Condors over Irish Sea, chaff and dupple

[Larry Daley]

Frank and Brian:

Rhosneigr is about 53 degrees 13 minutes north, 4 degrees 30 minutes west.

Where is St Angelo?


Larry

[Larry Daley]

Frank and Brian found St. Angelo in what I presume is Northern Ireland. 54 21 N and 7 15 W

thank you

Larry

[Brian Bines]

St. Angelo airfield 3 miles north of Enniskillen ,Fermanagh, Northern Ireland,

Regards

Brian Bines

[Larry Daley]

Brian:

Thank you. I just wrote a review of book on Kenneth Pools book on Condors (see below), trying to show, in my far too "purple prose," the fear and terror of those times.


take care and be well

Larry

The dragons of Hitler, predatory monsters in the sky.

Poolman, Kenneth 1978 Scourge of the Atlantic: Focke-Wulf Condor Book Club Associates, London. ASIN: B0007C04PC


Once as child on the beaches of Rhosneigr, Anglesey Wales, about 1943, I and my brother detected something moving misty in the clouds above us. Then we gathered the falling rain of aluminum radar chaff, and saw in this a tangible demonstration of the presence of a monstrous evil machine.

While writing my memoirs I sought more information, to convert this emotional childhood observation into adult reality. Apparently we children had witnessed the passing of a Focke-Wulf Condor.

To try to learn more I purchased this book, and found it excellent, with massive detailed descriptions of a large number of combat incidents. It has the gripping feel of “real” narrative. In addition I found it also very useful for my own historical use. The maps on pages 16 and 18 were very informative. The photographic illustrations offer powerful imagery as well as data.

The book leaves one with the flashes of excitement and moments of terror, as it describes the terrible losses and sadness of combat of convoys fighting Condors and submarines while crossing the Atlantic during WWII.

The mothers of the drowned merchant sailors had cried

On page 182 Poolman tells us that by the invasion of Normandy June 6 1944, of the two hundred and sixty two condors produced, most had been expended, and their crews lost to serve the dreams of conquest of a mad man.


Thus after years of soaring to kill as if long winged buzzards, these fire spurting, bomb throwing, dragons of evil, these Condors of Hitler, passed from the scene….

Larry Daley 2007

[Andy Mitchell]

The following is from “Die Grossen Dessauer” by Kössler and Ott.

16 Feb 1944 Atlantic -Planquadrat 25W/6336

2./FAGr 5 Ju 290A-5 Wnr 0177 9V+DK (KR+LH) First flight 17.12.73 Assigned to FAGr 5 Dec 43

Hptm. Karl-Friedrich Bergen (FF) Staffelkapitän
Oblt. Kurt Baumgartner (FF)
Lt. Martin Glöckhofer (Beob)
Ofw. Heinz Felleckner (BF)
Fw. Heinz Schacht (BF)
Uffz. Gottfried Beninde (BM)
Ofw. Ludwig Ebner (BS)
Uffz Jakob Daniel (BS)
Ogfr. Karl Zinke (BS)
Ogfr. Josef neubauer (BS)
Referendar Werner Cordes (Wetterdienst)
Attacked by Carrier aircraft.

16 Feb 1944 Atlantic – west South West ireland
1./ FAGr 5 Ju 290A-5 Wnr 0175 9V+FH (KR+LF) First flight 24.12.73 Assigned to FAGr 10 Jan 44

Lt. Eberhard Elfert (FF)
Ofw. Conrad Oberhauser (FF)
Lt. Albert Pape (Beob)
Ofw. Albert Holzmann (BF)
Uffz. Rudolf Dreiβig (BF)
Ofw. Otto Zech (BM)
Ofw. Wilhelm Hausmann (BS)
Ofw. Gustav Schlatthaus (BS)
Fw. Erich Barlau (BS)
Ogfr. Albert Pfeffer (BS)

[Brian Bines]

Thanks for posting that Andy some of the names on my list were unreadable, does the book list any other Ju 290 losses with Wetterdienst crewman onboard,

Regards

Brian Bines

[Andy Mitchell]

Brian,

Sorry, not within the losses or the personnel listings.

I confirmed this by checking the personnel listings for Cordes and did not even find him there.

[Brian Bines]

Thanks for checking Andy he was not on my list, neither was Uffz. Dreissig from the Elfert crew,

Regards

Brian Bines

[Larry Daley]

Frank and Brian:

Thank you

By the way read another book, although expensive, may be of some use,

O' Sullivan, John 2004 When Wales Went to War, 1939-45 Sutton Publishing Ltd, Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire, Great Britain. ISBN-10 0750938374 ISBN-13 978-0750938372

and wrote the following review of Amazon.com

This book has graphic images of bomb damage and mentions details of spies working for the Luftwaffe in Wales

review follows


take care and be well

Larry http://www.amazon.com/When-Wales-Wen...4289230&sr=8-1 Images of Wales at WAr, November 2, 2007
By Laurence Daley (Corvallis, OR USA) - See all my reviews

Images of Wales at War

O' Sullivan, John 2004 When Wales Went to War, 1939-45 Sutton Publishing Ltd, Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire, Great Britain. ISBN-10 0750938374 ISBN-13 978-0750938372

This book is a pleasant surprise, not only does it contain excellent sharp photographs, but much information of use to scholars and others interested in detailed events. Certain entries brought my own memories into sharp focus.

For instance on page 64 "I remember us kids running after American lorries as they carried goods salvaged from sunken ships to the refuse depot at Gladstone Road. In answer to our pleas they threw us chocolate and chewing gum." My own memories vividly recall a similar scene in Rhosneigr apparently in 1944.

The footnote on landmines found on page 14 "..."Martin Garnet, a weapons expert at the Imperial War Museum in London said `landmines' were in fact German naval mines which were adapted to be dropped on targets with the aid of parachutes. The first deliberate use in Britain of the naval parachute mine, the Luftmine, was on 16 September, 1940. ... " This too fits my memories of the massive damage caused by such devices, that I observed on my family's return to Liverpool when the danger abated.

The tabulation of bombing casualties in Wales (p. 3) confirms my parents' view that Rhosneigr Anglesey would be safe for us children, because as opposed to most of the United Kingdom, and Wales there was very little bombing there (no dead, only 3 seriously injured).

Then there are accounts of German spies, the evidence of the damage, and the very personal accounts of participants. Mention of the belly strength of the women in the Land Army. All is fascinating.

This book needs another edition, for non-Welsh like myself, it should include a map of places named. For scholars an index or some kind of computer data retrieval would be most useful. For the non-scholar those beautiful and poignant photographs deserve a far wider audience


Larry Daley 2007