Schrage Musik

Peter Spoden was born on 8 November 1921 at Borken. He started his operational career with 6./NJG 5, being posted to this unit on 1 June 1943. Spoden scored his first victory less then two months later, when on the night of 17/18 August he shot down a Lancaster, part of a RAF formation attacking Peenemunde. In March 1944, after having scored nine victories, Spoden was transferre to Stabstaffel of III./NJG 5, where he remained unitl surrendering to American troops at Schleissheim. His score was of 24 kills, all achieved at night. After the war, Peter Spoden worked as a commercial pilot for Lufthansa. In this TV interview, the German explains and shows how the Schrage Musik technique was used agains British bombers.

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Nachtjagd War Diaries

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Junkers Ju 188

The Junkers Ju 188 was a high-performance bomber, designed as an improvement of the famous Junker JU 88, with better payload and performances. The aircraft was manned by a 5-men crew, and had a wingspan of 22 m , wing area of 56 , lenght of 15 m and loaded weight of 14,500 kg. and loaded weight of 14,500 kg.

The engines were two BMW 801 G-2, which could guarantee a maximum speed of 499 km/h and a service ceiling of 9,500 m. The Ju 188 was armed with one 20 mm MG 151 cannon and three 13 mm MG 131 machine guns. The maximum bombload was of 3,000 kg.

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Give me a squadron of Spitfires

During the Battle of Britain, Generalfeldmarschall Hermann Göring organized a meeting with fighter units commanders. Annoyed by the fact the Luftwaffe still hadn't defeated the Royal Air Force and secured air superiority over Great Britain, Goring had violent discussion with Germany's most famous aces and commanders, including Werner Molders and Adolf Galland. The supreme commander of the Luftwaffe asked his his pilots what they needed to win the battle. Molders requested more powerful engines for the Bf-109. Gallanda replied: "I should like an outfit of Spitfires". 

This famous episode is depicted in the film Battle of Britain. German actors Hein Riess and Manfred Reddemann play respectively Goring and Galland.

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Battle of Britain - Opening Scene

Battle of Britain is a 1969 film, produced by Harry Saltzaman and S. Benjamin Fitz and directed by Guy Hamilton. The film narrates the story of the aerial battles over Great Britain in the summer of 1940, when the Luftwaffe tried to gain air supremacy to allow the Wermacht invading the British Isles.The movie is famous for its spectacuar flying sequences and for historical accuracy. The production stars many international artists in the cast and, for the first time, German characters were portrayed by German-speaking actors, rather than Anglophones. Lawrence Olivier, Trevor Howard, Michael Caine, Robert Shaw and Edward Fox are just a few of the stars who worked in the film, and contributed to make Battle of Britain one of the most beautiful war movies ever produced.

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Morane Saulnier MS-406 on patrol

The M.S 406 was a French fighter built by Morane Saulnier. At the time of the German invasion of France in May 1940, it was, numerically, the most important fighter in the Armée de l'Air. The fighter was sturdy and highly manouvrable, but was also under-powered and lacked enough speed and service ceiling to effectively face the Messerschmitt Bf-109E. The M.S. 406 was also used by the Finnish, with more success, and by the Swiss Air Force, were it occasionally intercepted aircrafts who were violating Swiss airspace.

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