CHAPTER 12
As stated at the beginning, the German Luftwaffe was the only airforce to have made so complete a use of its war plunder. Foreign planes used were mainly of Italian, French and Czech origins.
Until 1943, these aircraft were mainly transferred into flying schools, helping the German aircraft industries to concentrate on the production of fighters and bombers. But from 1943 the need for transport units was so acute that French and Italian machines were put to action in some special newly-raised units. We can see that on three occasions the Luftwaffe hoped to equip an offensive fighter unit with captured planes (Czech Avia B.534s in 1939, French Curtiss H-75s in 1940 and Italian Macchi 205s in 1943). All these attempts were totally unsuccessful.
A Caudron C.445 in German markings.
This other C.445 is painted in a beautiful blue colour. Note the black anti-reflect panel in front of the cockpit.
A Bloch 152 facing an Avia B-71. Notice the yellow colour covering the belly of the hack machine.
A photograph of a LeO 451, most likely taken in the Med in 1943 or 1944. Here too, the ex-bomber has yellow paint on the lower structures.
Spitfire AZ-H a few hours after its capture on 15 August 1940. The damage caused by Flak is still visible. The fighter seems to be in the process of repainting.
German pilots examine AZ-H on a German airfield. Notice that the nickname ‘Dirty Dick’ was maintained.
A captured Hurricane used by JG 51.
Wellington LN-F after being captured on 5 December 1940 at Vitry-en-Artois.
LN-F in German markings.
German soldiers cut the red star from the fuselage of a captured Soviet plane. Proof that these planes were not very appreciated, and thus not protected by the Luftwaffe.
A Tupolev SB-2 (or an Avia B-71?) in a Luftdienst unit.
It is naturally difficult to give a number of the total Beuteflugzeugen used by the Luftwaffe, as eighty-five per cent of the archives of the airforce were lost, destroyed or burned in the war. We can only give an estimate: between 2,000 and 3,000:
· around 800/1,000 French planes;
· around 1,000/1,200 Italian planes;
· around 500/600 Czech planes.
A German Dragon Rapide. It seems that three of these planes were found in the Baltic States.
These few Dragons were used in the German Air Force until they ran out of parts.
A Kittyhawk found in the desert. These wrecks could rarely be salvaged, due to a lack of roads and transport vehicles.
The sole Stirling captured intact, MG-F (N3705) of No. 7 Sq, photographed on 16 August 1942 with a Bf 109.
An ex-Italian Savoir Marchetti 82 in flight.
As new documents/photos appear nearly every month, it is difficult to tell how many British/American planes were included in the Luftwaffe, being tested or used in special missions (e.g. in KG 200). We think that at least fifty USAAF planes were in service in the German Airforce (fifty per cent were bombers). RAF planes perhaps numbered around forty. These numbers are those of the aircraft actually flown by German crews. Indeed, other captured enemy planes (such as a Lysander) were presented in static display in a few special ‘museums’ (like the French depot of Nanterre) to help the flyers to identify their enemies.
One of the P-38s used by the Luftwaffe.
Spitfire PR.XI T9+EK captured on 13 May 1944 near Hanover.
USAAF soldiers found this SM.82 on the edge of their newly occupied German airfield.
At Salzburg, a B-24 used to supply Rhodes island was liberated in May 1945.