Luftwaffe´s early aircrafts

The Klemm Kl 25 was a successful German light leisure and training monoplane aircraft, developed in 1928. More than 600 aircraft were built, and manufacturing licenses were sold to the United Kingdom and the United States. With low cantilever wing, fixed landing gear, and two open cockpits, the aircraft was developed by Hanns Klemm who used his previous design, the Klemm Kl 20, as a starting point. It first flew on a 20 hp (15 kW) Mercedes engine. About thirty different versions of the Kl 25 were made, and these were equipped with engines ranging from 32 to 70 kW (43 to 94 hp). The fuselage was covered with plywood. Depending on the model, the aircraft's weight was 620 to 720 kg (1,367 to 1,587 lb), and it had a 10.5 to 13 m (34 to 43 ft) wingspan. Take-off was achieved at only 50 km/h (31 mph) and the maximum speed was between 150 to 160 km/h (93 to 99 mph).

In relation to similar aircraft of the time, assembly was very easy, and this made it a very popular aircraft. According to the sales brochures, only 25% of the engine's power was needed to keep the aircraft flying, compared to biplanes of the period, which required 50% engine power. About 600 were built in Germany between 1929 and 1936, serving with various flight training organizations, on either wheels, skis, or floats. Fifteen were sold to Britain before the Second World War, being fitted with a variety of domestic engines, while twenty-eight more were built by British Klemm Aeroplane Company as the B.A. Swallow.

The Junkers G 23 and G 24 was a German three-engine, low-wing monoplane nine-passenger aircraft manufactured by Junkers from 1925. The increased German air traffic in the 1920s led to a requirement for a larger passenger transport aircraft. The G 23 was an enlarged further development of the F 13. It was originally designed by Ernst Zindel as a single-engine aircraft, but due to the requirement for more power, two more engines were added to provide the needed power for the aircraft. The aircraft was manufactured in three main batches, with different engine alternatives. Between 1925 and 1929, at least 72 aircraft were manufactured, with 26 for Lufthansa This aircraft managed to set a number of aviation records involving pay loads. Fritz Horn flew 2,020 km (1,560 mi) with a payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) on 14 h 23 min, having an average speed of 140 km/h (90 mph), setting a new world record.

On 24 July 1926, two G 24s became famous after having flown the 20,000 km (12,400 mi) route between Berlin and Peking in just 10 stops. This flight ended on 8 September. It was initially meant that they would fly all the way to Shanghai, but they were prevented by military conflicts. On 26 September 1926, the two aircraft landed again in Berlin. Later during the year, a trans-Euro-Asiatic line is created.Lufthansa, who operated the largest G 24 fleet in the world, decided to modify their G 24s to a single engine standard. The first modifications were done in March 1928. The wing was shortened and the center engine was replaced with a BMW VIU engine. Junkers called this aircraft F 24ko. A total of 11 G 24s were modified to F 24 standard between 1928 and 1930. By July 1933, most of these BMW-equipped F 24s were again modified with the new Jumo 4 and designated as F 24kay. Most of these F 24s remained in service at the beginning of World War II in 1939. Most of them were used as freighter transport aircraft by Lufthansa. The Soviet-German aircraft cooperation in the 1920s let to a Soviet request for a new bomber aircraft.

Junkers then designed the Junkers Ju 25 as a twin-engine bomber. But the development of this aircraft was too expensive for Junkers, especially since there were some difficulties with his Russian partners. Junkers then advised his lead designers - Ernst Zindel and Hermann Pohlmann - to design a military derivate of the G 24. By November 1924, the new aircraft was ready, and given the designation G3S1 24 and it was a direct modification of the G 24ba. The aircraft was said to be an air ambulance. Junkers followed up this design with several reconnaissance designs e.g. the G1Sa 24 which was a modified G 24 with only a single engine. The next design, the G2sB 24 was also a bomber, directly derivated from the G 24he. This aircraft had a new center wing section and a new nose section, to allow an open shooting area to the forward areas. Junkers decided to produce this design as the general military version of the G 24 and gave it the designation K 30 in 1926. In 1926, the Finnish airlines Aero O/Y acquired a Junkers G 24, which went into service on the Stockholm route. The aircraft was equipped with floats, but not skis, and so could be used in summer only. It remained in service until 1935. A Swedish G 24 also participated in the rescue of the unfortunate Italian Umberto Nobile expedition to the North pole. This was the first time an aircraft had flown over the Arctic Sea without stops.

Junkers offered the K-30 design to the Soviet forces, which ordered a total of 23 K 30s in 1925 and 1926. A production line for the military version K 30 was set up at A.B. Flygindustri at Limhamn in Sweden as the German aviation industry was prevented from building military aircraft in 1926. The parts for the K 30 aircraft were built at Dessau and then shipped to Limhamn, where A.B. Flygindustri built the K 30 under the designation R 42. Some of the R 42s were equipped with machine gun towers and bomb mountings. But several of the R 42s were also shipped without military equipment to Russia. These were later fitted with military equipment at Junkers' factory in Fili, Moscow. The R 42/K 30 was designated JuG-1 in the Soviet Union. They received five 7.62 mm (.30 in) machine guns and could carry a bomb load of 500 kg (1,100 lb). This version was used to rescue the expedition of downed balloonist General Umberto Nobile in 1928.

Six more R 42s were delivered to Chile during 1926 plus three K 30s to Spain and two K 30s to Yugoslavia until 1931. The Spanish and Yugoslavian aircraft were produced at Dessau. The K 30 was equipped with either wheels, skis or floats. With the successful conversion of the G 24 into the single-engine aircraft F 24, Junkers was also thinking about a single-engine K 30 in 1931. Like the F 24, this K30do was to be equipped with the Jumo 4 engine and was similar to the initial G1Sa 24. However, no single-engine K 30s were built.

The Junkers G 31 was an airliner produced in small numbers in Germany in the early 1920s. It was an all-metal, low-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional design, based on the G 24 but somewhat larger. Originally, the G 31 had been intended to equip Junkers' own airline, Junkers Luftverkehr, but this venture was merged into Lufthansa in 1926, and the new airline purchased only eight G 31s. Because their spacious cabins lent themselves to the incorporation of reclining chairs for sleeping passengers, these aircraft were used on Lufthansa's long-range routes, particularly to Scandinavia. The G 31s continued in this role until 1935, when replaced by the Junkers Ju 52.

Four other G 31s were sold for freighting cargo in New Guinea. Operated by Guinea Airways, one was owned by the airline itself, while the other three were owned by the Bulolo Gold Dredging Company. These differed from the G 31 airliners in having open cockpits, and a large hatch in the fuselage roof to accommodate the loading of bulky cargo via crane. In one particular operation, the G 31s were used to airlift eight 3,000 tonne (3,310 ton) dredges (in parts) from Lae to Bulolo. Three of the aircraft were destroyed in a Japanese air-raid on Bulolo on 21 January 1942, and the remaining aircraft was pressed into RAAF service 10 days later. This machine (construction number 3010, registration VH-UOW) was seriously damaged in an accident at Laverton, Victoria on 31 October that year after it careened off the runway and collided with and destroyed the Minister for Air's car. Although judged beyond repair by the Air Force, it eventually returned to freighter use in New Guinea for some time after the war.

The Gotha Go 145 was a German World War II-era biplane of wood and fabric construction used by Luftwaffe training units. Although obsolete by the start of World War II, the Go 145 remained in operational service until the end of the War in Europe as a night harassment bomber. In 1935, the Go 145 started service with Luftwaffe training units. The aircraft proved a successful design and production of the Go 145 was taken up by other companies, including AGO, Focke-Wulf and BFW. Licensed versions were also manufactured in Spain and Turkey. The Spanish version, called the CASA 1145-L actually remained in service until long after World War II. Without prototypes 1,182 Go 145 were built in Germany for Luftwaffe service and an unknown number of license-produced Go 145. Further development of the aircraft continued, the Gotha Go 145B was fitted with an enclosed cockpit and wheel spats (an aerodynamic wheel housing on fixed-gear). The Go 145C was developed for gunnery training and was fitted with a single 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 15 machine gun for the rear seat, after removal of flight controls for the rear seat.

By 1942, the Russians began using obsolete aircraft such as the Polikarpov Po-2 to conduct night harassment missions against the Germans. Noting the success of the raids, the Germans began conducting their own night harassment missions with obsolete aircraft on the Eastern Front. In December 1942, the first Störkampfstaffeln (harassment squadron) was established and equipped with Gotha Go 145 and Arado Ar 66. The night harassment units were successful and by October 1943 there were six night harassment squadrons equipped with Gotha Go 145. Also in October 1943, the Störkampfstaffeln were redesignated Nachtschlachtgruppe (NSGr) (night ground attack group, literally night battle group). In March 1945 Nachtschlachtgruppe 5 had 69 Gotha Go 145's on strength of which 52 were serviceable while Nachtschlachtgruppe 3 in the Courland Pocket had 18 Gotha Go 145's on strength of which 16 were serviceable. When the war in Europe ended on 8 May 1945 the Gotha Go 145 equipped the majority of the Nachtschlachtgruppe.

Very interesting material Gekho, thank you for sharing.

Good stuff!

The Dornier Do 15 Wal was a German reconnaissance flying boat of the Second World War in service from 1933 to the early 1940s. The Dornier Do 15 Wal was manned by a crew of four comprising a pilot and co-pilot/gunner sitting beside each other and a navigator/gunner and radio operator/gunner. It was powered by two BMW VI Vee piston engines providing a top speed of 220 kmh and a range of 2200 km. Armaments consisted of 200 kg of disposable stores carried on four under-wing hard points, each rated at 50 kg and generally comprising four 50 kg SC-50 bombs; one 7.92 mm MG15 rearward-firing trainable machine-gun on a ring mounting in each of the two staggered side-by-side dorsal positions.

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The Heinkel He 45 was a biplane developed as a bomber in the period before Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, but that entered service as a reconnaissance aircraft in the newly public Luftwaffe. Work on the He 45 began in 1930. Heinkel produced a conventional single bay biplane, with a welded tubular steel frame for the fuselage and all-wooden wings. Metal panels covered the upper fuselage decking and the engine, and everything else was fabric covered. Three prototypes were produced during 1932. The He 45a was an unarmed two-seater, powered by a 750hp BMW VI 7-3Z twelve-cylinder vee liquid cooled engine. The He 45b was given a four bladed propeller. The He 45c was the first to be armed, carrying a fixed forward firing MG 17 and a movable MG 15. A production order was placed for 418 unarmed He 45As and 90 He 45Bs, carrying the same machine guns as the He 45c, but most (if not all) of the production aircraft were built as the He 45C, which was similar to the He 45c. A shortage of capacity at Heinkel's own factories meant that the aircraft were built under licence by Focke-Wulf, BFW and Gotha.

By the time the He 45C entered service in 1934 better bombers were available, and so it was instead used as a reconnaissance aircraft, with each Staffel in the reconnaissance units receiving three. By 1936 the He 45 was probably the most numerous aircraft in the Luftwaffe, equipping long range reconnaissance units, serving as an advanced pilot trainer, and at gunnery and photographic schools. It was also used as a flying test bed for the Daimler-Benz DB600 engine, and for the BMW 116. The He 45 had a short front-line career. In November 1936 six were sent to Spain, where they equipped a Kette of A/88, operating alongside A/88's Heinkel He 70s. They remained in use in Spain until late 1938, when they were replaced by the Henschel Hs 126.

By the start of the Second World War only 21 He 45s remained with operational units, and they were soon moved to training units. The aircraft saw a short return to the front line between late 1942 and late 1943, flying night harassment raids on the Eastern Front, an early sign of the increasing weakness of the Luftwaffe.

Great photos

excellent photos ,tnx very much