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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Jagdgeschwader JG 53 pilots in the Mediterranean

In this very interesting footage you could see many features of the air war over Malta. You will see JG 53pilots relaxing and having fun before their mission. Then a search and rescue mission is launched, with a Dornier Do-24 looking  for a pilot who was forced to ditch in the sea off Sicily. In the final part you will see a mission over Malta, with gun camera footages and low passes over the airbase. Major Gunther von Maltzahn and Generalfeldlmarschal Albert Kesserling are clearly recognizable in the film.

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CLICK HERE FOR OUSTANDING LUFTWAFFE MEDITERRANEAN OPERATIONS COLOR FOOTAGE : http://ww2eagles.blogspot.com/2011/05/luftwaffe-in-mediterranean-color.html

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German Newsreel: Blohm und Voss Bv 138 in combat

Blohm und Voss Bv 138s, of an unnamed Luftwaffe units in Norway, filmed during routine operations over the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic.

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Osprey Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen

Osprey Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen is the 20th title of the Aviation Elite Units series, telling the story of heavily armed anti-bomber units in 1944-45.

If you have ever wanted to know the truth about the "storm troopers" of the Jagdwaffe, here is your book. Osprey Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen is the 20th title of the Aviation Elite Units series, and it chronicles the desperate struggle of the lUFTWAFFE anti-bomber dedicated branch, who tried to counter the mighy USAAF heavy bombers in 1944-45. After the war, many legends misunderstooded the real activies of the Sturm pilots, creating the false myth of Nazi Kamikaze units, full of fanatic airmen. This book draws light about the real stories of Sturmgruppen pilots, and their specially modified and heavily armed Fw-190s.

Osprey Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen is written by John Weal, the company primary historian for German and Axis forces. Thanks to his superior knowledge of the matter, he reveals us the story of this small elite force, made of volounteers only, trained to attack bomber formations from the front and the rear in tight arrowhead formations. Armed with 30mm cannon and extra armour plates, the Sturm Fw-190s were the most heavily armed fighters encountered by the 8th Air Force over Germany, and could deliver devastating blow to B-17 and B-24 formations. This book consists of the following chapters:

• Origin
• Growing Desperation
• Sturmgruppen
• Bloody Baptism
• Annihilation
• Appendices

Thanks to its 128 pages, first-hand accounts, rare archive photographs and more than 40 color profiles, this Osprey title is the ultimate book on Luftwaffe Sturmgruppen. All you have ever wanted to know about this elite units it is now available. You could finally discover the truth, and know how deadly and dangerous was to fly over the Reich in the final years of the war, when both the Jagdwaffe and the 8th Air Force suffered horrific losses and lost thousands of young brave men.

Focke Wulf Fw 200 Condor

Very nice german newsreels showing Fw 200 Condor routine patrols over the North Atlantic in 1941, the aircraft probably belongs to KG 40.

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Osprey Hurricane Aces 1941-45

Osprey Hurricane Aces 1941-45 is the 57th title of the Aircraft of the Aces series, focusing on the Hawker Hurricane.


Hurricane Aces 1941-45 is the second volume of the Osprey series Aircraft of the Aces focused on the Hawker Hurricane. After having covered the first two years of the war in his previous book, author Andrew Thomas provides a fascinating, detailed and well documented work about units and pilots who flew the Hawker fighter in Western Europe, the Mediterranean, South East Asia and even the Atlantic Ocean.

This Osprey book consists of 96 pages, with more than a hundred b/w pictures and 40 beautiful color profiles. You could read about great pilots such as Karel Kuttelwascher, Vernon Woodward, Peter Townsend an Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle, the RAF top scorer of the entire war. Despite being inferior to its opponents from 1941 onward, the Hurricane proved to be an effective horse mount for ground attack operations, and scored a significant number of victories against more sophisticated and powerful aircrafts. Hurricane Aces 1941-45 is divided into seven chapters: 

• Prologue
• Offence and defence
• Mediterranean Battles
• Above the desert
• Jungle fighters
• Epilogue
• Appendices

The fighter saw widespread use throughout the whole conlict, in many different theatres, and was flown by airmen from all countries: you will read the stories of the British and Commonwealth pilots, as well as the Polish, Czechs, French and Russian aces who fought against the Luftwaffe in Europe, the Regia Aeronautica in the Mediterranean and the Japanese Army Air Force in Burma and India. Thanks to Andrew Thomas's knowledge of the subject, and to the high experience and quality of Osprey Publishing, Hurricane Aces 1941-45 is a must-have for any aviation enthusiast.

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