Dornier Do K3

Company scale model of the Dornier Do K3 four-engine pusher-puller passenger aircraft of 1931. Only one prototype (D-2183) of the Do K3 was built, at Dornier's Altenrhein facility in Switzerland. Location and exact date of photo unknown. (Fischer collection)

Junkers Ju 90

Junkers Ju 90 advertising by Junkers Flug- und Motorenwerke AG, Dessau, published in Transaer 1937 - Handbuch des internationalen Luftverkehrs [Handbook Of International Air Transport], edited by Fischer von Poturzyn, Dr. Heinz Orlovius, and August Dresel, 538 pages, published as an edition of 2000 copies, by Richard Pflaum Verlag, Munich, Germany, 1937. (Fischer collection)

Schulgleiter 38 - Vom Bauernadler zum Kultobjekt

Heike Umbach, Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart, Deutschland, 2010, ISBN 978-3-613-03223-1. Illustrated, hardcover, 235 x 300 mm, 120 printed pages, published in German.

Cover image © by Motorbuchverlag, 2010.

What a beautiful, magnificent book this is. Moreover, it's nice to see that such an utterly unspectacular and unglamorous aircraft is the subject of such detailed attention and such a lavish publication. For in spite of being a drastically basic - even primitive - design, the Schulgleiter 38 (or SG 38) was also a crucially important aircraft. One wonders whether it is even possible to determine the number of German pilots who learned to fly on the Schulgleiter 38 in the 1930s and 1940s.

The existence of this publication was entirely unexpected to me, and I learned about it by accident. Its concept is slightly different from most other specialist books on pre-war and wartime German aircraft. Heike Umbach's Schulgleiter 38 is more reminiscent of a typical coffee table photo book, but it still provides sufficient serious historical research and technical details to also render it an expert reference. In addition, the book's heavy focus on high-quality images (the vast majority of them in color) mean that it is a valuable source of information even for a reader unable to understand German. It is for the same reason that Schulgleiter 38 is an ideal one-stop source for the modeler.

Umbach begins with a narrative on the SG 38's history. The chapter is sumptuously illustrated, a hallmark which applies to the whole book. There is, for example, a beautiful fold out page which provides profile illustrations of the main training gliders of the era, starting with the Hardt/Messerschmitt glider and ending with the SG 38. This is completed by three-view drawings and size comparisons of these gliders as well as photos of their designers.

The next chapter details the SG 38's technical configuration. There are numerous fantastic detail photos of restored SG 38s, three-dimensional computer renderings, drawings, and photos of original documents. The extent of the photographic coverage is astonishing, there are even photos showing the inside of the wing or the complex rigging.

A further chapter provides a historical report on what it was like to fly the SG 38. This is subsequently expanded upon by tracing current SG 38 flying activities and detailing launch procedures for the aircraft. A brief additional chapter provides proof that the SG 38 was, astoundingly, also flown as an improvised two-seater.

And as if there hadn't already been an amazing wealth of photographs up to this point, the book ends with yet another a photo gallery which also includes further detail shots. Schulgleiter 38's landscape format means that it was possible to print many of these photos to a sufficient size, which enhances the visual impact tremendously.

All in all a delightful book that can be recommended without any reservations.

E-Stelle See

E-Stelle See - Die Geschichte der Seeflug-Erprobungsstelle Travemünde und der daraus hervorgegangenen E-Stelle für Flugzeugbewaffnung in Tarnewitz

Edited by Heinrich Wollé, Dr. H.A. Caspari & Oskar Passoth, Luftfahrt-Verlag Axel Zuerl, Steinebach-Wörthsee, Germany, 1972. Illustrated, hardcover, 130 x 200 mm, 312 printed pages, published in German.




E-Stelle See Travemünde - Die Geschichte der Seeflug-Erprobungsstelle Travemünde und der daraus hervorgegangenen E-Stelle für Flugzeugbewaffnung in Tarnewitz - Band 2

Edited by Heinrich Wollé, Dr. H.A. Caspari & Oskar Passoth, Luftfahrt-Verlag Axel Zuerl, Steinebach-Wörthsee, Germany, [year?], ISBN 3-87500-024-2. Illustrated, hardcover, 130 x 200 mm, 336 printed pages, published in German.




E-Stelle See - Die Geschichte der Seeflug-Erprobungsstelle Travemünde und der daraus hervorgegangenen E-Stelle für Flugzeugbewaffnung in Tarnewitz - Band 3

Edited by Heinrich Wollé, Dr. H.A. Caspari & Oskar Passoth, Luftfahrt-Verlag Axel Zuerl, Steinebach-Wörthsee, Germany, [year?]. Illustrated, hardcover, 130 x 200 mm, 320 printed pages, published in German.

Cover images © by Luftfahrt-Verlag Axel Zuerl.

These three books constitute one of the most comprehensive series of publications on a specific topic related to the Luftwaffe. And in spite of having been published decades ago, their contents are still relevant. Some of the information contained in the three volumes of E-Stelle See has in the meantime found its way into more recent magazine articles or books, but the combined 968 pages of this study still make it an undisputed and excellent single source reference on the seaplane testing center Travemünde and the affiliated aircraft armament testing center in Tarnewitz.

I first found out about E-Stelle See when, as a teenager, I read glowing reviews about these books in German specialist magazines Modell Magazin and Modell Fan in 1976 and 1980. It took until the early 2000s until I finally managed to track down pristine second hand copies of what had by then become collector's items. They were well worth the patience and persistence, however. Incidentally, a small address sticker in my copy of volume 2 shows that this book was once owned by one of the editors of Modell Fan magazine!

The three volumes of E-Stelle See are a collection of accounts, records, and archive material by former members of the Travemünde and Tarnewitz testing centers. Over a dozen authors thus contributed to make this a very wide-ranging compilation of facts and images, although the introduction states explicitly that there are inevitable gaps in the information thus compiled.

E-Stelle See opens with a brief history of German seaplane aviation and the inception of the Travemünde testing center. Even from the very beginning, there are remarkable photographs showing, for example, the testing center, the Dornier Do X in the dry dock, and Junkers, Heinkel, Dornier, and Rohrbach aircraft of the period. A frequent drawback is that the photos are often printed to a rather small size due to the fairly small dimensions of these books. In addition to the plentiful photo content of E-Stelle See, the text is also supported by tables, original documents, and drawings.

The narrative then describes the massive development of the testing center undertaken after 1933 and following the official establishment of the Luftwaffe. More modern aircraft types soon enter the picture, such as the Heinkel He 59, Blohm & Voss BV 138, Arado Ar 195, or Fieseler Fi 168. Also intriguing are the trials conducted with the Focke Achgelis Fa 330. The text continues to be generously illustrated with photos which are at times so specialized that one is unlikely to find them in any other, more generalized publication.

The wealth of material is simply far too extensive to be listed in full here. A few examples:

- engine and armament evaluation

- weapons testing in Tarnewitz, including, for example, turret development, or the various cannon fitted to the Henschel Hs 123

- Rohrbach flying boats

- sea trials in various conditions and involving the He 115, Ha 140, and Ar 196

- catapults and catapult testing with the Fi 168, Ar 197, Bf 109, Ju 87, and even the Ar 96

- landing trials with a Fieseler Fi 156 on board of the ship "Greif"

- evaluation of the Bf 109, Fw 159, Ar 80 and He 112

- helicopter testing

- evaluation of navigation and radio equipment

- tests involving flotation gear in aircraft

- supply flights to Narvik with BV 138 and Do 24

- organization of the RLM testing centers

- aircraft carrier-based version of the Ju 87

- a large section dedicated to affiliated ships and boats

- an illustrated list of German seaplanes and flying boats from 1920 to 1945

and much more.

One of the most intriguing sections reveals just how many aircraft carriers Germany was planning to build. Next to the well-known "Graf Zeppelin", which is covered in somewhat greater detail, drawings illustrate the projected (and, in some instances, commenced) "Flugzeugträger B" (a.k.a "Peter Strasser"), "Weser I", "De Grasse", "Europa", "Elbe I", "Elbe II", and the converted "Gneisenau".

Newer publications - such as, for example, Flugerprobungsstellen bis 1945 (Heinrich Bauvais, Karl Kössler, Max Mayer & Christoph Regel, Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Germany, 1998) - have since also covered this topic and included newer research. But E-Stelle See remains an essential and utterly abounding three-volume study on a most fascinating aspect of past German military aviation.

Dornier Do 215

Dornier Do 215 advertising by Dornier Werke GmbH, Friedrichshafen, as featured in the Flugzeugbau periodical, volume 1, issue 10, October 15, 1941, Verlag der Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Berlin, Germany. (Fischer collection)

Junkers Variable Pitch Propeller

Design and mode of operation of Junkers variable pitch propeller (based on the Hamilton principle), as featured in Das Flugzeug - Dritte Auflage [The Aircraft - Third Edition], edited by Theo E. Sönnichsen, published by Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., Berlin, Germany, 1942. (Fischer collection)

Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-1

M. Maslov, ExPrint NV Ltd., Moscow, Russia, 1995. Illustrated, softcover, published in Russian and English.

Cover image © by ExPrint NV Ltd., 1995.

It’s blatantly obvious, the entries in this blog frequently feature what one could term "obscure publications". The reason for this is simple. It is often an obscure, underground publication which turns out to be a hidden treasure. It is one of the privileges of running such a blog (and doing it entirely without being restrained by the fetters of commercial demands) that one is not necessarily required to bow to the preferences of a wider audience but instead is granted the complete freedom to also cover such little known gems

This little booklet is a prime example of the above. At 26 printed pages and a format of 200 x 290 mm, it certainly seems insignificant enough. In fact, it comes across like a thin magazine. But in reality, Maslov’s Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-1 is an extremely detailed walk-around type publication, revealing amazing details of an otherwise rather poorly covered variant (simply due to lower production numbers and its absence from front line units during World War II) of Messerschmitt’s Bf 109.

On December 4, 1937, during German operations with the Legion Condor as part of the Spanish Civil War, Feldwebel Otto Polenz landed his early model Bf 109, coded 6●15, on Republican-held territory after running out of fuel. The then state of the art fighter aircraft was of course a priced possession. While still in Spain, it was thoroughly tested by the French. Subsequently, the aircraft was shipped to the Soviet Union for further evaluation at the NII VVS air force research institute. The NII VVS prepared a comprehensive and exhaustively illustrated report, the photos of which now constitute this fantastic booklet.

Following a brief introduction in Russian and English, Maslov’s Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-1 is basically a photo album with compact captions. The photos show incredible detail and cover most parts of the aircraft. They are hugely interesting, not least because there still exists a dearth of reference material on early Bf 109s (as opposed to the abundance available on later versions of the aircraft). Included in the coverage are the Jumo 210 engine, the cockpit and its components, the landing gear, interior details, armament, and much more. The booklet is thus also an excellent modeler's reference.

In closing, a couple of points should perhaps be addressed. In my humble opinion, the modern four-view drawing on page 12 might be slightly questionable in some areas, e.g. the Bf 109's nose section. Moreover, Maslov (and much of the available literature on German military aviation in the Spanish Civil War) refers to this aircraft as a Bf 109 B-1. In his excellent The Messerschmitt Bf 109 - Part 1: Prototype To "E" Variants (SAM Publications, England, 2005), Lynn Ritger proposes that it was, in fact, a Bf 109 A. Ritger backs this assertion by means of a number of intriguing observations.

Nachtjagdleitschiff Togo

Kurt Petsch, Preußischer Militär-Verlag, Reutlingen, Germany, 1988; ISBN 3-927292-00-1. Illustrated, hardcover, 215 x 150 mm, 212 printed pages, published in German.

Cover image © by Preußischer Militär-Verlag, 1988.

NJL Togo (NJL = Nachtjagdleitschiff = night fighter guide ship) was quite a unique ship, and its significance with regard to the Luftwaffe’s night fighter operations warrants the inclusion of this book within the scope of this blog.

NJL Togo was the last night fighter guide ship of the German Kriegsmarine (navy) and Luftwaffe in World War II. Launched as a merchant vessel (M/S Togo) in 1938, it was absorbed into the Kriegsmarine after the commencement of hostilities and initially converted into a minelayer and then into an auxiliary cruiser. It also served as a minesweeper, and as a merchant harassment cruiser. In late 1943, after the loss of the Kriegsmarine’s first night fighter guide ship, NJL Kreta, the vessel was converted to a radar ship. It subsequently served as a night fighter guide ship until the end of the war, although its final missions also included refugee evacuation in the Bay of Danzig.

The operations of NJL Togo were directed by the Luftwaffe. Intended to close gaps in the German radar network, the ship was stationed in the Baltic Sea. It carried a Freya long-range radar and a Würzburg-Riese medium-range radar. The large parabolic dish of the Würzburg-Riese radar was a prominent feature of the ship’s silhouette after its conversion to a radar ship. NJL Togo was also fitted with significant flak artillery. The ship was operated jointly by two crews. A Kriegsmarine crew ran the ship, while 74 Luftwaffe radar specialists were in charge of the night fighter guide equipment.

This little known but highly fascinating component of the World War II Luftwaffe is covered in great detail in Kurt Petsch's Nachtjagdleitschiff Togo. The book is a veritable treasure trove of information and illustrations. While it contains a number of photos of the actual NJL Togo, there are also numerous drawings, cross-sections, maps, and original documents. The text itself first details the ship and its installations and then reproduces the contents of the ship's log, from October 1943 to March 16, 1945. An assortment of brief reports of various incidents during NJL Togo's operations completes the narrative.

It is impossible, however, to review this book without voicing a number of serious reservations. Even though Nachtjagdleitschiff Togo was published by what seems to be a proper publishing house, the book's layout is somewhat deficient and often even amateurish. Moreover, a good number of illustrations were either created freehand or captioned by hand, which makes much intriguing content look rather unprofessional. Most puzzlingly, however, is that the entire text of the book, including all photo captions, has been printed in the old Fraktur (blackletter) script. This renders the text very tedious to read for modern eyes. What a shame.

Fieseler Fi 156 With Skis

Replacement of main wheels and tail wheel of a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch with articulated skis for winter operations.

These drawings were originally featured in Das Flugzeug - Dritte Auflage [The Aircraft - Third Edition], edited by Theo E. Sönnichsen, published by Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., Berlin, Germany, 1942. Das Flugzeug was a heavily illustrated, 944 page (!) handbook on technical, mechanical, and operational aspects of aviation.

Das Flugzeg also included an additional illustrated booklet detailing the design and configuration of the Focke-Wulf Fw 58 Weihe, a large German aircraft identification wall poster, and various fold-out color plates. (Fischer collection)

Heinkel He 70

Heinkel He 70 D, D-UBIN, "Falke", Werknummer 709, operated by Deutsche Lufthansa, photographed approximately 1936. Photo was originally featured in Transaer 1937 - Handbuch des internationalen Luftverkehrs [Handbook Of International Air Transport], edited by Fischer von Poturzyn, Dr. Heinz Orlovius, and August Dresel, 538 pages, published as an edition of 2000 copies, by Richard Pflaum Verlag, Munich, Germany, 1937. (Fischer collection)