Marc

[ouidjat]

Excellent find Marc, Thank you.
... From left to right.

"Rote Eins" 110188
113371
111751.

Regards,
Franck.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Originally Posted by ouidjat

Excellent find Marc, Thank you.
... From left to right.

"Rote Eins" 110188
113371
111751.

Regards,
Franck.

Thanks for those W.Nr. Franck, much appreciated.

Cheers
Mar

[David E. Brown]

Franck,

I might add the following comments:

LEFT: “Ro.1” is WNr.110766 from 2./KG 51 as the attached photos confirm. The machine is listed on the 26 April 1945 document of Me 262 aircraft at München-Riem under the section of JV 44 aircraft. It was also accompanied by a handwritten notation "I/KG 51" confirming its unit identity.

CENTRE: Agree that it is WNr.113371, a machine often confused with WNr.111712. The former machine’s Hakenkreuz is white, whereas the latter‘s is black. Additionally, while both located in the western part of the airfield this machine faces west-southwest whereas WNr.111712 faces east-southeast.

RIGHT: This is not WNr.111751, as it was located near the northwest corner of the airfield adjacent to the Innsbruck-Telfs road with at least three of the Me 262s. Furthermore, it faces almost due east. The machine in question is near the southwest corner of the airfield and faces northeast. The photo was taking looking north with the Höchenberg (left) and Achselkopf (right) in the background. This machine’s camouflage and markings suggest it could be WNr.112360 from JV 44, though there are other possibilities.

Cheers,

David

[Dan O'Connell]

I agree with Dave as per photo 1 being 110766.

[ouidjat]

I agree only for the "7" But it's okay for me, in a democracy only majority is right ...

[ouidjat]

... and for the last digit, a "6" which is clearer on my copy ...

[Marc-André Haldimann]

A "new" small finding of veteran photos taken at Fl.Pl. Giessen, April 1945.

Ju 88 C-6 W.Nr. 360035 "NB+CT":
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meanpc.../in/datetaken/

Ju 88 G-1 "9W+FT", 9./NJG 101:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meanpc.../in/datetaken/

Bf 109 G-10 W.Nr. unknown "Schwarze 10", 2./JG 4:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meanpc.../in/datetaken/

Cheers
Marc