The Experimental Units of Hitler's Condor Legion: German Aircraft In Action During the Spanish Civil War

By Rafael A. Permuy López

At the start of the Spanish Civil War the nationalists sought help for their cause from Germany, following which volunteers from the German Air Force and Army formed what was called the Condor Legion. This force made a significant contribution to General Francos eventual victory and this included two experimental air units, known as VJ/88 and VB/88. The formers mission was to combat test the new monoplane fighters; the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Heinkel He 112. The latter groups task was to test the new twin-engine, retractable undercarriage bombers; the Heinkel He 111, the fast Dornier Do 17 and the Junkers Ju 86.The Heinkels made their combat debut on 9 March 1937, when they attacked Republican held airfields in support of the Battle of Guadalajara. The Heinkel proved superior to the two other German medium bombers, being both faster and carrying a heavier bomb load. Likewise, the Messerschmitt Bf 109 was quickly found to be the better of the two fighters. This book aims to examine the history of the men and machines that served in those units. The Fhrer thought the matter over. I urged him to give support [to Franco] under all circumstances, firstly, in order to prevent the further spread of communism in that theatre and, secondly, to test my young Luftwaffe at this opportunity in this or that technical respect.Herman Gring at the Nuremberg War Trials.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473878921

Book preview

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to express their thanks for the valuable assistance received from Raúl Arias, Canario Azaola, José Ramón Calparsoro, José Manuel Campesino, Heribert García, Jesús Salas, José Luis González, Santiago Guillén and César O’Donnell. The uniforms and insignia in the colour plate section are courtesy of the Santiago Guillén Collection.

LIST OF RANKS

German and Spanish ranks mentioned and their equivalent in English are listed below, although there is some confusion since Condor Legion officers tended to hold a rank one above their German ranks:

INTRODUCTION

What you are about to start reading is a somewhat atypical book about the Condor Legion. It is atypical because up to now very little attention has been paid to the two units that operated the experimental aircraft which Hitler sent to Spain as part of Germany’s participation in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939.

Although their existence is very well documented and the aircraft that were combat-tested in Spain would later go on to spearhead the Luftwaffe’s operations during the Second World War, in military history literature these experimental air units have not merited more than a few brief comments or, at best, a few references and a handful of pages outlining their performance in the Spanish war.

It is no secret that the German armed forces used the Spanish mainland as a test bench and testing ground for the aircraft and ordnance sent there. Precisely for this reason we think it is important to delve into the history and combat record of the Legion’s two experimental units, the groups designated VJ/88 and VB/88, which were responsible for testing the new monoplane Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Heinkel He 112 fighters, and the twin-engine, retractable undercarriage Heinkel He 111, Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 86 bombers.

As General von Reichenau said in 1938: Thanks to our experience in Spain we have been able to organize the Luftwaffe; up until 1936 the airforce was to some extent the Achilles’ heel of our national defence, and in 1937 we suddenly found ourselves ahead of all the other nations. Our aircraft builders were able to use the lessons learned from air combat in Spain to develop technical improvements, and our industry was able to transform its production and concentrate on the manufacture of types developed as a result of experience in Spain.

This book aims to fill the historiographical void regarding German experimental air units in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939, and examine the history of the men and the machines that flew in those Condor Legion squadrons.

The authors scoured archives to untangle the operational history of Versuschstaffeln VJ/88 and VB/88 and have succeeded in bringing together a magnificent collection of photos and drawings of the prototypes and early production aircraft which operated in Spain.

PART I

VJ/88

Versuchsjagdgruppe 88

THE FIRST MONOPLANE FIGHTERS OF THE CONDOR LEGION

Under Operation Feuerzauber (Magic Fire) Germany began to supply war materiel to the Spanish Nationalist forces in July 1936. To this end, what was known as Sonderstab (Special Staff) W was set up in Berlin. In early August that year the first shipments of air materiel were made, consisting of six Heinkel He 51 fighters and twenty three-engine Junkers Ju 52. Shortly afterwards the aforementioned Special Staff began to receive requests for further aircraft, mainly Heinkel He 51 fighters, both for the rebel air force and to reinforce the German fighter squadron commanded by Hauptmann Eberhard d’Elsa. A number of Heinkel He 46 reconnaissance aircraft and a few more Ju 52s were also sent.

The Freiburg Military Archive in Germany contains a report entitled Das Unternehmen Feuerzauber in which there is a record of all the orders received between August 28 and September 30, 1936. For our research, one of the most interesting documents in this report refers to the shipment to Spain of one Heinkel He 50 and two Henschel Hs 123s (Stuka) for trial purposes, complete with aircrew and ground staff. These aircraft were sent to Tablada in September 1936.

Of interest is the fact that page 58 of the aforementioned document contains the following sentence: Messerschmitt aircraft must be set aside for delivery to Spain. This is a reference to the new Bf 109 monoplane fighter aircraft, the model that had won the official competition to choose the design to be used by Luftwaffe units.

As early as September 30, 1936, a document specified that three Messerschmitt Bf 109 aircraft were to be sent to Spain. No reference was made of another of the new German monoplane fighters, the Heinkel He 112, but we know for a fact that a prototype of that aircraft was also sent to Spain.

It was in the month of December 1936 when three monoplane fighter aircraft were unloaded in the port of Cadiz. Two were Messerschmitt Bf 109s and the other was a Heinkel He 112; all three were prototypes and they were immediately transported to the Tablada airfield near Sevilla to be assembled. Although it has been said time and time again that three Bf 109 prototypes were sent to Spain in this shipment, the fact is that only two were sent, as evidenced by contemporary German documents. The third prototype earmarked for Spain did not leave Germany until February 1937, after an earlier aircraft had been lost in an accident, as we will see later.

These three prototypes had previously been on trial at the Rechlin Erprobungsstelle (Test Centre) and at Travemünde airfield. This, of course, was before the Luftwaffe was presented with the perfect opportunity to try out its new fighters under operational conditions in Spain.

VJ/88 Group is Born

These aircraft, together with the Henschel Hs 123 and Junkers Ju 87 V4 dive-bombers, formed an experimental unit of the Condor Legion called VJ/88. This small test squadron consisted of two prototypes of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, V3 (werke nummer 760, with the registration D-IOQY) and V4 (werke nummer 878, D-IALY), and one Heinkel He 112 prototype, the V3 (werke nummer 1292, D-IDMO). By then the Heinkel He 50, previously sent to Spain in an earlier shipment, had already been returned to Germany and so was no longer operational.

According to German sources, the pilots responsible for testing the experimental fighter planes were Oberleutnant Hannes Trautloft, Oberleutnant Günther Fips Radusch and Unteroffizier Hermann Beurer, along with the civilian pilot V. Zitzewitz. Unteroffizier Beurer was initially meant to fly the Messerschmitt Bf 109 V4 prototype, serial number 6-1, but a landing accident caused the aircraft to be temporarily grounded for repairs. Instead this pilot was used to carry out a number of test flights with the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka. We know that Oberleutnant Trautloft,