WW2 Luftwaffe

On July 18, 1942, the Messerschmitt Me 262 V3 took off from Leipheim powered solely by Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines. It was piloted by Fritz Wendel. This was not the first flight of the Me 262, but a crucial milestone: the first flight of this type powered purely by jet propulsion. #Me262 #Messerschmitt #WW2 #aviationhistory

Refueling Junkers Ju 252.

German heavy transport aircraft Messerschmitt Me.323 "Gigant" near the Hungarian city of Szentes. 1944

The Fw 190 had already been in service for nine months, and the RAF still hadn't been able to get its hands on any of them. Those that had been shot down had fallen over territory controlled by the Germans or lay at the bottom of the Channel. Various plans were devised to steal one of

the Fw 190s of JG 26, but the night of June 23rd presented the opportunity that the RAF had been awaiting with such longing. Two Spitfire Wings were returning after a mission over Brittany in which they had had a brief encounter with the Fw 190s of III./JG 2. When the

British pilots, believing themselves safe upon sighting the Devon coast, were attacked by elements of the Gruppenstab and of the 7./JG 2 who had been following them from France. An intense aerial combat ensued that concluded when the fuel gauges began to complain.

The German aircraft dispersed, setting course for continental Europe; however, Oberleutnant Armin Faber (Group Adjutant of III./JG 2) became disoriented, directing his aircraft toward Exeter. With barely any fuel left, he headed for the nearest airfield, making a pass over

inverted and lowering the landing gear as a sign of victory, what he could not imagine was that it was the Pembrey airfield of the RAF. In this way, a new Fw 190 A-3 with no combat damage fell into the hands of the RAF; a true war trophy for British intelligence.

Transport aircraft Messerschmitt Me.323 "Giant" and liaison aircraft Messerschmitt Bf.108B "Typhoon" at the airfield

Me 262 111711, pilot Hans Fay

A German officer examines bullet holes in the fuselage of a Heinkel He.111 bomber after returning from a combat mission. The damage was apparently caused by 7.69mm machine gun fire from British fighters. 1940

16 July 1942. First flight of the Ju 290 V1 prototype BD+TX, developed from the Ju 90 airliner intended to replace the relatively slow Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor which by 1942 was proving increasingly vulnerable.

Delivery of a 250-kg SC 250 bomb to a German Fw 200C Condor bomber

German bomber Dornier Do. 217E-2 at the airfield before a night flight. April 30, 1942

Aircraft mechanics roll out a Do 217E-4 bomber from the 8th Squadron of the Luftwaffe Bomber Wing KG2 (8./KG2) at an airfield (presumably in France or the Netherlands). July 1942

Crews of German Focke-Wulf Fw.200C "Condor" bombers from the 1st Squadron of the 40th Bomber Squadron of the Luftwaffe (1./KG40) at Bordeaux airfield. September 1941

15 July 1950. Death of Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (b 16 February 1922). Luftwaffe night fighter pilot and highest achieving (121) night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. Awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.

15 July 1941. The first pilot to claim 100 victories was German WWII fighter ace Werner Mölders. (18 March 1913 – 22 November 1941). The Wehrmacht and the West German Bundeswehr, both honoured him by naming two fighter wings, a destroyer and barracks after him.

#German Bf 109 over #Paris (1940)

Germany developed several surface-to-air missile (SAM) projects during World War II, but none saw operational combat before the war ended. The most famous and technologically significant was the supersonic Wasserfall, alongside other notable projects like the Rheintochter and Schmetterling.

Battle of #Prokhorovka

12-7-1943

12-7-2024

It was the zenith of the series of battles encompassed within the Battle of #Kursk, where Paul Hauser's II SS Panzer Korps collided with the 5th Tank Army of Pavel Rotmistrov's Guard

Work by Nicolás Trudgian

#WW2 #SGM