Looking for pictures of Hurricanes in Greece in 1941, and books about Balkan campaign (1 Viewer)

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bobolex

Airman
41
24
Feb 7, 2014
I'm researching the short-lived British expeditionary force sent to defend Greece in late 1940 to April 1941, particularly the end of the fighting in April when the Luftwaffe was involved.

I have a lot of the pictures and info that is already on the internet, but would like to know about some books before possibly aquiring them. The German press photographer Benno Wundshammer (who went on to have quite a carreer after the war too) was with the Luftwaffe in Greece at the period and published a book titled Flieger Ritter Helden that is quite common. If anybody has the book, I would be very interested to know what is in it.
Also, a book has recently been published about Wundshammer as a propaganda photographer.
Finally, I am aware of a rare period book (limited distribution, I believe) entitled Wir Kämpfen auf dem Balkan, documenting the VIII Fliegerkorps campaign of 1941. I only have seen a double-page spread of the inside with very interesting pictures of the wrecked ACs left by the RAF and the Royal Hellenic Air Force at Argos airfield, among others. Anybody knows this one ?
Anything else detailed related to the RAF's activity at Argos, Eleusis/Elefsis (Athens), Larissa or Paramythia would be interesting. I know the IWM material that is on the internet, and also the main books.
 

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I have this one. A great reference.

I also have the Osprey Hurricane Aces, which has a chapter on Greece, with Pat Pattle, William Vale, and Roald Dahl (barely making it as an 'ace').

Any unusual pictures of 33 Sqn, 80 Sqn and 112 Sqn aircraft in Greece, even wrecks. Stuff from eBay, maybe ? There must be lots of images taken by the invading Germans besides the official stuff.
 
By the Way, Argos became a well-used Luftwaffe airfield starting in late April 1941. It was populated with Me 110s and Ju-87's mostly, busy hammering at Crete and the remainder of the surrounding Mediterranean. So there are a lot of images of Argos then, sometimes with wrecks. The BundesArchiv has a series of them taken by a "Schimpke", which I only have in low resolution, in which the wreck of V7773 "Country of Surrey" is quite visible. If anybody has decent quality copies of these, that would be useful too.
 
I don't know the 112 Sqn book yet. Is there much concerning Hurricanes in it ? It's my main focus.
 
Nobody has the Flieger Ritter Helden volume or Wir Kämpfen auf dem Balkan ? I don't mind buying them but I just wanted to know that they have some of the information I am looking for before buying (into) Luftwaffe propaganda ;)
 
I have found this picture that could be in Greece : it's a RAF MkI Hurricane with Vokes filter but the airfield seems temperate (so not Egypt, etc.) and it has its ferry tanks, which Hurricanes use to have on their way across the Mediterranean, so that chances are good that it's on a British base. The soldier seems to be in German uniform, so all in all, it looks like it could be in Greece (or where else?). Can anybody confirm this somehow ?
Hurricane_wreck_with_drop_tanks.jpg
 
No, the 44 Gal. underwing tanks of the Hurricanes were not 'droppable'. But seeing the shape of the rest of the aircraft, the tank looks preety good ;)
The main part of the tank was made of plywood, but obviously not the front cone.
 

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