Saturday, January 16, 2016

Heinkel He 111 of Fliegerstaffel des Führers

The three photographs depict CA+NA, a Heinkel He 111 P-2 with the Werknummer 2471. This aircraft was part of the "Fliegerstaffel des Führers" (Leader's Air Squadron). The photographs were taken in the spring of 1942 during a visit by Hitler to an airfield in the southern sector of the Eastern Front. The serial number is clearly visible on the fin. Also note the yellow Eastern Front fuselage band and the unusually glossy finish of the aircraft code letters and fuselage cross. By the spring of 1942, CA+NA already had several years of service behind it. The aircraft's acceptance flight (as D-ADNH) took place on 21 October 1938. On 10 September 1939 it sustained 20% damage in a crash at Schweidnitz. At that time the Heinkel was with the Regierungsstaffel (Government Squadron) and used by Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch. Soon afterward, in autumn 1939, the unit was renamed to "Fliegerstaffel des Führers" (F.d.F.). In February 1941 the aircraft's marking were changed to CA+NA. It remained with the Staffel, as shown by numerous logbook entries. One such entry reveals that on 29 April 1941 the aircraft was being overhauled by Heinkel in Rostock-Marienehe. In 1942 the aircraft was known to have made flights from Imola, Finland, to Stalino in the south of the Eastern Front. The last known reference to this machine appears in the logbook of the Malmi airport in Finland, which records that it departed for Rastenburg in East Prussia (Hitler's headquarters) on 5 August 1944. The aircraft's subsequent fate is not known.


Source :
Magazine "Luftwaffe im Focus", Spezial No.1 - 2003

3 comments:

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  3. No, the photos were taken on Dec 03, 1941, not in spring 1942. Where I come from this is called winter, and if you take a close look at the soldiers: they're all dressed as if they are freezing their butts off.

    It was taken at the airfield of the 7.(F)/LG 2 in Mariupol. The boots in the foreground of the first picture are prepared there for Hitler, because he's freezing on his flight to the airfield. That's why he ordered a new pair of flight fur boots (B13-S-Fliegerstiefel) for his flight back home. When he received the boots he even had to sign a receipt with, guess what, the exact date on it, when this photo was taken. Yes, German bureaucracy didn't even stop at Hitler.

    The receipt:
    http://www.jg52.net/besondere-dokument-urkunde/b13-s-fliegerstiefel

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