Question about Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen

[Jens]

Question about Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen.

When did appear a loss of an unit in it? Is it true that 60% or higher was a total loss and so every 60-100% loss appeared in these documents?

[Sergio Luis dos Santos]

Originally Posted by Jens

Question about Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen.

When did appear a loss of an unit in it? Is it true that 60% or higher was a total loss and so every 60-100% loss appeared in these documents?

Just a comment. I do not believe that a "total loss" means a lost aircraft in some cases... During my research I found some Weihes that had damages in this 60%-100% and were still flying only to suffer one or more crashes again. From what I remember I have two machines that sustained 100% damage but are reported in another crash later! It looks to me some machines were rebuilt even being badly damaged.

[ArtieBob]

IMHO, when a LW aircraft was wrecked, someone at the unit level made an evaluation of the extent of damage. Usually, at this point, a recovery unit took over, loaded and shipped the remains to a central location for that specific type, where whatever usable was salvaged or scrapped. If the cockpit area of the fuselage was repairable, as that was the section that usually "owned" the W.Nr., the W.Nr. could be resurrected although not much of the original aircraft was still attached. I have seen several instances of this with the Ju 88s also. This was not always done as indicated by photos of scrapyards at various airfields. This probably was the result of recovery units not being available and inadequate access to rail transport. Just my opinions.

Best regards,

Artie Bob

[Jens]

Quoting Bergstrom Planes 60% and higher damaged were handled as "written off" (BCRS Vol. 2) means in my interpretation loss.

Quoting Groehler at the beginning of war planes 10% and higher were a "loss" in Luftwaffe stats, in 1941 this climbed to 40% in 1942.

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

Hi all,
I agree with Artie's assesment. Initially it was a loss to the unit since the airceft was in nonflyable or combat ready status. But due to shortages a lot of airframes were rebuilt. Sometimes not used by combat units but certainly by training units. Considering the integrity of the repair. Below the "officieal" guidelines translated from the General Quartiermeister documents:

DAMAGE

Er. Replacement necessary, aircraft can not be repaired with the means available in the field.
10% Small damage. Later in the war it was not even mentioned in the damage reports.
10 - 24% Medium damage. Could be repaired by unit.
25 - 39% Damage that required an inspection by the unit.
40 - 44% Damage that required engines or major systems to be replaced. Often the unit was able to carry out these repairs.
45 - 59% Heavy damage. Required larger section like wings to be replaced.
60 - 80% Aircraft was unsalvageable. Usable parts were cannibalized to repair other aircraft.
81 - 99% Write off, crashed on own territory.
100% Write off, crashed on enemy territory or over water.

I hope this helps,

Norbert

[Jens]

and how much percent was needed to appear in the Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen?

[Norbert Schuchbauer]

And this is a question I have been pursuing for more than a decade!

Regards,

Norbert