POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Aviation News incorporating
Jets, Key Publishing Ltd C/O 3390 RAND ROAD, SOUTH PLAINFIELD,
NJ 07080.
DISTRIBUTED BY: Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 Poultry Avenue, London,
EC1A 9PP, UK. Tel: +44 (0)20 7429 4000 Fax: +44 (0)20 7429 4001
PRINTED BY: Warner’s (Midland) plc, The Maltings, Bourne,
Lincs. PE10 9PH
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY: Key Publishing Ltd,
address as Editorial. Printed in England ISSN 2047-7198
The Editorial team is always happy to receive correspondence. It is all read
and appreciated, but we cannot always guarantee a reply. While every care is
taken with material, the Publisher cannot be held responsible for any loss or
damage incurred. All items submitted for publication are subject to our terms
and conditions. These are regularly updated without prior notice and are freely
available from Key Publishing Ltd or downloadable from http://www.keypublishing.
com. We are unable to guarantee the bona fi des of any of our advertisers. Readers
are strongly recommended to take their own precautions before parting with any
information or item of value, including, but not limited to, money, manuscripts,
photographs or personal information in response to any advertisements within
this publication. The entire contents of Aviation News incorporating Jets is ©
Copyright 2016. No part of it can be reproduced in any form or stored on any form
of retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher.
Note to contributors: Please note that images published on the Air Forces Daily
website do not attract a fee, though they will be credited appropriately. If such
images are also published in our printed titles, they will be paid at the appropriate
usual rate.June 2018
Volume 80 No 6.
Founded in 1939 as
Air Defence Cadet
Corps Gazette.
EDITOR: Dino Carrara
E-mail: [email protected]
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR:
Nigel Price
General enquiries to:
Tuesday Osborne,
Aviation News incorporating Jets,
PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs,
PE9 1XQ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1780 755131
Fax: +44 (0)1780 757261
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk
DESIGN: Froggatt DesignsCOVER DESIGN: Steve Donovan
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Janet Watkins
ADVERTISING AND COMMERCIAL:
Commercial Director: Ann Saundry
Advertisement Manager:
Andrew Mason
E-mail: [email protected]
Advertising Production Manager:
Debi McGowan
Advertising Production Controller:
Sophie Studd
E-mail: [email protected]
Group Marketing Manager:
Martin Steele
GROUP CEO & PUBLISHER:
Adrian CoxThe next issue is a US Air Force in the UK special and will be on sale on June 21, 2018*
*UK scheduled on sale date. Please note that the overseas deliveries are likely to be after this date.SUBSCRIPTIONS / MAIL ORDER:
See the subscriptions advertisement in this issue
for details of current offer rates. Copies can also
be obtained by placing a standing order with your
newsagent.
Contacts: PO Box 300, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1BR, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1780 480404. Fax: +44 (0)1780 757812.
E-mail: Subscriptions: [email protected].
E-mail: Mail Order: [email protected].
http://www.keypublishing.com/shop
Readers in the USA can place subscriptions by visiting
http://www.aviation-news.co.uk or by calling toll free
800-428-3003 or fax 757-428-6253 or by writing to
Aviation News incorporating Jets, 3300 Pacifi c Ave,
Ste 500, Virginia Beach, VA23451-9828.
Aviation News incorporating Jets (ISSN: 2047-7198),
is published monthly by Key Publishing Ltd, PO Box
100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ, UK and distributed
in the USA by UKP Worldwide, 3390 RAND ROAD,
SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ 07080. Periodicals postage
paid at RAHWAY, NJ AND AT ADDITIONAL MAILING
OFFICES.Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/aviationnewsmagazine or on Twitter @AvNewsMagFollow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/aviationnewsmagazine or on Twitter @AvNewsMag
15, 1944. In July at least another seven
were shot down between July 5 and 10.
It is no surprise that surviving crews and
aircraft were withdrawn to Trondheim and
Gardermoen in Norway, in mid-July 1944,
after which both units played very little
further part in the war.EASTERN FRONT
As I/KG 40 and I/KG 100 were taking part
in Operational Steinbock, to the east, KG 1
was nishing its conversion to the He 177 at
Burg, near Essen, before it moved east to
Prowehren and Seerappen in East Prussia.
By the start of June 1944, all three groups
of KG 1 were ready for action with at least
90 He 177 A-3 and A-5s (the A-5 being the
main production version, improving on the
A-3 with strengthened wings, shortened
undercarriage oleos and increased external
bomb load).
However, it appears the aircraft was used
in the tactical rather than strategic role, but
at an altitude beyond the range of Soviet
ghters and anti-aircraft re.
Surprisingly, during intensive operationsby KG 1, there were few instances of
engines overheating. At last, the seemingly
innumerable problems had been ironed
out and the He 177 was achieving its true
potential. But it was too late.
One of the last missions was own on
July 20, 1944 and a few days later, KG 1
ceased operations and returned to Germany
where the unit was disbanded. The German
military was retreating on two fronts and fuel
production was struggling to meet demand.
Each He 177 required six tonnes of fuel
with KG 1 alone requiring 480 tonnes to
mount an attack with all its aircraft. The fuel
needed equated to an average day’s output
by Germany re neries.
It was ironic that when the He 177
was most needed, and after it had at long
last proven itself in combat, it was now
withdrawn from operations. Luftwaffe chief,
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, stopped
production of the bomber on July 1, 1944.
By that summer, most He 177 units had
been grounded, disbanded or converted to
other aircraft types. Forty-four of the type
were reported still serviceable with II/KG 100He 177s at Aalborg-West, Denmark, at the
start of 1945, but any part the aircraft played
in the next ve months is unclear.
The Germans had intended more than
30 He 177 variants (including sub variants)
but most never ew and, as with many other
German aircraft types, He 177s were found
at various air elds at the end of the war.
The French operated at least two He
177 A-3s which were captured at Toulouse-
Blagnac in September 1944. Another He
177 A-5/R6 (R6 denoted fuel tanks tted to
the forward and central bomb bays) coded
F8+AP, of 5/KG 40, was own from Blagnac
to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at
Farnborough on September 10, 1944, after
which it was given RAF markings and the
serial TS439.
Another, Werk Nummer 550256 and
coded GP+RY, which was believed to be
an A-5 converted to an A-7 (high-altitude
bomber, of which only six were thought to
have been made) eventually made it to the
USA.
All were scrapped, and no examples of this
ill-fated bomber exist today.82 Aviation News incorporating Jets June 2018A captured He 177 at Toulouse-Blagnac in September 1944.78-82_he177DC.mfDC.mfDC.mfDC.mf.indd 82 02/05/2018 12:45