CHAPTER EIGHT
This period was catastrophic for the Wehrmacht, which suffered two severe setbacks in these months: the capitulation of the 6th Army at Stalingrad (January 1943) and the loss of Tunisia (May 1943).
In the air, the USAAF began to operate actively from its English bases. The first attack of B-17 bombers occurred on 17 August 1942 and, slowly, American planes intensified their actions. In this period, two four engine bombers (B-17 and B-24) were captured. Nevertheless, it took months for the Luftwaffe to make them operational again. A RAF Beaufighter seems to have been captured, but we do not know where or when.
B-17s operated over France from 17 August 1942, and the first Flying Fortress to fall into German hands was captured on 12 December 1942.
B-17 41-24595 ‘Wulf Hound’ of 303rd BG was forced to land on the Dutch airfield of Leuwaarden while engaged in a raid against Romilly.
The B-17 was quickly repainted in German markings but its first flight in the Luftwaffe didn’t happen until March 1943.
The original serial of the B-17 was maintained in spite of the repainting of ‘Wulf Hound’.
The position of the left fuselage air gunner was heavily photographed.
‘Wulf Hound’ was visited by many German fighter pilots. Here, the Kommandeur of II./JG 26, Major Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland discusses the bomber after having examined it. On 17 August 1943, he will be killed over Belgium, shot down by P-47s escorting Flying Fortresses.
The weak points of the Flying Fortress were underlined with white stripes. Here are the fuel tanks.
When the Danish Army was disbanded at the end of August/beginning of September 1943, the Luftwaffe recovered some planes (including at least twenty-one Fokker D.XXIs) in good state. It is doubtful that these obsolete machines spent long in the Luftwaffe, and the majority seem to have been scrapped.
While dogfights occurred over Europe, in North Africa Axis troops retreated into the Tunisian pocket. German troops could capture enemy planes, like this US Airacobra, but it is unlikely this plane could be ferried to the other side of the Med.
German soldiers pose on a shot down US Kittyhawk in Tunisia.
On 20 February 1943, B-24 D-1 41-23659 ‘Blonde Bomber’ landed on the Sicilian airfield of Pachino.
Having been captured on Italian soil, the bomber naturally became the ‘property’ of Regia Aeronautica, being initially tested at Guidonia.
On 19 June 1943, ‘Blonde Bomber’ flew to Rechlin to be tested by the German specialists. Italian pilots were in exchange invited to try B-17 ‘Wulf Hound’. On its arrival the B-24 wears its US camouflage with Italian Savoia crosses. On 8 September 1943, when Italy broke its alliance, ‘Blonde Bomber’ remained in Germany, being repainted in German markings before presumably entering KG 200.
Spitfire AH-E (B5540) of No. 332 (Norwegian) Sq. was shot down in the Netherlands by JG 1. Its pilot, 2nd Lt Jorgen Nils Fuglesang, became a POW. The plane seems to be intact, but we do not know if it was salvaged by the Luftwaffe.
With such high losses of Allied planes on European soil, specialists were trained to study the new war material. Here, a Beutefeldwebel examines an American bomber lost in Europe.
Not all captured planes joined the Luftwaffe. This captured Spitfire was destroyed in a hangar on Bernay airfield (France) by allied bombs.
At the end of August 1943, the Danish Air Force was disbanded and its planes seized by the Germans. Around twenty Fokker D.XXIs were captured, but were probably all scrapped.
In this period, the Luftwaffe seems to have included an RAF Bristol Beaufighter in its ranks, but we do not know any more.
We do not know the origin of this Airspeed A.6 Envoy, photographed in a flying school. Perhaps a civilian plane found in the Baltic states.
