captured luftwaffe planes
- Thread starter Smokey
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Catch22
Major
Cool article!
Interesting article.
Captain Eric Brown, in his book 'Wings of the Luftwaffe' describes in great detail 17 German aircraft he flew as the Royal Navy's Chief Test Pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
In his foreword he mentions that in total he flew 55 different German aircraft, mostly at Farnborough but quite a number of them in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Germany itself. His book lists the following aircraft.
Focke-Wulf 200C
Focke-Wulf 190
Focke-Wulf 189
Arado 234B
Heinkel 162
Heinkel 177
Heinkel 111
Heinkel 219
Junkers 87
Junkers 88
Junkers 52/3M
Dornier 217
Dornier 335
Messerschmitt 109
Messerschmitt 262
Messerschmitt 110
Messerschmitt 163
I wonder how many of these aircraft were seen in the skies over England and Europe with British markings during and after the war?
In his foreword he mentions that in total he flew 55 different German aircraft, mostly at Farnborough but quite a number of them in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Germany itself. His book lists the following aircraft.
Focke-Wulf 200C
Focke-Wulf 190
Focke-Wulf 189
Arado 234B
Heinkel 162
Heinkel 177
Heinkel 111
Heinkel 219
Junkers 87
Junkers 88
Junkers 52/3M
Dornier 217
Dornier 335
Messerschmitt 109
Messerschmitt 262
Messerschmitt 110
Messerschmitt 163
I wonder how many of these aircraft were seen in the skies over England and Europe with British markings during and after the war?
Catch22
Major
For certain the 109 and 190 would have been seen, along with the 110, 111 and 88. I don't think many 262s would have been flying around for everyone to see.
PeterEvans LEMB Admin
Airman
Hi all...
With regards the Me262 in the UK, from the pages of "War Prizes" by Phil Butler, at least two were flight tested.
AirMin.51, a Me262A-2a WNr.112372 from 19th September 1945 thru to 29th November 1945 it made several test flights there totalling some 8hrs 15min flight time...
AirMin.81, a Me262A-2a WNr.500200 made 11 flights at the RAE totalling 5hrs 35mins.
Cheers,
Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator
With regards the Me262 in the UK, from the pages of "War Prizes" by Phil Butler, at least two were flight tested.
AirMin.51, a Me262A-2a WNr.112372 from 19th September 1945 thru to 29th November 1945 it made several test flights there totalling some 8hrs 15min flight time...
AirMin.81, a Me262A-2a WNr.500200 made 11 flights at the RAE totalling 5hrs 35mins.
Cheers,
Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator
glennasher
Senior Airman
I've seen pictures somewhere, of a 262 being testflown at Seymour IN after the war, I think they did a good bit of testing Luftwaffe planes there (it's not too far from Wright-Patterson, maybe they arrived in Seymour for lunch or something).
GregP
Major
Most of the odd-looking planes seemed to have flown just fine.
The BV 141 was asymmetric, but the wing was pretty big and that likely made for good handling.
I'm glad Eric Brown didn't try a Natter ... or some of the wierd Russian types like the Yalkovlev Yak-1000 of 1949 with a VERY short span. He might not be around if he had done so. At least the BV 141 had a normal type wingspan.
I spoke with Delmar Benjamin at one airshow, who built an exact copy of the GeeBee R-1 and flew it for years here in the USA. He said the GeeBee had a heavy wing loading and the pilots of the time when it was built simply had no experience in heavy wing loading planes. He flew it in racing and aerobatic demos around the USA for 10+ years without incident and finally retired it, so he knows what he is talking about.
I'd like to see the Horten jet wing at the Udvar-Hazy builiding restored. It flew at least once (have seen a pic) and maybe more times. I'd bet with a simply stability augmentation system it would handle quite normally.
The BV 141 was asymmetric, but the wing was pretty big and that likely made for good handling.
I'm glad Eric Brown didn't try a Natter ... or some of the wierd Russian types like the Yalkovlev Yak-1000 of 1949 with a VERY short span. He might not be around if he had done so. At least the BV 141 had a normal type wingspan.
I spoke with Delmar Benjamin at one airshow, who built an exact copy of the GeeBee R-1 and flew it for years here in the USA. He said the GeeBee had a heavy wing loading and the pilots of the time when it was built simply had no experience in heavy wing loading planes. He flew it in racing and aerobatic demos around the USA for 10+ years without incident and finally retired it, so he knows what he is talking about.
I'd like to see the Horten jet wing at the Udvar-Hazy builiding restored. It flew at least once (have seen a pic) and maybe more times. I'd bet with a simply stability augmentation system it would handle quite normally.
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Brown always backed himself and in that sense was a brave man,but he was rarely foolhardy. He would have been aware of the problems of the Ba 349 both in its unmanned flights (or failiures to clear the tower) and Lothar Sieber's ill fated manned launch.
Cheers
Steve
