Were there any enemy planes at the D-Day landings?

[GrauGeist]

P-38 pilots called them a Fork-tail Devil, my great-Uncle included (USAAC/USAAF - PTO) - Caidin took "liberties" with the expression in his books.

And according to an old friend of the family (Luftwaffe, Jg27) - they called the P-38 a "Lightning", just as they called the P-47 a "Thunderbolt", a P-51 a "Mustang", a B-17 a "Boeing" and so on...no dramatic nicknames.

 

[michael rauls]

That was my understanding also about the names used by the Germans as a whole but the story of that one individual foot soldier using the name sounded at least plausible to me. But again it was one of those one mention in one story so may or may not be true.

 

[swampyankee]

P-38 pilots called them a Fork-tail Devil, my great-Uncle included (USAAC/USAAF - PTO) - Caidin took "liberties" with the expression in his books.

And according to an old friend of the family (Luftwaffe, Jg27) - they called the P-38 a "Lightning", just as they called the P-47 a "Thunderbolt", a P-51 a "Mustang", a B-17 a "Boeing" and so on...no dramatic nicknames.

Both "Fork-tailed Devil" and "Whistling Death" have always seemed more likely the result of US ad execs than enemy pilots.

 

[Snautzer01]

Germans called a p-47 a Tempest and a spitfire, mustang, a beaufort a beaufighter and a Anston a Wellington. Even b17 and b24 were mixed up. And that is not to start at soviet airplanes. In the air with 600km plus into your target that is trying to kill you as you are trying to kill it, target recognistion was not a first in the line of thought.
Nicknames had no value but for the propaganda.

 

[pbehn]

Germans called a p-47 a Tempest and a spitfire, mustang, a beaufort a beaufighter and a Anston a Wellington. Even b17 and b24 were mixed up. And that is not to start at soviet airplanes. In the air with 600km plus into your target that is trying to kill you as you are trying to kill it, target recognistion was not a first in the line of thought.
Nicknames had no value but for the propaganda.

Well the RAF put stripes on the Typhoon because in the air it looked like an Fw190 to far too many people.

 

[Snautzer01]

Well the RAF put stripes on the Typhoon because in the air it looked like an Fw190 to far too many people.

Germans painted noses of fw190 for just the same problem. And that is without the boys and girls manning the aaa shooting all in the air besides the feathered ones.

 

[Tieleader]

I believe the 56th and 4th early Jugs also had a white nose ring, and a single white stripe on each wing,horizontal, and vertical because of the similiarity to the 190.

 

[Barrett]

The literature of the GAF over Normandy is vast and easily accessed.
Maybe the reason some people think that Priller & his No. 2 (KIA in August, BTW) flew 109s is that only 108s were available for The Longest Day (Priller's record as stated therein is WAY off base.)
In researching The D-Day Encyclopedia I found numbers for the GAF all over the map, upwards of 300 sorties including bombers that night. Fact is, nobody seems to know, but it was dangsure a lot more than two.
Sidebar:
As a former Movie Reviewer (different from a Motion Picture Critic) I can state without fear of contradiction that The Best Thing About TLD is/was
Iriai Demick.
BTW: She and Red Buttons also appeared in another D-Day film, Up From the Beach.

 

[pbehn]

The literature of the GAF over Normandy is vast and easily accessed.
Maybe the reason some people think that Priller & his No. 2 (KIA in August, BTW) flew 109s is that only 108s were available for The Longest Day (Priller's record as stated therein is WAY off base.)
.

Amazingly, only 885 Bf 108s were made, I think they all became movie stars, or maybe that's just the impression I got.

 

[firedup]

You all beat me to it.

Thats Hans Joachim Marseilles - In North Africa.The highest scoring German pilot in the west with 152 confirmed victories - all against the western allies.He was killed while flying a replacement ME 109 G2.In bailing out he hit the vertical fin and was knocked unconscious and fell to his death.. Sad end to a magnificent fighter pilot..

 

[GrauGeist]

The literature of the GAF over Normandy is vast and easily accessed.
Maybe the reason some people think that Priller & his No. 2 (KIA in August, BTW) flew 109s is that only 108s were available for The Longest Day (Priller's record as stated therein is WAY off base.)
In researching The D-Day Encyclopedia I found numbers for the GAF all over the map, upwards of 300 sorties including bombers that night. Fact is, nobody seems to know, but it was dangsure a lot more than two.
Sidebar:
As a former Movie Reviewer (different from a Motion Picture Critic) I can state without fear of contradiction that The Best Thing About TLD is/was
Iriai Demick.
BTW: She and Red Buttons also appeared in another D-Day film, Up From the Beach.

Priller flew an Fw190, not a Bf109 and the bulk of the sorties flown by the Luftwaffe on D-Day were either PR flights or anti-shipping. The only recorded flights over the beach proper, was Priller's strafing pass and a high speed photo pass by an Ar234.

 

[gordonm1]

Sounded like a target rich environment where high altitude attack would prove useful. No planes to fly then?

 

[fubar57]

A brief explanation....https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-the...long-the-beaches-during-the-Normandy-landings
....and some more reading...https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a432943.pdf

 

[Andrew Arthy]

Hi,

There were at least 21 Luftwaffe missions over the beachhead during daylight hours on 6 June 1944, including six by reconnaissance units, three by ground-attack FW 190s, one by Ju 88s of I./Z.G. 1, and eleven by fighters of J.G. 2 and J.G. 26. This added up to a little over 200 sorties. Adam Thompson and I are working on an article about this subject, and hope to publish it on 6 June 2020. Our sources for this information are various German documents, including sortie maps and daily Luftwaffe summaries, plus logbooks of German pilots operational on that day.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications

 

[Just Schmidt]

I bet the Germans thought there were lots of enemy planes at the d-day landings.

 

[Milosh]

I believe the 56th and 4th early Jugs also had a white nose ring, and a single white stripe on each wing,horizontal, and vertical because of the similiarity to the 190.

Same reason the P-51 got them > looked like a Bf109.

 

[pbehn]

Same reason the P-51 got them > looked like a Bf109.

They all look the same to those who have had no training and experience. My uncle was Royal Observer Corps seconded to a USA flak ship for three weeks during D-Day just to identify friend or foe to the US officer in charge who then directed fire. He saw 20 minutes of action in 3 weeks.

 

[Crimea_River]

Hi,

There were at least 21 Luftwaffe missions over the beachhead during daylight hours on 6 June 1944, including six by reconnaissance units, three by ground-attack FW 190s, one by Ju 88s of I./Z.G. 1, and eleven by fighters of J.G. 2 and J.G. 26. This added up to a little over 200 sorties. Adam Thompson and I are working on an article about this subject, and hope to publish it on 6 June 2020. Our sources for this information are various German documents, including sortie maps and daily Luftwaffe summaries, plus logbooks of German pilots operational on that day.

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications

Good info Andrew. Looking forward to what will no doubt be another quality article.

 

[pbehn]

Same reason the P-51 got them > looked like a Bf109.

While my uncle was on that ship they had one of those "fubar" moments. It was full of guns and gunners, new to the theatre and direct from USA, young lads keen and patriotic and hyped up. They had had all the training and the drills, but then when they were on station off the D-Day beaches a plane came into sight, one gunner opened fire and that triggered off a lot more, like a false start in the 100m final, blasting away at a dot in the distance, no one knew what it was but it was a single engined plane and way out of range. There was a lot of ffffing and blinding and eventually order was restored, by the time something did happen for real, the whole thing worked like a well oiled machine. Kellys Heroes wasnt complete fiction.

 

[GrauGeist]

One of the main reasons the Luftwaffe didn't have a strong showing on D-Day (or the following days) is because Luftflotte 3 had been drained of resources in the preceeding months.

They did indeed make a showing, but they only had roughly 300 aircraft to work with where the Allies had well over three times that many.

Between 6 June and 12 June, the Geschwaders under LF3 command made over 2,000 sorties which included anti-shipping, ground attack, bombing and recon. So the Luftwaffe wasn't completely out of the picture.