Why are there only 2 Stukas left in tact today?

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Two intact?!?! I just saw one fly the other week at the Reading World War Two Weekend! Unless it was a remake or misidentification...or did I see one of the two...?
 
I heard recently that a Stuka from a local museum was scrapped in Gloucestershire UK in the late 70's, criminal.
 
Dear Der Crew Chief,
Can you tell me where I might be able to view the Stuka that you posted photos of ? I travel to Germany soon on Classic Car business . Thanks
Spectravox
 
There are two more partial Stuka remains in Berlin (at the 'Technik Museum Berlin' I think it's called - will check my info on that).
One was donated by sir Tim Wallace, founder of New Zealand's Alpine Fighter Collection, a Ju 87B recovered from Russia. (He also donated remains of a Bf 110E, likewise recovered from Russia)

Evan
 
It's got nothing to do with the regime that produced the aircraft. Of all the tens of thousands of Bf109s or Spitfires how many still fly? What about Lancasters,Ju88s or B-17s. At the end of the war people on all sides had had enough,they were not interested in keeping these aircraft as museum pieces or memorials. People on all sides wanted to move on.
Frankly I'm amazed that there are any Ju87s surviving. There are many aircraft I'd love to see that no longer have an example that survives.

As an aside I've lived and worked in Germany,and the rest of Europe, for considerable periods over the years. I speak French well, German badly and Italian even worse. I have found that the post war generations of Germans are the most well educated and honest about the nazi period of all my fellow Europeans. They have come to terms with their history,and it is history,in a way that some other nations are still struggling to do.

Steve
 

An interesting point Steve,In my travels I have not shared your experiences. Europe is still licking its wounds with bitterness just under the veneer of civilisation. It takes very little for the father to son legacy to surface. Maybe that is why 'we' have fought so much historically.
In Plymouth you are lucky to get to page 3 of the local newspaper without the blitz getting a mention and how lovely Plymouth was before ' they' destroyed it all.
I have read that the Germans want bomber Harris vilified as a war criminal. I find that rather ironic.
Cheers
John
 
Readie said:
.
I have read that the Germans want bomber Harris vilified as a war criminal. I find that rather ironic.
Click to expand...

Only a very small minority, mostly Neo Nazi's. In fact it was the NPD (the modern Nazi Party) party that called for it, and they hardly speak for the German people.

For the most part however, I agree with you. Europe as a whole is still feeling the effects of WW2 to this very day.
 
Readie said:
I have read that the Germans want bomber Harris vilified as a war criminal. I find that rather ironic.
Cheers
John
Click to expand...

I don't want to get too political but that is not really my experience. Most Germans with whom I have discussed this want us to be more honest about what our bombing campaign was targeting,and the methods used. Euphemisms like "de-housing workers" are a little inadequate when your father or grand father was that worker. I don't intend any criticism of the men of Bomber Command,I have nothing but the utmost respect for them and their achievements. I have never heard any of my German colleagues refer to Harris as a war criminal except in a hypothetical sense. "If you'd lost the war Harris would have been tried as a war criminal". Well,yes,he probably would have been. He is seen as the able servant responsible for enacting British bombing policy,noone in Germany is going to build a monument to him any time soon. To steal a phrase from Speer there is a "collective responsibility" for this policy.
I think that both Harris and the men of Bomber Command were treated very badly at the end of the war. There was a lot of stuff being swept under the carpet where it still lies and this is what annoys some Germans.
On a more cheerful note it's good to see a monument to the men of Bomber Command is finally going to be built. Better late than never.

You are quite correct about the licking of wounds. I spent about five years of the 1980s living and working in France at a time when there was much agonising about France's role in various unpleasant events. At least they were confronting their past. It turns out not everyone was a heroic resistant!
Steve
 
Perhaps with more intensive searches, they will find some Ju-87s in some Russian lakes or rivers. They seem to find a lot of interesting artifacts that way. The war there was quite intensive with many losses and the Russian were typically uninterested in recovering WWII relics until recently, I think. Those cold rivers and lakes tend to preserve things pretty well.
 

Good point Steve, My kids secondary school makes a fair effort to teach modern history without the Eagle annual style gungho. Maybe education and the passage of time will finally draw a line under WW1 WW2.
Anyway, back to the thread....
Cheers
John
 
For what it's worth, some recent literature, notably Miller's "Masters of the Air" did call a spade a spade in regards to the daylight bombing campaign. This isn't suggesting the USAAF was 'wrong' in case i'm misinterpreted. There was a war on. It was nasty. killing in any form is always nasty. Thats why wars are to be avoided. Only pointing out that yes....it was a little ridiculous for some of the top USAAF brass to try to distance themselves from what the RAF was doing at night. By late 44-early 45, they were both blind bombing. (aka.....called "radar bombing" in USAAF parlence)
 
I think it may be a question of visibility.
The USAAF were very visible undertaking the daylight raids and the RAF bomber command were not flying as they did by night. Maybe the average German assumed the American's flew 24/7.
My Dad was captured by the German army in 1943, generally he was well treated and being fluent in German certainly helped. Anyway, he was led through a bombed out German town and the women spat at him thinking him to be an American terror bomber flier. The German army escort explained that he was an English soldier and the German women left him and the other soldiers alone.
There are tales of rough justice to downed Luftwaffe bomber aircraft in England during the blitz's.
Maybe the moral here is that you only hate / fear what you can see....or what you think you see.
Cheers
John
 
The Stuka was the principle bomber in the blitz and had a siren attached used to instill fear in the citizenry of the invaded countries. As a result the Stuka were especially targeted by the allies. Downed or parked stuka bombers were destroyed out of malice and revenge.
 
".... The Stuka was the principle bomber in the blitz and had a siren attached used to instill fear in the citizenry of the invaded countries. As a result the Stuka were especially targeted by the allies. Downed or parked stuka bombers were destroyed out of malice and revenge..."

Whaaaat ....! Sources .....

There never were that many Stukas at any one time ... 38-Lighting ..... they tended to have a relatively short life span.

"... Downed or parked stuka bombers were destroyed out of malice and revenge...."

By the local vandals ... ... and occupy movement protesters.

MM
 
38-Lighting said:
The Stuka was the principle bomber in the blitz .
Click to expand...
The Battle of France, maybe, but, after its early use in 1940, it was never again seen over this country, so was anything but the principle bomber.
As a result the Stuka were especially targeted by the allies. Downed or parked stuka bombers were destroyed out of malice and revenge
Click to expand...
Apart from items taken for evaluation (by various nations) all German aircraft were earmarked for destruction, as were tanks, guns and ships; it had sod-all to do with "malice and revenge." Only a fool gives a beaten enemy a chance to take up arms, and start the whole madness all over again.
 
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