#Luftwaffe History

[cid5]

Seaplane of the German cruiser Admiral Hipper (1942).

[theworldatwar]

German Focke Wulf 190's from JG54 squadron patrol the skies - Eastern Front 1943

[w0lfchen]

face card is lethal 🔪

[dronescapesvideos]

Luftwaffe Lockheed F-104G DA 102 ZELL (Zero Length Launch) tests at Edwards AFB in 1963. Given the Starfighter's record in Germany, perhaps it was not the best idea.

➤F-104 VIDEO: https://youtu.be/xcsBFjJYyZo

➤HD IMAGE: https://dronescapes.video/F104Zell

➤SUPERSONIC VIDEOS:https://dronescapes.video/fastest

[kanonenvoegel]

A machine gunner of the Fallschirm-Panzer-Division 1. „Hermann Göring” in Sicily. 1943. Colourised.

[davidcashuk]

[hermannfaust1912]

Hermann on the covers of Adler magazine

[nectarinepie68]

Anyways, yes 🛐

[tacticallyaware]

Heinkel He 111

[nocternalrandomness]

P-40’s Shark Teeth Didn’t Originate From The Flying Tigers...Here’s the story....

The AVG Flying Tigers got the idea after seeing a newspaper picture of a P-40 from the No. 112 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Fighting in Egypt, Sudan, Greece and Crete, they were one of the first squadrons to fly the P-40 and painted them with the shark mouth because they thought the intake looked perfect for it. That’s why they were nicknamed the “Shark Squadron.” Although the idea was theirs to paint the Warhawk, the graphic was not.....

The first documented use of the Shark Teeth nose art was by the Zerstörergeschwader 76 group of the Luftwaffe. Formed in 1939, they flew Bf 110Cs and it was them who were first seen painting their noses with the iconic shark teeth logo. They didn’t have the eyes on them as that was added by the RAF, but the shark mouth appears to be their original idea.

[pukindog-v2]

Erich Hartmann, 352 victories

Highest scoring ace in history

[cid5]

Ernst Kupfer Stuka Ace of StG 2 ,Immelmann" during Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union, 1941/42.

[theworldatwar]

The view through the glazed nose of a German HE111 - date and location unknown

[w0lfchen]

[dronescapesvideos]

Adjusting the weapons of a Focke-Wulf Fw-190 belonging to Jagdfliegerschule 5. Fort du Haut Buc, France, 1942. This Fw-190 was destroyed in August 1942 🎥GERMAN AIRCRAFT VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/WWIIGermany 📷 HD IMAGE: https://dronescapes.video/FockeWulf

[bruceburgdorf]

Trautloft and the rescue from Buchenwald

In August 1944 a group of 168 allied airmen from a number of different counties found themselves in Buchenwald concentration camp. It is certain they would have been executed there if it wasn’t for the aid of a Luftwaffe officer, Hannes Trautloft.

The Luftwaffe had a responsibility for the wellbeing of allied airmen shot down by their pilots over Germany or occupied territory. If a pilot was reported to have parachuted out of an aircraft, the responsible Luftwaffe squadron would ensure they were handed over to a unit close to where they landed who would then transport them to a prisoner of war camp.

The airmen in question upon bailing out over France, hid among the population in civilian clothes but were unfortunately betrayed to the gestapo by a foreign double agent posing as a member of the resistance but working for the Nazis.

As they were not in uniform they were treated as spies and taken to Buchenwald concentration camp instead of a POW camp stated in the Geneva Convention. As can be imagined the men were treated extremely harshly in the camp and were informed by the guards they would not be getting out alive.

Through another prisoner with outside contacts, a message was smuggled out and the whereabouts of the airmen became known to Hannes Trautloft, a Colonel in the Luftwaffe and then Inspector of the Day Fighters. Concerned at what he had learnt, the man arranged a visit to the camp pretending to be inspecting recent bomb damage.

He was told by the camp staff that it was a political prison and a labour camp. He was only shown the guard’s areas and clean parts of the camp and not where the prisoners were being held but across the camp he heard a man shouting to him from behind the fence and pleading for his intervention.

The guards tried to get Trautloft to leave but instead the Colonel told them to stand back while he listened to the man tell him about the 168 airmen who had been transported to the camp illegally and about everything which was happening within the camp.

Trautloft eventually had to leave but escalated the matter to Luftwaffe General Adolf Galland and with the backing of officers Galland, Steinhoff and Rödel he pushed for the airmen‘s release. Trautloft was reportedly so shaken up by what he has seen in the camp he personally wrote to the Buchenwald commandant saying the men better be in good condition upon their release.

In a few days the men were released where they were taken to Stalag Luft 3 but records of Buchenwald found after the war would show the men had been scheduled for execution by the guards just seven days after Trautloft s arrival at the camp.

Trautloft would go on to become a general in the modern German airforce.

There is a documentary about the airmen called The Lost Airmen of Buchenwald and the event is also mentioned in A Higher Call, based on the life of pilot Franz Stigler.