Christophe Cony - Luftwaffe in Colour

LUFTWAFFE IN COLOUR FROM GLORY TO DEFEAT 19421945

From Glory to Defeat 19421945

CHRISTOPHE CONY & JEAN-LOUIS ROBA

Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2017 by

CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

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Lla Presse

English translation and layout Casemate Publishers 2017

All photos courtesy of Jean-Louis Roba, unless otherwise stated

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-455-6

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-568-3

Mobi Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-568-3

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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Errata and Addenda to The Victory Years

Page 45: We can confirm, thanks to Bertrand Hugot, that He 111 P B3+BK (W.Nr. 2497) was shot down by Hurricanes between pinoy and Oisy-le-Verger, in Pas-de-Calais on May 19th, 1940. Although the K of its code belonged to a second staffel , German archives indicate that this was an aircraft of 3./KG 54.

Page 158: The two photographs show Avia B-71 A VG+BQ (W.Nr. 127, built by Aero) of Luftdienstkommando 11, Teil-Kdo 2.11 at Celle, in the winter of 19411942

Series design and translation by Hannah McAdams

W hile the Luftwaffe had enjoyed an almost uninterrupted succession of military triumphs from 1939, during the autumn and winter of 1942 its fate changed: the battle of El Alamein and the Allied landings in North Africa sealed its fate on that continent, while its offensive in the USSR aimed at seizing the oilfields of the Caucasus ended with the Stalingrad disaster in early 1943. Though the Luftwaffe was a force to be reckoned with during the early years of the Second World War, German aviation was now forced onto the defensive. In the East, the Wehrmachts last offensive the battle of Kursk of JulyAugust 1943 was thwarted by the might of the Soviet forces, which continued to advance towards the Reich. In the south, the Allied landings in Sicily (July 1943) and Italy (September 1943) forced the Germans to withdraw north up the peninsula. To rub salt in the wounds, Mussolini was overthrown, and parts of the Italian army were now taking up arms against their former allies. Finally, in the West, the British and Americans had begun to break the back of their adversary with large, extended air raids, paralyzing Germanys economy and reducing the Luftwaffes available resources to negligible proportions. On June 6th, 1944 the massive D-Day landings in Normandy commenced, followed by further landings in Provence in the south of France. On June 22nd, on the Eastern Front, the Soviets launched Operation Bagration that liberated Belarus in just weeks, and resulted in the occupation of East Prussia and Poland up to the Vistula. It was the beginning of the end for the Luftwaffe. Though it had been the first in the world to use jet engines, therefore ushering in a new era of modern aviation, the Luftwaffe agonized. It only survived four months after Operation Bodenplatte , a futile, last-gasp offensive launched on January 1st, 1945 against the Allied air forces in the West. But its airmen fought on regardless, with a dignified courage that was worthy of their beginnings.

The authors would like to thank everyone who helped them realize this study in colour of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, especially the Finnish researcher Matti Salonen, without whom this work would never have been completed. Thanks also to Dnes Bernad, Josef Charita, Jean-Marie Gall, Giancarlo Garello, Roberto Gentilli, Bohumir Kudlicka, Michel Ledet, Jacques Moulin, Philippe Ricco, Philippe Saintes, Kari Stenmann, and anyone else whom they might have inadvertently overlooked.

1./JG 1s Bf 109 E-4 (or E-7) Black 11 at Flushing in the Netherlands, during the winter of 19401941. In the second image we can see Sergeant Giuseppe Ruzzin of the 85th Squadron (one of the Corpo Aereo Italiano squadrons that attacked England) posing with Obfw Werner Gerhardt. Note the unusual Plexiglas casing under the fuselage of the Messerschmitt this houses a Peilgert IV radio guidance device. (Roberto Gentilli collection)

A relaxed atmosphere prior to take-off for this training plane, an Arado Ar 96 painted in two shades of green.

A Ju 88 D-1 from 2. (F)/123 is refuelled by an Opel Kfz 385 tanker in Sicily in the spring of 1941.

Early 1941: Armourers carrying 50kg SC50 bombs in front of a Junkers Ju 87 B-1 on the Channel coast. These photographs are part of the same series found on of Luftwaffe in Colour: The Victory Years . The Stuka seen here belonged to the 2nd squadron (or staffel ) of an unknown group; we know this from its black and red colouring. The 1st squadron used white, and the 3rd blue.

Saint-Jean-dAngly, early 1941: This old twin-engined French reconnaissance plane, the Potez 63-11, served as a decoy aircraft for the operations training squadron 2. (Erg.)/JG 53. In the background, armed with four machine guns, is Bf 109 E-8/B (W.Nr. 1237) 15 Black which was seriously damaged on March 17th, 1941 just weeks after this photograph was taken when its engines failed during landing. Despite being approximately 75% damaged, this plane (curiously armed with wing-guns like an E-3) was repaired, upgraded to an E-7 and put back into action at the beginning of 1942 in 2./JG 51 on the Soviet Front. It was then transferred to III./ZG 1 in Africa, where it was lost without a trace after an accident during take-off from Bir el Abd, Egypt, on September 14th, 1942. (Philippe Ricco collection)