Luftwaffe Crews and Rows of Fw 200 Bombers

German Focke-Wulf FW 200 bombers and their Luftwaffe crews on airfield in the Western Europe. Translation of official German caption on photo reverse: "Large mission of an Atlantic bomber squadron. Share Request: BMW Aircraft Motor Works, Inc., Sec. VF 407. In the West, October 1941".

Source :
https://www.ww2online.org/image/german-bombers-and-their-luftwaffe-crews-airfield-october-1941

Luftwaffe Ground Crew Waiting for the Return Bombers

Battle of Britain: Ground staff on the Luftwaffe air base waiting for the return of the bomber squadrons from mission against england, end of August 1940. No further information. Photographer: Artur Grimm.

Source :
https://www.keymilitary.com/article/duel-aces

Gruppenkommandeur Willy Sölter in the Castle Engelsholm

 

Luftwaffe flying crew stationed at FlH Vejle, Denmark, lived in the nearby castle Engelsholm. In the doorway is Major Willi Sölter (Gruppenkommandeur I.Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 26), in the spring 1945. During World War II, he flew a total of 257 sorties, during which he was shot down 5 times. He received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 9 August 1944 as Hauptmann and Kommandeur I.Gruppe / Kampfgeschwader 77. The medal was awarded for his record of successful missions on all fronts since the start of the war, which included his personally sinking a destroyer in the Mediterranean theatre.

Source :
Jørn Junker photo collection
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2236790469673066/permalink/4137385049613589/?__cft__[0]=AZUQVq7jvAIk3XTwjy_zWzqBE2ZbIXIQ7Uu0ASITQCWhwB5Ua9YlqRTd9RtPWotMAu4RdO0ri0ZWrOZrh-27n2W6c0impE2QN4LjrtxNOrnnd72pL2vLC-TY-YdqFCMeK00oVC3_9L7DabD7MMPnBvq2&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

Photo Album of DKiGträger Feldwebel Willi Born

 

Willi Born (16 July 1913 - 28 January 1944)

 

 

Source :
Denis Daum photo collection

Unteroffizier Heimo Nussbauer in Stalingrad

 Unteroffizier Heimo Nussbaumer from Kampfgeschwader 76 (KG 76) recounts his story in Stalingrad: “Our 5th Staffel, IInd Gruppe of KG 76, was located on the field aerodrome of Tazinskaya. With our Ju 88’s, we mainly were sent out to attack big targets like the tractor factory, the big grain elevator, the ‘women’s antiaircraft’ on the Volga islands, and the ferries at night. Much later, we learned that the Russians had built a ford underwater across the Volga (I never saw one, which was completely impossible in the muddy and very restless waters!). As gunner, I not only was responsible for serving the machine guns, but also was board mechanic and target photographer. For the last task, I had a special camera with a 75mm tele lens, which could take thirteen photos per second (not a film camera). Often there was not much to be photographed in the besieged city, as a cloud of bomb explosions and shell impacts nearly continuously covered it. We only once had to attack a limited specific objective, which nearly earned us a quick ending as we could not drop the bomb (the target was not entirely in the aiming visor), and therefore the ‘coachman’ (pilot) had to recover the plane from the dive by hand, which meant it would take more than double the radius we would normally use. If the water level in the Volga had not been thirty meters below the city, we would infallibly have flown ourselves into the ground (diving speed at about 700 kilometers per hour).”

 The attack on the oil tanks on the bank of the Volga

Source :
Book "Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army" by Hans Wijers