Aeroplane – June 2018

AEROPLANE JULY 2018 http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com 25

Q&A

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

• The editor’s inability to identify all but the most
  recognisable faces in archive images was again
  demonstrated by a caption he wrote in the June
  magazine. The fi rst of the images accompanying
  the Hangar Talk column shows not Viv Bellamy, but
  Paul Poberezny, the founder of the Experimental
  Aircraft Association, when he fl ew the turbine
  Auster on a visit to the UK in April 1966.


• The author of our Database last month on the
  Blackburn Monoplanes, Pete London, writes with
  some new information. He has discovered that
  Malcolm Christie, passenger in the Blackburn
  during the ‘Wars of the Roses’ race, eventually
  become a pilot, attaining his aviator’s certifi cate in
  the autumn of 1914.


• Dr Kevin Wright has spotted a typo in his Project
  ‘Robin’ Canberra feature in the June issue. On page
  51, the reference to Project ‘Shortcut’ should say
  ‘Sharp Cut’.


• The caption in June’s Hooks’ Tours feature on the
  Hastings referring to an aircraft from No 24
  Squadron is incorrect; it should have said No 36

Squadron. Regarding the image of Hastings C2

WJ331, the date and location of which were

unknown, Dr Steve Bond writes to say the photo

was taken on 21 May 1955 at Brize Norton’s Armed

Forces Day.

• On page 104 of the June issue, the reference to 5
  June 1944 should, of course, read 2019.


• With reference to the May magazine’s feature on
  No 617 Squadron’s Wizernes raids, Peter Jefferies
  points out that the photographic interpretation at
  RAF Medmenham was carried out by personnel of
  the Allied Central Interpretation Unit (ACIU), not the
  Photographic Interpretation Unit (PIU) as stated.


• In the May issue’s Database on the Fairchild C-82,
  the image of TWA’s example was taken at
  Mulhouse-Basle airport, not Paris-Orly as written in
  the caption.


• John Gregson notes that the caption for the
  image of Currie Wot G-BFWD in April’s Hooks’
  Tours’ says it has an O-200 engine, but that the
  cowling and exhaust stubs suggest that a Walter
  Mikron was installed at that time.

California curios

Q

Last month, Geoff

Dobson sought details

on a Lockheed Lodestar he

photographed at Chino in

1994.

A

Piet Luijken also saw the

aircraft at Chino, but the

previous year, and logged it as

N339, a former USAAF C-60A

42-56055. He says online

sources noted the aircraft as

moving to Hot Springs,

Montana, in 2015 where its

registration was cancelled.

Mysterious

Messerschmitt fl ight

Q

In the March 2018 issue,

Freddie O’Dwyer

outlined the fl ight over Ireland

of Bf 108 D-IDNT in June 1938

and queried where it and

others might have visited.

A

Following the photograph

of D-IDNT sent in by

Dugald Cameron in the June

issue, O’Dwyer comments that

it is shown being refuelled at

Renfrew. This is consistent with

what happened at Dublin

where the two German crew

members, Pasquay and

Thomas, claimed to have no

money to pay hangar fees but

were in possession of a Shell

carnet card which got them a

refi ll. Freddie continues, “The

1938 Isle of Man Air Races

consisted of separate

competitions, a fl ight from

Hatfi eld to Ronaldsway on

Saturday 4 June and races

around the island on 7 June

(postponed from the 6th). I

have no evidence that Renfrew

played any part in the

competition, so it seems likely

that the Germans fl ew there

for ‘information-gathering’

purposes after the races, and

then on to Aldergrove before

landing at Baldonnel on the

afternoon of 8 June.”

He also notes, “the German

team had, in addition to the

three Taifuns, an Fw 44

Stieglitz, a Klemm Kl 35 and an

AGO Ao 192. It seems likely

that some of them and indeed

their manager, air attaché

Generalleutnant Ralph

Wenninger, had a good look

around Hatfi eld during their

stay. It may be no coincidence

that the Abwehr landed agent

Eddie Chapman in England in

December 1942, with the

specifi c objective of blowing

up the main transformer at the

de Havilland factory. A fake

explosion was subsequently

staged there by MI5 to hide

the fact that Chapman was

working for them. Fridtjof

Pasquay later served on the

Russian Front as a senior

Luftwaffe offi cer and was

reported missing in action

fl ying a Ju 88A on 25

November 1941.”

Focke-Wulf names

— and a failed

operation

Q

A question appeared in

June’s magazine

regarding the translation of

the German name Stösser for

the Fw 56 trainer and Kurier

for the Fw 200.

A

Jeremy Downs says

Stösser seems to be

translated as falcon and

occasionally goshawk. He says,

“The German for these

normally seems to be Falke

and Habicht, so perhaps

Stösser is a dialect word”.

Regarding the name Kurier

referring to the Fw 200,

Jeremy notes that it appears in

the Coastal Command book

published by HMSO in 1942.

“In a chapter entitled ‘The big

bad Wulf’, the text says, ‘At

fi rst these Kondors — to give

them the name by which they

are usually known, though it

applies strictly only to the civil

version of the type...’” Jeremy

suggests that Kurier was

intended to refer to the

military Fw 200 and Kondor/

Condor to the civil version, but

the Kurier name seemed to

fade from usage as the war

progressed.

Rudolf Koenen says Stösser

has several meanings in

German, sparrowhawk being

one; this bird is also known as

the Sperber. However, in

northern Germany, Stösser is

commonly used.

Robin Ellwood provides

details on a further use of

Stösser. It was chosen as the

codename for a military

operation connected with

Hitler’s fi nal campaign in the

west, his thrust towards

Antwerp through the Ardennes

in December 1944. Operation

‘Stösser’, translated at the time

as auk, was a paratroop drop

into an area held by the

Americans to take and hold

some crossroads at Belle Croix/

Jalhay until the arrival of

German armoured forces. The

‘Stösser’ operation on 17

December 1944 was led by

Oberst Freiherr von der

Haydte. Some 67 — some

sources say as many as 112 —

Ju 52/3m transports were

made available to drop around

1,300 troops and equipment

during what turned out to be a

fraught night-time mission.

Greatly hindered by snow and

high winds, the massed fl ight

resulted in the loss of aircraft

and men to the point where

few arrived at the main target.

The scattered survivors could

only fi ght their way back to the

German lines. Despite

capturing some US troops on

the way, ‘Stösser’ was

considered a failure.

American troops examine one of the Operation ‘Stosser’ Ju 52/3ms

forced down by poor weather near Asselborn in northern

Luxembourg following the unsuccessful Ardennes battle. Many of the

aircraft were given a random white fi nish over their usual dark green

camoufl age and, for the night operation, fl ame dampers were fi tted

to the engine exhausts.

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