Lufthansa to Luftwaffe-Hitlers: Secret Air Force

By Peter Dancey

This book provides a complete history of the clandestine WW II Luftwaffe and its origins under the patronage of Lufthansa, secret training of its personnel in Russia and Italy. Combat proving of its airplanes with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. Units, deployments, personel, airplanes and sub-types, thw 'secret weapons' and the world's first combat jets. Hitler's less than cordial relations with Goring, the RLM and German Aviation industry

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447626756

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BibliographyAndSources

CHAPTER 1

TheSeedsAreSown

During the 1920s, the Russian Red Army Air Force, was expanded and restructured to create a number of specialised departments and inspectorates. Also in this period there was close collaboration with the Germans for training. With German military activities severely curtailed under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, former WW I German military aviators were only too willing to provide technical assistance and aid with the Soviet’s advanced flying training programmes.

In April, 1922, shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo between Germany and the Soviet Union, preparations were made to establish a secret German-Russo flying training centre at Lipetzk aerodrome, about 200 miles south-east of Moscow. The Russians agreed to purchase Fokker D.XIII fighters on behalf of the German’s to equip the new school, at the same time arranging for their delivery and transportation as well as the entry and departure of all German personnel in and out of the country.

The base was staffed by German flying instructors, officers and ground-crew under the command of Major Stahr. The unit equipped with an assortment of airplanes including the Fokker D.XIII fighters, and a small number of Fokker D.VII, Heinkel He 17 and He 21, Junkers A 20 and F.13, and Albatros L 76 and L 78 airplanes.

In addition to the summer courses for novices which lasted about four to five months, the instructors were able to hone their skills in formation flying and special advanced flying techniques during the autumn.

Between 1924 and August 1933, when the school closed down, over 450 German military flying personnel were trained there. 120 were fighter pilots, a number of whom would return to Russia as adversaries in mid-1941.

Throughout the latter half of 1922 and early 1923, ammunition, tools, engines and other airplane parts were smuggled aboard Russian ships at Stettin and other Baltic ports and transported to Leningrad.

Over 200 Reichwehr officers, all specialists in their fields of aerial warfare, bombing, armament and reconnaissance, travelled to Russia in civilian clothes, using assumed names and forged passports. Many of these men who trained the Red Air Force staff and worked in the experimental centre at Lipetzk formed the core of Hermann Göerings Luftwaffe when he became its commander in 1933.

Student, who later became an expert in airborne invasion, was at the secret flying ground, as was Kesselring, Stumpff, and Sperrie, who commanded the three main air fleets ranged against Britain in the summer of 1940.

German personnel trained at Lipetzk proved invaluable to the emerging clandestine Luftwaffe in 1933, and the officers trained and deployed there gained a valuable in-sight into the temperament and capabilities of the Russian aviators. Knowledge to be put to good use when the two air arms locked in combat in the skies of Spain later. Germans were also based at Borisoglebsk, 200km to the south-west of Lipetzk, where they provided command tuition, and helped to establish the Advanced Tactical Air School, set up after their departure. In addition joint manoeuvres were carried out over the Veronezh range in conjunction with the School of Bombing and Air-Gunnery.

On Hitler’s orders Lipetzk also served as an important test centre for new German designs such as the Arado Ar 64, Ar 65 and Heinkel He 51 biplane fighters, the He 45 and He 46 reconnaissance planes, the Heinkel He 38 and 51 seaplanes and the Junkers W 34 transport planes.

Of particular interest to the Russians were the new Dornier designs, the Dornier P four-engined heavy-bomber and the Dornier F twin-engined medium-bomber.

Whilst there was a certain amount of mistrust between Russian and German personnel associated with the testing of the German prototype airplanes, relations at the flying training establishments always remained cordial and indeed before the Germans departure in 1933, farewell dinners and parties were arranged.

On the civil front relations with the Junkers Company continued to deteriorate, although they were reluctant to withdraw from the country as they had won a major contract to assemble Junkers K 30 bombers (a tri-motor F.13 transport derivative) developed from the G 24 civil transport that had made its maiden flight in 1926.

Eventually the K 30 was used to equip two squadrons of the new Soviet Heavy Bomber Brigade in 1926-27, as an interim measure pending delivery of the first indigenous all-metal twin-engined Tupolev TB-1 bombers.

The legacy of Junkers all-metal design philosophy was soon reflected by the Soviet’s first prototype twin-engined all-metal monoplane, the Petlyakov ANT-4 which first flew in November 1925. Within a year the Junkers Fili plant which was now under Soviet control, started to prepare for the ANT-4s series production, having moved 40 of Tupolev’s AGOS (Aviation, Hydroaviation and Special Design) staff into the factory, following a period of discontent when Junkers complained vehemently that the Soviets had violated their patents and in March, 1927, with the last of the JuG-1 trimotor aircraft completed Junkers vacated the factory, which was redesignated GAZ-22 (aviation plant-22).

While Germany’s aviation professionals and airmen were ensconced at Lipetzk working to provide the Reichwehr with the nucleus of an air force, the airplane industry of the nation gradually revived. The ban on the construction of civil airplanes had been raised by the Allies on 3 May, 1922, and although certain restrictions on size and performance still remained, almost at once a number of leading German manufacturers were again in the business of building airplanes.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Germany’s recovery in the mid-1930s was the apparent ease with which the supposed dormant aircraft industry was able to produce modern airplanes, some deliberately designed for military use under the guise of civil transports. What was not readily apparent to the world at the time was that German designers had indeed clandestinely been keeping abreast of modern aviation technology.

In the case of bombers (expressly forbidden under the terms of the Versailles Treaty) German manufacturers had either gone into voluntary exile to produce airplanes -- as had been the case with Dornier in Italy -- or had simply produced commercial prototypes, ostensibly for use with various European airlines including Lufthansa.

The fact that these aircraft had been specially-designed for ease of conversion to perform military roles was naturally not made common knowledge.

However, when Germany walked out of the Disarmament Conference in 1933, and set about formulating plans for a new national air force -- the Luftwaffe -- it was only a matter of time to the deployment of modern airplanes.

On 7 May 1932, the Dornier Do 11 was flown for the first time. Powered by two Siemens-built Jupiter 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engines, this aircraft was announced as a commercial mail-plane. It was a relatively clean monoplane with retractable undercarriage and a single fin rudder. Series Do 11C aircraft started delivery in 1933 and entered service with Deutsche Lufthansa and Deutsche Reichsbahngesellschaft (the German State Railway airline), but other aircraft were retained at Friedrichshafen for modification as bombers to a rudimentary specification.

Whereas the Dornier Do 11 did enter service with the new Luftwaffe, another Dornier design -- in many ways more advanced than a number of comparable other Western types of the era -- only appeared in prototype form. This was the four-engined Do 19, the result of a strategic bomber specification issued in 1934, at the instigation of General Walther Wever, head of the RLM Technical Department. Both the Do 19 and the parallel Junkers Ju 89 flew in 1936, but were not proceeded with when Wever’s successor, Albert Kesselring abandoned all plans for a strategic bomber force. His decision was endorsed when Hitler expressed his desire for large numbers of smaller aircraft.

With a wing-span of 35m (114ft 10ins) and a loaded weight of 17,500kg (40,790lb), the Do 19V1 prototype attained a top speed of 320km/h (199mph) and a maximum range of 1,600km (995miles).

The nearest Allied equivalent to this airplane was the British Short Stirling bomber that did not fly for another three years. History tells us that, in any case that less than six years later, the Luftwaffe High Command would be ruing the day that the Nazi hierarchy cancelled German strategic bomber plans.

The bombers that found favour with Germany’s war planners resembled the commercial mail-planes, similar to the Do 11. When it first flew in 1932, the Dornier designers were already working on a much more advanced airplane, albeit, again ostensibly for mail-carrying. The Do.17 with its pencil slim fuselage, aptly dubbed the flying pencil.

Manufacture of the prototype began in 1933 and it first flew during the latter part of 1934. Although the very slim fuselage was ‘designed’ to accommodate six-passengers, the cabin was too cramped to warrant promotion of the airplane as a civil transport and its use as an express mail-plane proved to be only ‘pie in the sky’.

Deutsch Lufthansa decided not to put the airplane into route service and the prototype along with two other airplanes delivered shortly afterwards was placed in indefinite storage at Löwenthal.

It was here, that Flugkapitän Robert Untucht a Lufthansa pilot seconded to the RLM, discovered the stored airplanes at about the same time as the new schnellbomber specifications were being discussed in 1934.

Realising the airplanes at Löwenthal might meet the fast-bomber requirements of the emerging Luftwaffe, Untucht, after flying one of the prototypes confirmed that the Do 17 would indeed be suitable for the new German air arm in this role. As a result three further unarmed prototypes (V4, V5 and V6) were ordered, together with a fully-militarised version (the V7). These flew in 1936, and subsequent service trials with the then current German interceptors, such as the Heinkel He 51 and Arado Ar 68, were so encouraging that a production contract was signed the same year.

Tooling-up at the Dornier Friedrichsafen plant was implemented swiftly and the first Do 17E-1 bombers appeared before the end of the year, while production of a photo-reconnaissance version, the Do 17F also commenced.

Powered by two 750hp BMW V1 12-cylinder liquid-cooled in-line engines, the Do 17E-1 had a top speed of 380km/h (263mph) at sea level and could carry a bomb-load of up to 1,000kg (2,200lb) (four 250kg SC 250 bombs). The three-man crew, all located in the nose, included a pilot, navigator/gunner and a bomb-aimer-gunner.

By 1937, the existence of Hitler’s Luftwaffe was common knowledge and the Condor Legion was putting the latest German combat planes to the test in Spain. At the Zurich International Aircraft Competition Dornier GmbH was represented by a specially-prepared version of the Do 17, the V8 prototype, which was a high-speed demonstration aircraft powered by two 1,000hp Daimler-Benz DB 600A engines. Its 456km (284mph) top speed was a good deal faster than many of the best fighter planes at the meeting and the airplane attracted the attention of a Yugoslav delegation who recommended the purchase of about 70 Do 17K export versions. An agreement was also reached to licence-manufacture the Do 17Ka-1, Ka-2 and Kb-1 at the Yugoslav State Aircraft factory at Kraljevo. These airplanes seeing considerable action against the Luftwaffe when Germany invaded Yugoslavia in 1941.

Meanwhile, the Do 17E-1 had entered Luftwaffe service with Kampfgeschwader 255 Alpen, based at Memmingen during the summer of 1937. Twelve E-1 airplanes were dispatched to Spain with one Staffel of Kampfgruppe 88 and 15 F-1s equipped Aufklärungsstaffel 88.

The next two prototypes (V11 and V12) made provision for a fourth crew member and were powered by two 900hp Bramo 323A single-row radial engines, which gave a top speed of just over 480km/h (300mph). Intended as prototypes for a proposed L-series, this version did not enter series production as it was overtaken by the next major variant, the M-series. Prototypes V13 and V14 were built for this version, which, although similar to the ‘E’, included an extra ventral 7.9mm MG 15 gun ; sub-variants were the Do 17M-1/ Trop, a tropicalised version, and the Do 17M-1/ U1 with provision for an inflatable dingy in the dorsal fairing forward of the gun position. The bomb-bay of the M-series was extended aft ; this modification enabled a bomb-load of 1,000kg (2,205lb) to be carried.

The Do 17P followed in 1938, this was in effect a variation of the Do 17M equipped with a variety of different cameras for photo-reconnaissance. Powered by two 865hp BMW 132N radial engines, this version was also produced in tropicalised form. Two Do 17Rs were completed, but they were only used as engine test-beds for the BMW V1, Daimler-Benz DB 600 and DB 601 power plants and for trials to test bombing equipment.

The next variant, the Do 17S-0, saw the introduction of the deepened nose that was to become so characteristic of later versions of the Dornier bomber family of aircraft. Operational use of the type in Spain had shown that crew accommodation was too cramped and that the ventral ‘tunnel’ gun had been inadequate to provide defence against enemy fighters from below. To this end, the nose was deepened in cross-section to enable the ventral gunner to fire from the prone position. At the same time the entire forward nose was panelled with transparent ‘beetle-eye’ sections to improve the crew’s overall field of vision.

Powered by two 1,000hp DB 600A engines, only three pre-production examples of the Do 17S-0 were built to be followed by 15 Do 17U-0s and U-1s. These were specialist Pathfinder versions of the S-series, with accommodation for a second radio-operator and additional radio equipment. They were delivered in 1939 to Luftnachrichten Abteilung 100 later to become the famous Pathfinder group Kampfgruppe 100, which flew Heinkel He 111s in WW II to lead many of the Luftwaffe’s night raids during Hitler’s blitz on Britain.

The final and most widely used of the Do 17 series was the Do 17Z. It was in effect a combination of the ‘L’ and ‘S’ series, having the Bramo 323A engines of the former and the enlarged nose of the latter. Pre-production Do 17Z-0s appeared at the beginning of 1939 and were followed by identical Z-1 production aircraft in the spring of that year. The main production version was the Z-2 with 1,000hp Bramo 232P two-stage supercharged radial engines, increased gun armament of six 7.9mm MG 15 guns and provision for a fifth crew member (although in practice he was rarely carried).

Later variants of the Do 17Z included the Z-3, a photo-reconnaissance aircraft with two Rb20/30 cameras ; the Z-4, a dual-control trainer and the Z-5 trainer equipped with extra survival equipment. The Z-6 ‘Kauz I’ (Screech Owl I) was a hybrid night-fighter, with the nose of a Junkers Ju 88C-1 grafted on to a Do 17M, and the Z-10 ‘Kauz II’ was a much-improved night-fighter, incorporating a wholly Dornier nose with four 7.9mm MG 17 machine-guns and two 20mm MG FF cannon. The ‘Kauz II’ employed a number of ingenious gun-sights and search equipment, but it was found to be inferior to the Junkers Ju 88C night-fighter. Although nine Do 17Z-10s served on the newly formed Nachjagdgeschwader 2 at the end of 1940, they were soon phased out of service.

Although Dornier Do 17s continued to be used in the Luftwaffe raids against Britain during the blitz in the winter of 1940-41, they started to disappear from use in early 1942. At the time of Germany’s attack on Russia in June 1941, almost the only examples remaining in the Luftwaffe’s front-line strength were the airplanes of three night reconnaissance units (nachtaufklärungstaffeln) based in the east.

As a result of Yugoslavia’s pre-war interest in the Do 17 and in pursuit of further export orders, one of the pre-production Do 17Z-0s was used as a demonstration airplane and redesignated Do 215 V 1. A second prototype, the Do 215 V2, was completed with French Gnöme-Rhöne GR 14N radial engines.

However, these did not produce a sufficient performance improvement over the Do 17K and as a result it was re-engined with 1,075hp Daimler-Benz DB 601 engines. With a 15 percent increase in loaded weight this version had top speed of 470km/h (292mph) at 5,000m (16,400ft). The normal still-air range increased from 1,200km (745miles) of the Do 17Z-2 to 1,550km (965miles).

In the end, both the Yugoslavs and the Swedes placed orders for the Do 215A-1, which were scheduled to be delivered before the end of 1939. However, with the outbreak of war in September that year all these aircraft were taken over by the Luftwaffe. Before completion however, they were brought up to meet German requirements and were eventually delivered as Do 215B-0s.

In its basic form the Do 215 was a reconnaissance-bomber carrying not only the standard 1,000kg (2,200lb) bomb-load, but also three cameras. The B-2 sub-variant carried only the cameras, the B-3 was intended as an export version for Russia (only two were delivered during 1940) and the B-4 was basically a B-1 with different cameras.

The first unit to receive the Do 215 (in April 1940) was Aufklärungsgruppe Oberbefehl-shaber der Luftwaffe, followed by I (F) Staffel, Aufklärungruppe 124 (Richthofen Aufklärungsstaffel ). The former unit was extensively employed on reconnaissance flights during the Battle of Britain and suffered fairly heavy losses, but the latter was apparently not engaged in the battle.

In spite of its improved bomb-carrying capability, the Do 215 was not used by a Luftwaffe full-time bomber unit. By mid-1941 about 20 aircraft had been delivered to the nachtaufk-lärungsstaffeln and to 1 Staffel, Fernaufklärungsgruppe 100, all on the Russian Front.

In 1940, however, ever-increasing RAF night bombing activity over Germany, saw the establishment of NJG 1 and NJG 2 night-fighter units, and conversion of the Do 215 to equip these new units. The resulting Do 215B-5 incorporated a new gun-battery nose -- similar to that of the Do 17Z-10. At least 12 aircraft were completed and these were distributed between I, III and IV/NJG I for night defence of the Reich, and later were handed over to II/ NJG 2 for night-intruder sorties over the UK.

By 1942, the Do 215 was also regarded by the Luftwaffe High Command as obsolete and a number of surviving B-4 variants were delivered to the Hungarian Air Force, serving on the Russian Front. Though a number are believed to have continued to serve on with Luftwaffe night reconnaissance units well into 1943.

The promise shown by the Do 17, even as early as 1937, lead the Technical Department of the RLM to call for a slightly enlarged and more versatile version of the airplane and prototypes of the Do 217, were ordered and flew the following year.

Only slightly dimensionally larger than the Do 17, the Do 217 was powered by two 1,075hp DB 601A engines. The new airplane quickly showed itself to be lacking directional stability, when the first prototype crashed in September 1938, during low-level single-engine handling tests, killing Flugkapitän Koeppe, the Dornier test pilot. The next three prototypes (V2, V3 and V4) were all powered by 950hp Junkers Jumo 211A engines, but were severely criticised for poor performance and directional instability.

The directional stability problem was overcome in a replacement prototype aircraft on which slots were incorporated in the leading edge of each tail-fin. A pre-production batch of eight Do 217A-0 long-range reconnaissance airplanes was built and delivered to Aufklärungs-gruppe Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe in the early summer of 1940. Although this was a front-line unit at the time, the Do 217s were not used on operations until the following winter. Then they were flown on clandestine reconnaissance missions over the eastern border with Russia in preparation for Hitler’s great assault the following summer.

Produced at about the same time as the Do 217A-0s were four pre-production bombers, designated Do 217C-0s, in which provision for a much increased bomb-load of 3,000kg (6,614lb) was made. This version did not enter series production, but the four airplanes contributed useful flight test data for the first major series production variant, the Do 217E. The prototype was the Do 217 V9, powered by two 1,580hp BMW 801MA 14-cylinder two-row radial engines. It introduced a greatly lengthened bomb-bay 4.52m (14ft 10in) long, with a 1.72m (5ft 8in) extension available when a torpedo was to be carried. The Do 217 V9 first flew in early 1940 and was followed before the end of the year by the first production E-1 variants, intended for level-bombing and anti-shipping attack. Maximum speed was 515km/h (320mph) at 5,200m (17,060ft) and the bomb-load could include eight 250kg, four 500kg or two 1,000kg bombs. Defensive armament consisted of four machine guns and one 15mm 151 cannon.

Early Do 217Es were converted for photo-reconnaissance duties over the eastern borders of Germany early in 1941, However, the first unit to fly the type in combat was II Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40, which was based in western France in March 1941 and undertook anti-shipping operations.

An unusual feature of the Do 217, first introduced in the E-2, was the umbrella-type airbrake mounted at the extreme rear end of the fuselage. The E-2 had been intended as a dive-bomber, but after prolonged difficulties in this respect it was not used in this role. Although a small number of Do 217E-2s were in fact delivered to Stukageschwader 2 during 1941.

The E-2 also introduced an electrically operated dorsal turret, a feature that was to remain on almost all subsequent versions. The E-3 was also first produced in 1941 and was armed by no fewer than seven machine-guns -- although their effectiveness was open to question as five of them had to be fired by the radio-operator moving about his crew position! Numerous armament fits were applied to the Do 217E, these being defined by their rüstsätze suffix designations; as for example the Do 217E-3/R4 was fitted with a special carrier for an L5 torpedo: the R10 suffix referred to two carriers fitted under the outer wings for Henschel Hs 293 stand-off air-to-air missiles operated by means of a ‘joystick’ control.

The Dornier Do 217E-2 and E-3 was delivered to all