X-Nico

61 unusual facts about Luftwaffe


376th Fighter Squadron

During its operations, the unit participated in the assault against the Luftwaffe and aircraft industry during the Big Week, 20–25 February 1944, and the attack on transportation facilities prior to the Normandy invasion and support of the invasion forces thereafter, including the Saint-Lô breakthrough in July.

78th Fighter Group

In addition to other operations, the 78th participated in the intensive campaign against the German Air Force and aircraft industry during Big Week, 20–25 February 1944 and helped to prepare the way for the invasion of France.

A Jewish Girl in Shanghai

One flashback scene of the film, set in 1936, sees Rina and Michaili, in what appears to be an alpine setting in Europe, escaping being bombed by Nazi planes, despite the date preceding the aerial warfare of the Second World War.

Abraham Osheroff

When the Spanish Civil War came in 1936, Abe felt no real compulsion to go and fight, until he saw the bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe.

Allum Green

During the night of 5/6 September 1940 it was the scene of a Luftwaffe bombing raid, which resulted in the deaths of four British Army soldiers of the RAOC (Royal Army Ordnance Corps) and 14 men were injured.

B. G. Burkett

Growing up his "heroes were not sports figures like Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays but the fighter pilots who had blasted the Luftwaffe out of the sky".

Baltic University

In early 1947, it was moved to a former Luftwaffe barracks in Pinneberg (Eggerstedt-Kaserne) and renamed the Displaced Person's Study Centre.

Battle of Medenine

Luftwaffe attempts to support the attacks were ineffectual.

Bees in Paradise

Askey records in his autobiography that whilst filming the crew was strafed by the Luftwaffe and he was slightly injured as a result.

Belgooly

On 26 August 1941 a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88 crashed close to Belgooly, after being shot down by 615 Squadron of the RAF.

Between Two Rivers

Residents include a quilter commissioned by the United Nations, an undertaker, an ex-Luftwaffe pilot, a plastic surgeon specialising in sex change operations, and the story involves the complex interactions between them, including love affairs, rape, suicide and poisoning.

Bulford Kiwi

During World War II, the Kiwi was camouflaged with leaf mould, out of concerns that German bombers would use the Kiwi as a navigation marker during their raids over Britain.

Coleopter

From 1944 on the Luftwaffe was suffering from almost continual daytime attacks on its airfields, and was finding it almost impossible to conduct large scale operations.

Dan Woodards

He was the only person in the ground when, in August 1944, a Luftwaffe V1 landed on the pitch, exploding and causing damage to the playing area.

Des Teufels General

The title character is one Luftwaffe General Harras, who is critical of the Third Reich and the wartime attempt to conquer Europe: the story is set in 1941.

Discovery Air Defence Services

Some Alpha Jets retained the Luftwaffe paint schemes but a few have been repainted in desert or northern camouflage.

E. R. Hooton

Among his works is Phoenix Triumphant, a book about the early history of the Luftwaffe with much documentation provided by the Aviation Historian Alex Vanags-Baginskis.

El Djem

During World War II a major military airfield was located near El Djem, used first by the German Luftwaffe.

Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain

Many 'myths' about the Battle addressed are punctured by Deighton, which leaves one to conclude that the RAF achieved their main aim - merely to survive as an effective fighting force - largely because they made fewer mistakes than did the German Luftwaffe.

Geoffrey G. Gouriet

This was a technique adopted to try to prevent the Luftwaffe conducting air raids on British cities using BBC transmitters for navigation.

HMS Royal Ulsterman

On 14 November, while ferrying troops from Oran to Algiers, the ship was attacked, unsuccessfully, by five Luftwaffe aircraft.

Iron Duke-class battleship

Luftwaffe bombers attacked her on 17 October 1939; while they scored no direct hits, several near misses caused significant damage.

Jagdfaust

The Sondergerät SG 500 Jagdfaust was an experimental airborne anti-bomber recoilless rifle designed for use in the Me 163 Komet rocket plane by the German Luftwaffe during World War II.

John Clive

In 1977, he co-wrote, with J.D. Gilman, the historical novel KG 200, a story about a secret Luftwaffe unit during the Second World War.

John Herivel

At the time, Hut 6 were having only limited success with the Luftwaffe Enigma network known as "Red".

Kama tank school

Germany, prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles to operate tanks or an air force, was able to find alternative means to continue training and development for its future Panzerwaffe and the Luftwaffe.

Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl

In Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid she saw the impact of Luftwaffe bombing on behalf of the Nationalists, visited prisoners of war held by the Republicans and considered the impact of the conflict on women and children in particular.

King's Park F.C.

The fortunes of the club were hit further in 1941 when a Luftwaffe Heinkel III dropped a single Hermann bomb on Forthbank - one of only German two bombs that hit the town during the war, and was believed to be merely one that had been finally successfully dislodged by the crew after becoming "stuck" in its bomb cradle when its payload had been dropped elsewhere (a not uncommon problem for bomber crews during the war).

Klever Reichswald

In this protracted battle against Anglo-Canadian forces on Germany's Western Front, German lines under the capable General Alfred Schlemm (of the Luftwaffe) had been reequipped.

Lublin Voivodeship

Before the war, there were 300,000 Jews living in the region, which became the site of the Majdanek and Belzec concentration camps as well as several labour camps (Trawniki, Poniatowa, Budzyn, Puławy, Zamość, Biała Podlaska, and the Lublin work camps Lindenstraße 7 (Lipowa Street), Flugplatz, and Sportplatz) which produced military supplies for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe).

M39 cannon

The M39 was developed by the Springfield Armory, based on the World War II–era design of the German Mauser MG 213, a 20 mm (and 30 mm) cannon developed for the Luftwaffe, which did not see combat use.

MG 151 cannon

It was the prototype for the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon widely used on German Luftwaffe fighters, night fighters, fighter-bombers, bombers and ground-attack aircraft.

MG FF cannon

It saw widespread use in those roles by the German Luftwaffe, particularly during the early stages of World War II, although from 1941 onwards it was gradually replaced by the 20 mm MG 151/20.

Ministry of Fear

When the train stops during a Luftwaffe air raid, Neale's companion turns out not to be blind after all.

Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light

It includes some studio-bound footage of a Luftwaffe base and the interiors of plane cockpits, alongside genuine newsreel footage of an aerial dogfight and a downed plane.

Mrs. Slocombe

At one point she mentions a wartime experience of "being flung flat on me back on Clapham Common by a land mine", claiming "the German Air Force was responsible" (prompting Mr. Lucas to reply "all the other times she was flat on her back, the American Air Force was responsible").

Nicholas Rinaldi

The Luftwaffe in Chaos (1985 Negative Capability Press, ISBN 0-942544-04-8)

North Strand

Perhaps the most (in)famous occurrence associated with the North Strand was "the North Strand Bombings." In May 1941, during World War II, German aircraft of the Luftwaffe which had gone off course found themselves over neutral Dublin.

North Strand Road

On the night of 31 May 1941, aircraft of the German Luftwaffe dropped four high-explosive bombs on the North Strand Road area, killing 34 and injuring 90.

Number of deaths in Buchenwald

However, on the night of 19 October, seven days before their scheduled execution, 156 of the 168 airmen, including Lamason, were transferred from Buchenwald to Stalag Luft III by the Luftwaffe.

Ossip Zadkine

His best-known work is probably the sculpture "The Destroyed City" (1951-1953), represents a man without a heart, a memorial to the destruction of the center of the Dutch city Rotterdam in 1940 by the German Luftwaffe.

Otto Schulz-Kampfhenkel

In 1943 Schulz-Kampfhenkel got promoted to Special Commissioner of geographical questions in the Reichsforschungsrat after he had been lieutenant of Luftwaffe and SS-Untersturmführer.

Paul Leaman Clark

Clark was staffing a landing boat during a large assault on a beach in French North Africa, during World War II, when the craft's two other crew members (Richard Bucheit of St. Marys, PA and Donald LaRue of Hacketstown, N.J.) were wounded by a Luftwaffe fighter.

Prince Vultan

In a 2008 episode of the animated sitcom Family Guy called "Road to Germany", Brian, Stewie and Mort enlist the help of Vultan's Hawkman Army in a dogfight over Europe against the Luftwaffe.

Robert Frimtzis

In June 1941, at the age of eleven his peaceful town was destroyed by the Nazi Luftwaffe and he survived the ravages of World War II by running for 3000 miles across Ukraine, Russia and Uzbekistan to Tajikistan.

ROF Aycliffe

They became known as the "Aycliffe Angels" after a Nazi propaganda broadcast from Lord Haw-Haw threatened that "The little angels of Aycliffe won't get away with it" and promised that the Luftwaffe would bomb them into submission.

The marshy location was chosen as it was an ideal site, shrouded in fog and mist for much of the year providing cover against bombing by the Luftwaffe.

Rotary cannon

Using experience gained from 20mm and 30mm cannon utilized by Luftwaffe aircraft, a larger-caliber cannon shell for the new gun was deemed desirable, as it contained room for an explosive with more destructive force than the .30 and .50 caliber machine gun cartridges previously employed, and thus capable of destroying aircraft with only a few hits on target.

Ruislip-Northwood Urban District

During the war, the urban district saw a high number of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe during The Blitz, between 8 September 1940 and 9 May 1941.

Saïd Mohammedi

During World War II, he joined the Mufti to work with the German Luftwaffe, hoping that Hitler's defeat of France would lead to the liberation of Algeria and other French colonies.

Sayers Croft

The bombing of the Basque town of Guernica in Spain by planes of the German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion in 1937 made politicians realise the potential for destruction in British cities should another war with Germany break out in Europe.

Taj Mahal

In 1942, the government erected a scaffolding in anticipation of an air attack by German Luftwaffe and later by Japanese Air Force.

The Cruise of the Breadwinner

Whilst he is below deck, another Luftwaffe plane flies at the boat, shooting and charging at the deck.

The Relief of Belsen

Eventually, after a raid on the hospital by the Luftwaffe, Gonin challenges Johnston's competence, calling him a "pen-pusher", but he has loyal friends who point to his past bravery.

They Who Dare

The story is based on events that took place during World War II in the Dodecanese islands where special forces attempted to disrupt the Luftwaffe from threatening Allied forces in Egypt.

Tintagel Castle

Radford was required to take part in the war effort abroad, whilst many of the original site reports were destroyed when his house in Exeter was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the conflict.

Tony Ayrton

Richardson noted with relief that "German Tactical Reconnaissance noticed nothing new. Every morning I received the intercepted Luftwaffe's report of the previous day. 'Nothing to report' was the phlegmatic message on about D-7."

Top 10: The Forty-Niners

Joining him on his train ride is Leni Muller, a defector from the German Luftwaffe who fought Steven on her industrial broomstick as the Skywitch.

Werner Leich

From 1942 to 1945 Leich was a voluntary member of the German Luftwaffe with the rank of Fahnenjunker.

Wilfried Struve

Later, he obtained a position of an official at the meteorological unit of the Luftwaffe.

Wilhelm Schepmann

Schepmann managed to have units in the Heer (Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle), Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe (Jagdgeschwader 6 Horst Wessel) given SA honour titles, and even a Waffen-SS division (18. SS Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Horst Wessel).


Albert Leo Schlageter

Several important military ventures were also named for him, including the Jagdgeschwader 26 Schlageter fighter-wing of the Luftwaffe, and the naval vessel Albert Leo Schlageter.

Amelung

Heinz-Günter Amelung (1917-1964) German World War II Luftwaffe officer

Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters

# "Franz Josef Strauss, Defence Minister, reviews the Luftwaffe in 1958" – 1:40

Cholm Shield

Led by Generalleutnant Theodor Scherer a mixed group of Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and police personnel were supplied by air until they were relieved on 5 May 1942.

Claud Stokes

Somewhat ironically, his daughter, Margaret, would marry a German living in South Africa, Hanns Scharff who, after being stranded back in Germany due to the outbreak of the Second World War, wound up becoming famous as the chief interrogator for the German Luftwaffe, responsible for interrogating important prisoners, such as fighter aces.

Dornier Do 31

In the early 1960s, the Luftwaffe became increasingly concerned that its airfields were vulnerable to air attack from Eastern Bloc forces and actively researched the possibility of dispersed operations which included flying from Autobahnen but required aircraft with STOVL capabilities.

East Meon

During the Second World War, Hitler's Luftwaffe dropped 38 high explosive bombs and an estimated 3,500 incendiary bombs in the Parish; the only loss of life, however, was a pig.

Edward Middleton Barry

The Covent Garden work was hugely influential in Barry’s appointment to design the Royal Opera House in Valletta, Malta (1866), bombed by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War.

Hans-Jürgen Stumpff

On 8 May 1945, Stumpff served as the Luftwaffe representative at the signing of the unconditional surrender of Germany in Berlin.

Hans-Jürgen von Cramon-Taubadel

Hans-Jürgen Erdmann von Cramon-Taubadel (14 November 1901 in Roschkowitz – 6 November 1985) was German Luftwaffe Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53) "Pik As"

Hartismere School

Many of those evacuated from London had never heard a bomb falling on London and were therefore surprised when during their first week RAF Eye was bombed by the Luftwaffe this event taking place only a few hundred yards from Hartismere.

Heckmann

Alfred Heckmann (1914–1993), Luftwaffe flying ace of World War II

Heinrich Sturm

Hauptmann Heinrich Sturm (born 12 June 1920 in Dieburg, Hessia – killed in flying accident 22 December 1944 in Csór, Hungary) was German World War II Luftwaffe 158 victories Flying ace.

Hispano Aviación HA-1112

Being however of compact design, it fitted the airframe of the Bf 109 well, representing it in the German 1957 film Der Stern von Afrika (The Star of Africa) about Luftwaffe ace Hans-Joachim Marseille.

Hohenloh

It is located on the site of Hobart Barracks, a former military airfield, used before the war by the Luftwaffe and later by Allied Forces.

Kommando

The use of the term in the World War II era Luftwaffe was for special units used to test new aircraft for combat readiness (as Erprobungskommando units) and examples existed that only used the "Kommando" name, such as the Luftwaffe Gruppe-sized Kommando Nowotny.

Leipzig–Altenburg Airport

Two aircraft are currently on display there, an ex-Soviet Air Force MiG-21, and an ex-Luftwaffe Breguet 'Atlantique' maritime patrol aircraft.

Panzer Badge

On November 3, 1944 the head of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, instituted the Luftwaffe Panzer Badge, to honour the Panzer troops of the Luftwaffe Field Divisions.

Phoenix Triumphant

Phoenix Triumphant: The Rise and Rise of the Luftwaffe is a book by author E. R. Hooton.

Polkovnik

In the film The Eagle Has Landed, Michael Caine wears the uniform and insignia of a pulkownik while in secret being an oberst in the German Luftwaffe.

RLM aircraft designation system

Once accepted by Deutsche Lufthansa or the Luftwaffe, major variants of the aircraft were suffixed alphabetically with a capital letter.

Robert M. Losey

Several days later, Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring sent to Major General Arnold a message of regret regarding Losey's death.

Stéphane Abrial

From 1977 to 1991, he served as a fighter pilot both in France (in Cambrai, Dijon and Orange) and, from 1981 to 1984, in a West German Luftwaffe unit.

Thomas Cockcroft

He was wounded in action at Clifton Suspension Bridge during a Luftwaffe attack on the Bristol Aeroplane Company factory at Filton on the night of 25 September 1940, in which 168 bombs were dropped in 45 seconds, killing 131 people.

Weil im Schönbuch

Erich Hartmann (born April 19, 1922, in Weissach, died September 20, 1993 in Weil im Schönbuch) was a Luftwaffe pilot in World War 2.