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{"cz":"The Eduard Modeller's Den"}
{"cz":"The Eduard Modeller's Den is an online paid magazine of Czech company Eduard - M. A. designed for enthusiasts of plastic modeling, history, and related subjects. It offers a diverse range of content, including articles on current events, historical articles, museum travel guides, and interviews with notable personalities. "}
12/2024
The Eduard Modeller's Den is an online paid magazine of Czech company Eduard - M. A. designed for enthusiasts of plastic modeling, history, and related subjects. It offers a diverse range of content, including articles on current events, historical articles, museum travel guides, and interviews with notable personalities.
Strana 1
CURRENT AFFAIRS – POPPIESDOUBLE STRIKE MISSION SCHWEINFURT-REGENSBURGMANITOWOC SUBMARINESINTERVIEW – FLYING WITH THE BLOODY HUNDREDTHWARNING SHOTS – NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2024HISTORICAL REFLECTION - TURNING POINT 1942BY INFO EDUARD MAGAZINEZero IssueDecember 2024Editorial
Dear Friends, welcome to the inaugural issue of an on-line magazine that certainly has no small ambitions. The Eduard Modeller’s Den magazine is just that...a comfortable den for modellers to escape to, where they can enjoy their passion in the comfort of wherever they are. The aim is not to compete with traditional modelling and historical magazines, but to bring a slightly different perspective and, with its content composition, create a mosaic suitable for both readers from the plastic modelling circle and those who are interested in history, museum travel, interviews with interesting personalities and related topics.
Dear Friends,welcome to the inaugural issue of an on-line magazine that certainly has no smallambions. The Eduard Modeller’s Denmagazine is just that...a comfortable denfor modellers to escape to, where they canenjoy their passion in the comfort of wher-ever they are. The aim is not to competewith tradional modelling and historicalmagazines, but to bring a slightly dierentperspecve and, with its content compo-sion, create a mosaic suitable for bothreaders from the plasc modelling circleand those who are interested in history,museum travel, interviews with interest-ing personalies and related topics.To cover it all, we’ve put together a high-quality team of writers, proofreaders, andtranslators who will regularly submit theirwork to you. Then it’s up to you to nd someme, stretch out on your favorite couch orin your den, and enjoy our magazine.When I say that we have created a list ofauthors, it does not mean that we are notworking on expanding founding resourc-es. We are ready to cooperate with otherresearchers and publishers who, throughEMD, are willing to share with readers thetopics that fascinate them. The arcles willinclude not only recently uncovered ac-counts from the world of aviaon, militaryand naval history and of plasc modeling,but also generally known topics, which wewill examine from dierent, less typicalperspecves.The development of this magazine wasa long struggle. It began many months agowhile playing with the noon of a printedversion of the exisng monthly newsleer,which could be ordered and printed on-de-mand, through the newsleer’s yearbookindex with the most interesng arcles,to what was the most currently displayededion on the computer screen. Even aerthe EMD concept was claried, for manydierent reasons it took several monthsand suered through a number of delaysbefore this premiere issue was ready. Con-sider it a taste of what awaits you in thefuture of EMD.The central feature of this issue is an ar-cle prepared for us by the renowned Lu-wae writer Donald Caldwell. The topicis the infamous 8th Air Force mission ofAugust 17th, 1943, to Regensburg and Sch-weinfurt. In recent months, our standardmonthly newsleer has published severalarcles specically about this topic, or atleast in some way touching on it. Mr. Cald-well’s work complements them from the‘other side’, from the perspecve of theGerman Luwae. A similar topic includesMa Mabe’s interview with 100th BombGroup veteran John H. ‘Lucky’ Luckadoo.Lucky is one of the last living veterans notonly of the Bloody Hundredth, but also ofthe erce air bales for supremacy overthe European skies during 1943. We great-ly appreciate the permission of my friendsMa and Lucky to use their interview.In this issue, our museum trip featuretakes us to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Duringhis visit, Vladimír Sulc, a member of our ed-itorial board and frequent newsleer con-tributor as well serving as Eduard’s CEO,not only collected many impressions andphotographs with which he wants to intro-duce you to this unique museum, but alsocompiled a number of detailed historicalinsights related to the museum’s exhibitsand the local history.A purely modeling secon, mostly gen-erated by our external colleague MarianCihon, and which we call ‘Warning Shots’,introduces twenty-ve new products fromthe eld of plasc modeling coming outmainly in November and December, 2024.Do not expect any rangs or reviews in thissecon. We don’t think it appropriate forus to do so or to be within the scope ofEDITORIAL2Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Regensburg, 17 August 1943 by Piotr ForkasiewiczStrana 3
what we are aempng to do. We will tryvery hard to bring modelling news that isvery, very fresh.We have two more regular columns, man-aged by our colleague from the editorialboard, the head of markeng at Eduard andalso aviaon-history columnist, Jan Bobek.While the rst of them will provide a cur-rent perspecve, the second is historicalin nature. But the fact that history is nota simple maer in today’s climate is illus-trated by both arcles, a concept which theeditor himself took on in his columns. His-tory and the present are quite intertwinedin them. But I will not provide any spoilers.Read the arcles and judge for yourself.The nal secon, which we have appro-priately dubbed ‘Debrieng’, will be a reg-ular feature wrien by Vladimír Sulc, fromwhom you are used to reading the intro-ductory editorials to the standard newslet-ter. Since I have appropriated this privilegefor the EMD, Mr. Sulc, or for many of youVlad, will conclude each issue with his ownthoughts.Although the creave team of this maga-zine has been responsible for the month-ly newsleer Info Eduard for several yearsand has certainly gained some experience,the concept of the intended magazine issomething completely new. It will bringnew challenges and new soluons. We areready to oer you honest work and fresh,well wrien content, but know we donot consider ourselves world champions.We are learning, so please forgive us forany mistakes and imperfecons, becausewe believe that these, as well as your feed-back, will move us forward and will allowthe EMD to evolve and improve.Before I conclude my rst column in thismagazine and invite you to enjoy its con-tent at least as much as we enjoyed creat-ing it, I would like to thank my colleagueson the editorial board, our contribungauthors, graphic designers, proofreadersand translators for their work on the con-tent of this issue and all of those comingdown the pipe. Last but not least, thanksgo out to Triobo, who grappled with theunusual technical requirements for us andhelped co-create this magazine during itslong development.We will graciously accept any suggesons,opinions and comments from you, our val-ued readers.Jan ZdiarskyChief Editor, EMD andtheInfoEduardNewsleer2 Editorialby the EIC5 CurrentAairsPoppies by Jan Bobek8 Double Strike MissionSchweinfurt-Regensburgfrom the Luwae Perspecveby Donald Caldwell33 Manitowoc SubmarinesMuseum Report by Vladimír Šulc70 Flying withthe Bloody HundredthInterview with John H. Luckadooby Ma Mabe82 Warning ShotsExploring the Plasc ModellingUniverse and BeyondNov/Dec 2024 by Marian Cihoň91 Turning Point- November 1942Historical Reecon by Jan Bobek96 Scale GalleryP-51D 1/48 Eduard by Paolo Portuesi100 Debriengby Vladimír ŠulcEDITORIAL370 833 91CONTENTEduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 4
SUBSCRIPTION RULES AND CONDITIONS4Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024EDUARD MODELLER´S DENe-zine,Internetmagazine,paidsupplementtotheInfoEduardNewsleerLanguage: published in two languages – Czech and EnglishLayout is friendly for reading on cellphones, tablets and computers.Periodicity: published monthlyRelease date: around 10th day in a monthReader’sregistraon: during purchase at emd.eduard.com (current Zero Issue is free)Subscripon: available while registraon and payment *Distribuon: to read and download on the Triobo plaorm (emd.eduard.com)A registered user will be able to read content on 4 devices at the same me.Registered user can also download a pdf of the issue that he purchased.Price: $ 5 USD (or equivalent in EUR or another currency **) means permanent accessto each purchased single issue (current Zero Issue is free)Payments: by a card at Stripe payment gateBonuses: with the purchase of each issue, the customer will receive a one-me couponfor a 10% discount when purchasing at the Eduard webstore (www.eduard.com) ***Discount bonuses will be available from the rst paid issue of the magazine.* Note to the subscripon and one-me purchase:- withoutsubscripon, each issue is acvated individually; one-me purchase.Then an e-mail with discount coupon will be received- monthly-acvatedsubscripon – the payment will be automacallyacvated aer new issue is released. This new issue will be immediatelyready for reading. Subsequently an e-mail with a discount coupon will be sent.- meperiod - quarter year, half year, a whole yearAer release of payment for a me subscripon, an e-mail is received withlist of discount coupons equal to the paid period, i.e 3, 6 or 12. Those cou-pons can be used anyme. For one order only one EMD discount couponcan be applied.Already paid issues are open to the parcular reader for the future readinganyme. The same order way can be also applied to previous issues.** The exchange rate between USD and your currency is determined by your bank*** EMD discount coupons can be combined with other discounts provided bythe Eduard webstore www.eduard.com.Combined discounts on Eduard webstore are appliedas shown in following example:Aerparty discount 20%EMD discount coupon 10%Purchase value $ 100 USD1) $ 100 USD – 20% Aerparty = $80 USD2) $ 80 USD – 10% EMD = $72 USD=> Total discount = $ 28 USD = 28 % from the basic price.There is not allowed to apply more EMD discount coupons in the same order.Current Affair
Poppies In the Czech Republic, November has long been associated with Veterans Day, symbolized by poppies. Although it is a relatively old tradition, it has found its place in the Czech context only in the last thirty years. The previous, communist, regime glorified the red color in a completely different form (especially in November, which was filled with it), and the poppy flower was not in favor. Today, people contribute to the support of war veterans by purchasing remembrance poppies. For foreign readers, especially those from Commonwealth countries, the adoption of their tradition in the Czech Republic might be surprising. It was our own WWII veterans who introduced us to November 11 and the “poppies” after the fall of communism in 1989, when they returned from the West to a free homeland . The symbol of the poppy began to be used in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. The first official celebration of Veterans Day took place in 2001 at Prague’s Vítkov Hill, and three years later, Veterans Day was defined in legislation as a significant day in the Czech calendar. Since 2014, the poppy has also symbolized the Military Solidarity Fund collection. Our company supports this fund almost every year during Veterans Day celebrations at Náměstí Míru (Peace Square) in Prague by donating proceeds from sales of our plastic kits, posters, and souvenirs.
In the Czech Republic, November has longbeen associated with Veterans Day, sym-bolized by poppies. Although it is a relave-ly old tradion, it has found its place in theCzech context only in the last thirty years.The previous, communist, regime glori-ed the red color in a completely dierentform (especially in November, which waslled with it), and the poppy ower wasnot in favor. Today, people contribute tothe support of war veterans by purchasingremembrance poppies. For foreign read-ers, especially those from Commonwealthcountries, the adopon of their tradionin the Czech Republic might be surprising.It was our own WWII veterans who intro-duced us to November 11 and the “pop-pies” aer the fall of communism in 1989,when they returned from the West toa free homeland . The symbol of the pop-py began to be used in the Czech Repub-lic in the 1990s. The rst ocial celebra-on of Veterans Day took place in 2001 atPrague’s Vítkov Hill, and three years later,Veterans Day was dened in legislaonas a signicant day in the Czech calendar.Since 2014, the poppy has also symbolizedthe Military Solidarity Fund collecon. Ourcompany supports this fund almost everyyear during Veterans Day celebraons atNáměs Míru (Peace Square) in Prague bydonang proceeds from sales of our plas-c kits, posters, and souvenirs.The tradion of Veterans Day is stron-gest in Great Britain and Commonwealthcountries but has gradually been adoptedin other naons. Over the past decade, forexample, it has been spreading in Ukraine.How did the commemoraon of fallensoldiers and the support of war veteransbecome linked with poppies? The originof this symbol dates back to Spring 1915during the Second Bale of Ypres in Flan-ders, Belgium, which lasted from April 22to May 25 of that year. The baleeld hadbeen turned into a lunar landscape by mas-sive arllery re, leaving only stumps oftrees. Today, sadly similar scenes can beseen in footage from the war in Ukraine.For soldiers on both sides in the spring ofPOPPIESJan BobekCURRENT AFFAIRS5Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 6
1915, it was a signicant surprise when thebaleeld was covered with a vast bloomof poppies. The soil, ploughed countlessmes by explosions, was an ideal environ-ment for these beauful weeds.Aer almost a year of horric war, duringwhich chemical weapons were used forthe rst me in the Second Bale of Ypres,the blooming poppies appeared to soldiersin the trenches as something from anoth-er world. Many sent the owers home inleers, and these are now prized arfactsin museum collecons. Poppies growingon baleelds were already a known phe-nomenon during the Napoleonic Wars.The foundaon of the poppy tradionwas laid during the Second Bale of Ypresby a Canadian military doctor of Scoshdescent, Major John McCrae, who servedwith the 1st Brigade, Canadian Field Arl-lery. Before the war, he worked as a pa-thologist and published on the subject, buthe was also a gied poet. On May 2, 1915,his friend Lt. Alexis Helmer was killed byan arllery shell. The next day, a burial forHelmer’s remains, which were found, washeld. Deeply aected by his friend’s deathand the immense number of casualesand injuries, McCrae wrote the poem InFlanders Fields aer the funeral. I’d liketo highlight it here, as it remains power-ful and meaningful even aer more thana century:InFlanderselds,thepoppiesblowBetween the crosses, row on row,Thatmarkourplace;andintheskyThelarks,sllbravelysinging,yScarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days agoWelived,feltdawn,sawsunsetglow,Lovedandwereloved,andnowwelie,InFlanderselds.Takeupourquarrelwiththefoe:To you from failing hands we throwThetorch;beyourstoholdithigh.If ye break faith with us who dieWeshallnotsleep,thoughpoppiesgrowInFlanderselds.Later in 1915, the poem was publishedand became the most popular work of itskind on the subject of the ongoing war. Itwas quickly translated into many languages,and countless soldiers gratefully saw it asan expression of the meaning behind theirsuering and a tribute to their fallen com-rades. Sadly, John McCrae passed away inearly 1918 and did not live to see the pub-licaon of his poetry collecon, aptly tledIn Flanders Fields.In 1921, remembrance poppies spreadamong the Allies as a symbol worn on la-pels on Armisce Day. The tradion grewCURRENT AFFAIRS6Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024PoppiesStrana 7
so widely that a factory was even estab-lished to produce the remembrance pop-pies. This act of honoring the memory ofAllied soldiers who fell in World War I andlater conicts connues to inspire arscworks to this day. However, the topic ofpoppies has not been without controver-sy. Debates have arisen over their arscdesign and the legimacy of selling thissymbol. In connecon with certain militaryoperaons, some segments of the publichave deemed its use inappropriate. Occa-sionally, the poppy is depicted in white asa symbol of peace.Returning to the Czech Republic: Whenthe armisce came into eect on Novem-ber 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. Paris me, morethan a million Czech-speaking men fromthe Lands of the Bohemian Crown wereserving in the Austro-Hungarian army.At the same me, over 100,000 of theircompatriots were ghng with the Czecho-slovak Legions on the Allied side. Theselegionnaires served in the French, Italian,Serbian, and, unl 1917, Russian armies.About a hundred of their compatriots evenfought in Brish uniforms.It’s unlikely that anyone on either sideof the war could have imagined that,a hundred years later, the sacrices of warveterans in their homeland would be com-memorated by the ower of the poppy—a symbol whose story began on the eldsof Flanders and whose commemoravetradion was born overseas. The poppy, asa symbol of sacrice and support for warveterans, connues to evolve, and I be-lieve this is good news for veterans andtheir families.CURRENT AFFAIRS7Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024PoppiesDOUBLE STRIKE
This article details the Luftwaffe defense against the 8th Air Force combined raid on Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943. Schweinfurt, which contained much of the German ball bearing industry, and Regensburg, the principal production site for Messerschmitt fighters, were two of the top targets on the Allies’ Combined Bomber Offensive list. Both cities were far beyond the range of American escorts, but the 8th Air Force under MGen. Ira Eaker was under pressure from Washington to show immediate results, and the staff of MGen. Fred Anderson’s VIII Bomber Command devised an ambitious plan to bomb both targets on a single day. The three long-range B-24 Groups were still in the Mediterranean theater from the Ploiești raid, so this would have to be an all-B-17 mission. In the final version, the smaller, newer 4th Bomb Wing would take off first and head to Regensburg on the most direct route, escorted as far as the German border by all of the available P-47s. After bombing, it would continue south over the Alps and land in North Africa. The larger, more experienced 1st Bomb Wing would follow fifteen minutes later, bomb Schweinfurt, and return to England; these B-17s would be seen home by the entire escort force, flying its second sortie. It was expected that the novelty and complexity of the combined mission would confuse the German controllers and exhaust their pilots. The greatest flaw in the plan, apart from its dependence on perfect weather and exact timing, arose from the limited range of the bombers of the 1st Bomb Wing, which forced them to take the most direct route to the target and return; this was a near-duplicate of the route to Regensburg as far as Schweinfurt. The German controllers would thus have to deal with three bomber formations flying on the same route on the same day, which would hardly stretch their capabilities. The Reichsluftverteidigung [RLV, Air Defense of the Reich] was slowly increasing in strength. A few fighter units had been brought back from the eastern front and the Mediterranean and after rebuilding, began training to combat American heavy bombers.
DOUBLE STRIKESCHWEINFURT-REGENSBURG MISSIONFROM THE LUFTWAFFEPERSPECTIVEby Donald CaldwellHISTORY8Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 9
The RLV sta had drawn up plans in the pre-vious months to concentrate the defendingghters along any deep-penetraon course.German pilots were now given briengsand maps describing the airelds to look forat the end of long one-way combat ights,and these airelds had been equipped toservice them. This would facilitate secondsores by ghters arriving in the bale zonefrom the most distant bases.The English weather turned what wasalready a quesonable mission into a di-saster. The weather over western Europewas perfect this morning—except over theB-17 bases, which were fogged in. Planswere hasly changed. The 4th Bomb Wingneeded daylight to land on unfamiliar eldsin North Africa, and could thus only waitan hour, but would take o then. The es-cort plan was apparently changed at thisme; only two P-47 groups went with the4th Wing, while the other two waited forthe 1st. The 1st Bomb Wing, which was in-adequately trained in bad-weather take-os, delayed their mission for three andone-half hours, as long as they could waitand sll return to England before darkness.However, this was sll not enough me forthe P-47 escorts to return from their rstmission, refuel and reload, and thus escortof the large outbound Schweinfurt forcewas le to only two P-47 groups, plus theshort-range RAF Spiires. Two P-47 groups,the 56th and the new 353rd, managed toy two missions, supporng the outboundRegensburg and the returning Schweinfurtforces. Most of the German JagdgruppenThisarcledetailstheLuwaedefenseagainstthe8thAirForcecombinedraid on Schweinfurt and Regensburg on August 17, 1943. Schweinfurt, whichcontained much of the German ball bearing industry, and Regensburg, the prin-cipalproduconsiteforMesserschmighters,weretwoofthetoptargetsontheAllies’CombinedBomberOensivelist.Bothcieswerefarbeyondtherange of American escorts, but the 8th Air Force under MGen. Ira Eaker wasunderpressurefromWashingtontoshowimmediateresults,andthestaofMGen.FredAnderson’sVIIIBomberCommanddevisedanambiousplantobombbothtargetsonasingleday.Thethreelong-rangeB-24GroupsweresllintheMediterraneantheaterfromthePloieșraid,sothiswouldhavetobeanall-B-17mission.Inthenalversion,thesmaller,newer4thBombWingwouldtakeorstandheadtoRegensburgonthemostdirectroute,escortedasfarastheGermanborderbyalloftheavailableP-47s.Aerbombing,itwouldconnuesouthovertheAlpsandlandinNorthAfrica.Thelarger,moreexpe-rienced1stBombWingwouldfolloweenminuteslater,bombSchweinfurt,andreturntoEngland;theseB-17swouldbeseenhomebytheenreescortforce,yingitssecondsore.ItwasexpectedthatthenoveltyandcomplexityofthecombinedmissionwouldconfusetheGermancontrollersandexhausttheirpilots.Thegreatestawintheplan,apartfromitsdependenceonperfectweatherandexactming,arosefromthelimitedrangeofthebombersoftheDOUBLE STRIKESCHWEINFURT-REGENSBURG MISSIONFROM THE LUFTWAFFE PERSPECTIVE1st Bomb Wing, which forced them to take the most direct route to the targetand return; this was a near-duplicate of the route to Regensburg as far as Sch-weinfurt. The German controllers would thus have to deal with three bomb-erformaonsyingonthesamerouteonthesameday,whichwouldhardlystretchtheircapabilies.TheReichsluverteidigung[RLV,AirDefenseoftheReich]wasslowlyincreas-inginstrength.AfewghterunitshadbeenbroughtbackfromtheeasternfrontandtheMediterraneanandaerrebuilding,begantrainingtocombatAmerican heavy bombers.Adapted from the author’s The Luwae over Germany: Defense of the Reich (with RichardMuller) and Day Fighters in Defense of the Reich: A War Diary 1942-1945. All photos providedby the author, unless otherwise noted.by Donald CaldwellHISTORY9Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 10
Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission[ghter groups] would have lile dicultyying two or even three missions.The pre-dawn radio tesng at the B-17bases gave the German ghter controllersample warning of a full-strength deep-pen-etraon raid. The Jafü Holland-Ruhrgebiet,[ghter control unit or commander, Hol-land-Ruhr region] Oberst Walter Grab-mann, operang from a villa near Arnhem,brought his seven Jagdgruppen to full read-iness at 0800. He scrambled Hptm. KarlBorris’s I./JG 26 from Woensdrecht at 1048.The best descripon of Borris’s mission isthat found in Jörg Kiefner’s unpublishedmemoir. Kiefner was a commissioned re-placement pilot who had just joined Bor-ris’s Gruppe. His report of his mission canstand for the many. Kiefner:“We drove to the 3. Stael dispersal atdawnonamotorcyclewithmyboss,Hptm.Hermichenandasidecarofveorsixpeo-ple. At this me, I. /JG 26 was based atWoensdrecht aireld near the mouth oftheScheldt,southeastofAntwerp.Our Focke Wulf Fw 190 ghter planeswere just being warmed up; long lightblue ames were shoong out of the ex-haustpipesoftheroaringenginesrunningatfullthrole.Thecrewchiefreported3machines Startklar [ready for takeo.] Allthepilotshadgathered;Iwasassignedtothe“Yellow2”,aformerKommodoreplane(henceafastone)asKaczmarek[wingman]totheboss.PeterAhrens’planewasalsoclearandsothethreeofusweresupposedtoleadthe“waroftheday”.ThedaybeforeIhadachievedmyrstkillwiththeendgül-genVernichtung[eV, nal destrucon] ofa B 17 bomber. Dressed ready to go withlife jackets, are pistols and ammunionin every conceivable pocket of the Chan-nelCombinaon,welaydowninthenextroomofthebarracks.Somorningmusic,mostlyfromBBCLondon,wasplayingonthe radio. As soon as it was daylight, or-derliescameandsetupthecoeetablefortheghterpilots’breakfast.Alfonswasal-readyclaeringthe dishes. Wecouldgetstarted; it was sll slightly hazy outside;anicedaywasexpected;therewouldprob-ably be something to do soon.At around 0800 the loudspeaker on thecommand system crackled for the rstme:livelyassemblyacvitywasdetectedoverEngland!Aha,it’sstarng!More reports kept coming. Formaonswere sll circling over the island. it tookaverylongmetodayunl“TheheadoftheFw 190A-5, WNr. 410054, Oberst WalterGrabmann, Jagdiegerführer Holland& 3. Jagddivision, 1943-1944Eduard kit No. 1144TheFw190AofOberstGrabmann,theJafüHolland-Ruhrgebiet,wholedtheLuwaedefense against the Schweinfurt-Regensburgmission.Walter Grabmann (1905 - 1992)One of the most procient and inuenalRLV Jafü and Divisionkommandeure. Grab-mann learned to y in the German policeforce and received a commission in the new-ly formed Luwae. He soon became thecommander of one of JG 26’s predecessorunits. Aer a tour in Spain as commander ofthe Condor Legion’s ghter component, hetransferred to the new Zerstörer force, andcommanded ZG 76 during the French cam-paign and the Bale of Britain, for which ser-vice he was awarded the Knight’s Cross. Hebecame Jafü Holland-Ruhrgebiet in August1942 and in November 1943 was given com-mand of Jagddivision 3, a posion he retainedunl the last chaoc month of the war. Hislast rank was Generalmajor. Aer the war hewas a principal author of the USAF HistoricalStudies on the German Air Force.HISTORY10Strana 11
formaonhasnowsetoonaneastwardcourse”; there obviously had to be largegroupsofdickenAutos[fat cars; Luwaecode for heavy bombers.] Radio communi-caonmeans4-enginebombers,act!Theordertotakeohadtocomeimmediately,asweweredirectlyintheapproachpathofthereportedunits.Sowewouldbethersttomeetthem!At1048wegottheor-der to scramble.Duetotheconstantsituaonreports,thetension had risen to the point where itwas unbearable, now it was nally me!As I ran to the machine, my mechanic wasalreadystandingnexttothebirdwithmyparachute, straps on, safety slider in thelockingmechanism,upontothewingandin one swing into the seat, starter leverswitchedon,bellystrapsoverandfoldedtogether,leandrightshoulderstrapsintothepluglock,headcoverwithFT[radio]puton, which the mechanic had in the mean-mekeptreadytohand.Ignionon,start-errevvedup,handlepulledandthegoodBMW 801 double radial engine started, ini-allyemingabluecloudofsmoke.Thefrontisclear,thebrakepadsareremoved,theFT buonsontheradio intercomarepressedin,theacceleratorisappliedandtheplanetaxistotheedgeoftheeld,justtotherightofHermichen.Analwaveatmy mechanic; his thoughts for the nexthourwouldbeon“hisbird”andhispilot!Then the aircra of the sta Schwarm[ight of four aircra] swept across theeldfromtheright;assoonastheypassedus,ourcrewchiefred“red”,thethreeofuspushedtheirthrolesinand thatwaswhere the wild hunt began. I don’t remem-berhowmanyaircrahadtakenoininourGruppe.Thereweren’tmany,atmosttwelve.Hermichenwasintheleadbutforme,the“youngbunny”,Ihadtosckwithit, keep my posion as clean as possibleand be careful. We climbed prey quick-ly. There was deafening chaos in the FTbetween orders and announcements fromtheformaonleaders.”I./JG 26 scrambled just as the Regensburgforce had nished crossing the English coast.Within ve minutes it was apparent that theB-17s were headed directly for the Dutchcoast, and Hptm. Klaus Mietusch’s III./JG 26was ordered to take o from Schiphol.Several Bf 110 night ghters from I./NJG 1and II./NJG 1 scrambled, under orders tohunt down any stragglers. II./JG 1 was kepton the ground at Woensdrecht while theB-17s passed directly overhead, probablybecause less than half of the Americanbombers had as yet been located. Borrisbegan climbing to the east to gain a goodKarlBorris,seenhereasanOberleutnantin1942.Theonlypre-warJG26pilotsllyingwithJG26onV-EDay,MajorBorriscommandedtheI.Gruppeforalmosttwofull years.Hptm.RolfHermichen,theI./JG11Kom-mandeur,ishoistedfromhisairplane,abrand-newFw190A-7,aerasuccess-ful early1944 mission. The Focke-WulfappearstobepaintedinanoverallHell-grau (light gray) scheme, common forBf109high-altudeghtersbutnotFw190s.Hermichenwasthe3./JG26KapitänduringtheSchweinfurt-Regens-burg mission.HISTORY11Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 12
aack posion; Mietusch’s men would al-ready have the morning sun at their backswhen they reached the bomber formaon.The oncoming formaon comprised 146B-17s in a long formaon of three combatwings, with a small escort comprising two353rd Fighter Group squadrons. Borriswas waing up-sun and slightly above thebombers as they approached, in perfectposion for an immediate head-on bounce.The skimpy ghter escort was apparent-ly concentrated around the rst combatwing; no P-47 pilot saw the Focke-Wulfsas they swept around in a le turn andhurtled toward the second combat wing.Aer ying through it, they hit the trailingwing and then broke away in all direcons.Borris’s own target, the last aircra in the94th Bomb Group box, burst into ames,sheered from the formaon and dove toearth—the rst loss of the day for eitherside. Several B-17s in the rear combatwing began to smoke from damaged en-gines. One Focke-Wulf was hit and droppedaway to make a forced landing on Venlo.No other German ghter was seriouslydamaged during this aack.Jörg Kiefner recalled: “Wepopupthroughathincloudlayer,andsuddenlyspotalargenumber of Messers, small brothers fromourIII.Gruppe,asitturnedoutlater.Iwastooinexperiencedtomakemuchsenseofitall.Weclimbfurtheruptoaround8000m,sweepingoutinawidearc.Thensuddenlythe dicken Autos [fat cars], the four-engineones!!!Firstcloudsofakandthenthickclusters of bombers in between, below ustothele!Wecatchupabit,withapar-allel course well ahead of the four-engines,about 150 of them! And then we turn inat the front, we follow—resolutely stucktoposion!—anddive,forthesecondmeon four engines for me.Diagonallyfromthefront,weaackfromaslightelevaon;extremelyquicklythegi-antaircra,iniallyonlyvisibleaslines,be-comebigger,thicker.Nowpullahead,aimat the fuselage and right engines then shoot,shoot,lightningboltswithinthegroupandstraight through the middle of the wholebunch, a fantasc moment, these boxesare huge, some are already burning, inafraconofasecondIseethehouse-sizedsharknsoftheirtailswiththelarge,blackmarkings. I quickly turn—there was my[Staelkapitän] Hermichen.Ijoinup—heisalready banking toward two lone Boeingsthathadbeenshotup(byus?)andwereturningbacktowardEngland.Aackfromlowrear,pressin,pullup—infrontofmeistheboss—hewasn’tgoingtoleavetheBoeing.Ipressinclose,ringbelowandbe-sidehimatouropponent,whonowhunginthe air in front of us as large as a barn door.Theairplaneissoonburningbrightlyfromourre,fromthefuselageandtherighten-gines.Aerpullingototheright,webankinagain,inaschool-bookposiontoaackfromtherear.“Ceasering!”fromHermi-chen over the radio. The bomber is burn-ingbrightlyalongitsenrefuselage—5-6crewmenhavealreadybailedout.NowourBoeingdivesnose-rsttowardtheground,where it crashes—an unforgeable sight.IcloseuponHermichenagain;PeterAhrenswasalsointhearea,havingshotdownthesecondBoeing.ItcrashedinmanypiecesbetweenAntwerpandoureldatWoens-drecht.”Hptm.MietuschscramblinghisIII./JG26fromanorthGermanaireldinJuly1943,before its return to The Netherlands.HISTORY12Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 13
Borris did not aempt to re-form hisGruppe for a second pass, but was contentto let his pilots search for stragglers whileawaing landing orders from the Jafü. Kief-ner connues his story:“Thethreeofusbuzzoureld,whichhadbeen directly below us, Hermichen andAhrenswagglingtheirwings.Tracpaern,landinggeardown,oatin,land,rollpastthe command post; many people, enthu-siascwaving,furtherintothepits,ready,engine switched o! Joyful excitement attheberth!Outofthemill,totheboss,whowas already talking with his hands and feet,tellingthestory.Reporngback,machinewasclearandeveryoneaskstogether,howwasit,diditworkne,how?Iwastheenvyofeveryoneforthishoteort:theycouldandhadwatchedfromtheeld!Hermichen and Ahrens headed for theGefechtsstand [command post], the for-mer somewhat embarrassed. His crewchiefhadtoldhimthathiscannonsllhadthetapeonthemandhadnotbeenred.H. had already claimed his Abschuß [shoot-down (air victory)], but immediately signedacombatreportasawitnesstoaHerauss-chuss [HSS, separaon from formaon]toAhrens,andtheendgülgeVernichtung[eV, nal destrucon] to me, since I hadownandredsoclosetohim.”Mietusch’s Gruppe was the next to aack.Upon its arrival it bored in on the rear ofthe bomber stream, which was totally un-Oblt.KlausMietusch,photographedbesidethetailofhis7./JG26Fw190A-3insummer1942.The8./JG26Fw190A-7“Black16”,showingitsunusualpersonalmarking,abloodybird.Unfortunatelythemechanicwhosuppliedthephotodidnotrecallthecircumstances.Bf 109G-6/R6, WNr. 15367, Oblt. HerwigZuzic, CO of 8./JG 1, Leeuwarden,the Netherlands, July 1943Eduard kit No. 84201HISTORY13Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 14
protected by ghters. The Messerschmisformed up, turned, and aacked the rearwing head-on. Only one bomber wasforced from the formaon by this inial at-tack, but the German pilots came back inrepeatedly over the next een minutes.Mietusch’s combat philosophy was unlikethat of the cauous Borris; he had orderedhis pilots to keep up the aack unl forcedby damage, low fuel, or low ammunionto break o. They concentrated on the reartwo combat wings. Three more damagedFortresses dropped back, but bomber rehit and killed one Messerschmi pilot andforced a second to belly-land with wounds.A third bailed out without injury aera spectacular cartwheel through the rearB-17 Pulk.One of the four B-17s that had droppedback from the 4th Bomb Wing’s rear boxwas shot down by Fw. Werner Kra of the9. Stael, who pulled alongside the crip-pled bomber to look it over and wasthen shot down by the right waist gunner,Sgt. William Binnebose, who met Kra thatevening in a Belgian hospital.The other three damaged B-17s were shotdown by JG 26 Focke-Wulfs and Messer-schmis and the lurking NJG 1 Bf 110s.A close examinaon of the claims micro-lms shows how complicated the book-keeping could become for even a rela-vely simple combat. Eight B-17s le theformaon before the German border wasreached. One of these was denitely shotdown by Flak, according to the survivingcrewmen. Of the other seven, I./JG 26 wascredited with three full victories; III./JG 26was credited with one, plus two more thatwere awarded “jointly with” NJG 1—alt-hough in theory the Luwae did not ac-cept joint claims—and NJG 1 crews wereTheFw190A-5ofOblt.RüdigervonKirchmayer,TechnicalOcerofII./JG1,photogra-phedinmid-1943.Itcarriesthechevron-circleemblemoftheTO,andaredTazelwurm[dragon-worm,acreaturefromNordicfolklore]onthecowlingtodesignatetheGruppeStab.Fw 190A-4, WNr. 140581, own by Lt. E. Burath, Stab I./JG 1,Deelen, the Netherlands, April 1943Eduard kit No. R0016Bf 110G-4, own by Lt. Heinz-WolfgangSchnaufer, II./NJG 1, Saint-Trond, Belgium,April/May 1943 Eduard kit No. 8208HISTORY14Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 15
given full credit for three, although all oftheir vicms had already le their forma-ons and according to the rules shouldhave been only “nal destrucons”. Therecord is silent with respect to sharing anyof these claims with JG 26.The 56th Fighter Group relieved the 353rdon schedule; its pilots saw only one Ger-man ghter. The German controller hadseen the new ghters coming and whiskedhis own ghters away and back to theirbases. When the last P-47 turned backat Eupen, the way was clear for new JafüHolland-Ruhrgebiet ghter units to conn-ue the aacks without hindrance. I./JG 1and III./JG 1 made contact at 1150, nearAschaenburg. The I. Gruppe claimedthree full victories and three separaons,for no losses. The III. Gruppe Kommandeur,Hptm. Robert Olejnik, had taken o latewith a bad radio and could not reach hisGruppe, but followed a B-17 formaon for35 minutes before aacking and claimedone nal destrucon; the rest of his Gruppemade no claims, and lost one Bf 109. Nextto arrive were the Messerschmis of I./JG 3, which claimed three B 17s for the lossof two ghters. Oberst Grabmann’s othertwo units, II./JG 1 and III./JG 3, were scram-bled but failed to make contact, and land-ed at Woensdrecht to await the bombers’return.Fw190A-6“Red5”of5./JG1,shownhereatRheineinsummer1943,waslostonanightmissionon27Septemberwhilebeingownbyanightpilot.Apilotof5./JG1runsuphisenginepriortotakeoinJuly1943.Hisnameisdierentindierentsources.Theyellowundercowlisatheatermarking;ThecowlringandGruppeTatzelwurmareinthe5.Staelcolor,red.HISTORY15Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 16
Hermann Graf(1912 - 1988)The rst ghter pilotto claim 200 air victo-ries, and the h manto be awarded theWehrmacht’s highestaward for valor, theKnight’s Cross withOak Leaves, Swordsand Diamonds. Grafwas grounded aer his202nd Eastern Frontvictory and returnedto Germany, wherethis poorly educatedson of a baker becamea favourite of the Nazipropaganda machine.He was eventually re-stored to combat sta-tus and commandedJG 50, JG 1, and JG 11in the RLV before he re-quested and obtainedpermission to returnto the Eastern Front tocommand his old unit,JG 52. On VE-Day he at-tempted to surrenderto the Americans, butas a prominent mem-ber of an Osront unithe was turned over tothe Soviet Army. Duringhis four-year capvityin Russia he apparent-ly signed documentsaccepng Nazi Ger-many’s guilt for begin-ning the war. For thistransgression he wasdenounced by the Ger-man veterans’ associa-ons aer his return toWest Germany, and re-mained a controversialgure unl his death.Targetstrikephotoof the RegensburgMesserschmifactory,capturedon August 17, 1943,by the crew ofB-17F42-30250‚Yank‘ from the385thBombGroup.HISTORY16Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 17
As soon as it became apparent that thebombers were on course for a target inwestern or southern Germany, Jafü Hol-land-Ruhrgebiet requested support fromJafü Deutsche Bucht, Jafü 2, and Jafü3. There was sll no formal coordinaonof the defenses, but such help was rare-ly withheld. JG 11 was ordered southwestfrom its north German bases to the Neth-erlands; JG 2 moved east from its bases inwestern France. All were too late to inter-B-17F-85-BO 42-30066, Lt. Charles B. Cruikshank crew, Maj. John C. Egan, 418th BS, 100th BG,Thorpe Abbos, United Kingdom, 17 August 1943Eduard kit No. 11183BombersoftheRegensburgTaskForceheadingsouthaerstrikingtheirtarget.[Photo:NARA]Fw.JosefKehle’sBf109G-6“Black7”of8./JG1,photographedatLeeuwardeninthesummerof1943.Theplanehasastandardmolenish,ared/whitespiralspinner,andtwonitbadges,theStaelbadgeandoneofKehle’sRoe[twoaircra.]HISTORY17Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 18
cept the incoming bombers and landed torefuel on airelds near the assumed with-drawal route, which was usually near theincoming route.The bombers entered the territory of JafüSüddeutschland, which had only one dayghter unit, Major Hermann Graf’s JG 50,under its command. The well-known Grafwas the highest-scoring pilot now servingwith a combat unit, but he did not leadtheir two missions today. That task fellto Oblt. Alfred Grislawski, Kapitän of the1. Stael. The bombers came within twen-ty miles of its base at Wiesbaden-Erben-heim; all of its 26 Bf 109s were scrambled,and were joined by the Einsatzschwärme[operaonal ights] of nearby operaon-al training units. They began their head-onaacks at around noon, and connued un-l 1250, aer the bombers had complet-ed their nal turn toward Regensburg atthe Inial Point. Only now was the targetknown. The Regensburg Industrieschutz-stael [factory protecon squadron] quick-ly scrambled its 12 Bf 109s. Oblt. Stemmlerdowned one B-17 before the bomb runwhile the other eleven Messerschmi pi-lots dove away. Stemmler was quoted assaying that while the idea of the lile unitwas a good one, test pilots were not neces-sarily good combat pilots. Grislawski’s menand the training unit pilots were creditedwith eight bombers; their own losses onReichsmarschallGöringspeakstoOblt.AlfredGrislawskiduringaninspeconofJG50atErbenheiminlate1943.BehindGöringistheKommodore,MajorHermannGraf;tothelerearisGenobst.BrunoLörzer.Hptm.Wilhelm-FerdinandGalland,KommandeurofII./JG26.ThesecondGallandbrothertodieintheGeschwader,“Wutz”waskilledon17August1943by56thFighterGroupP-47sescorngthe Schweinfurt-Regensburg raid.Bf 109G-6, Oblt. Alfred Grislawski, CO of 1./JG 50,Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany, September 1943Eduard kit No. 2144HISTORY18Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 19
MajorGeneralCursE.LeMay(1906-1990)by Jan ZdiarskýCurs LeMay was born in Columbus, Ohio.When the United States was aacked at PearlHarbor, he, with the rank of Major, command-ed the newly formed 305th Bomb Group. Hisgroup would become one of the rst Americanheavy bomber units in Europe less than a yearlater and he led it unl May, 1943. During thisinial period, the US bomber force not only ac-cumulated its rst tools with which to ply itstrade, but at the cost of heavy losses also ex-plored much that ended up as dead ends, andwas able to develop its taccs through expe-rience in modern air warfare. Curs LeMayplayed a major role in this, whose prominentrole lies in the development of strategic bomb-ing standards, the composion of combat for-maons and the logiscs of bombing missions.He le the 305th BG in May 1943 and becamecommander of the provisional 4th Bombard-ment Wing and later the 3rd BombardmentDivision, which the wing transformed into.He also led this unit over Regensburg on Au-gust 17th, 1943. In his style, he showed himselfto be a very tough and principled command-er, and many of his approaches are sll con-sidered controversial today. In August, 1944,LeMay was transferred to the Far East with therank of Major General, where he commandedthe XX and later XXI Bomber Command. Herehe rened strategic bombing taccs specical-ly for the use of B-29 deployments over Japanand advocated bombing Japanese cies withincendiary bombs in night raids.LeMay also commanded subsequent B-29missions against Japan, including massive at-tacks on dozens of Japanese cies that did notleave out Tokyo on the night of March 9–10,1945, which ranks as the most devastangbombing of the war. Of this operaon, GeneralLeMay declared ‘the US nally stopped swat-ng at ies and gone aer the manure pile’.To the debates about the controversies of thebombing of Japanese cies, it is necessary toadd informaon about the leaets that Gen.LeMay let rain over Japan. The text in Japa-nese said, ‘Unfortunately, bombs have no eyes.So, in accordance with America’s humanitarianpolicies, the American Air Force, which doesnot wish to injure innocent people, now givesyou warning to evacuate the cies named andsave your lives.’Aer the war, he worked at the Pentagon onthe research and development sta, where hebecame interested in the idea of the elementof deterrence, which became a major aspectof the tug-of-war between the US and the So-viet Union in the later years of the Cold War.In 1947, he returned to Europe, where he com-manded the USAFE and, among other things,led a humanitarian operaon to supply WestBerlin, surrounded by occupaon troops of theSoviet Union. From 1948 he worked for theStrategic Air Command, and later as Chief ofSta of the United States Air Force. He reredin 1965 and became involved in polics. Here,too, his uncompromising and very hard posi-ons on the possible use of nuclear weaponsand views on America’s powerful adversariesglobally were oen heard. Among other things,he was among those who advocated quick anddecisive acon during the Cuban Missile Crisis.In 1968, he ran for vice president of the USA.Although unsuccessful, the American Inde-pendent Party, for which he ran, obtained anunusually high result for a third party showing.Four-star General Curs LeMay died on Octo-ber 1st, 1990 at the age of 84. His story will becovered in more detail in the form of a sepa-rate arcle in one of the future issues of thismagazine.B-17F-30-VE, 42-5867, Lt. William D. DeSanders crew,350th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbos, United Kingdom, 17 August 1943Eduard kit No. 11183HISTORY19Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 20
this mission are unknown. The last ght-ers ordered up were from NJG 101, a nightghter training unit. They were ordered tosearch out stragglers, and did succeed indowning two—a third claim was not con-rmed—but most orbited north of the citywaing for the B-17s to complete theirbomb run and reassemble for the returntrip to England.The 4th Bomb Wing nished bombingat 1307 and then, much to the Germans’surprise, turned south, where no defens-es existed. The Americans were now enroute to North Africa, and had to contendonly with their previous damage, naviga-onal dicules, and their fuel supplies.They lost a total of 24 B 17s; of this num-ber, 14 were shot down over the Con-nent, two force-landed in Switzerland, fourcrash-landed in southern Europe, and fourditched in the Mediterranean o Tunisia.Fiy more were damaged. All of Col. Le-May’s bomb groups were awarded thePresidenal Unit Citaon for the mission,which was judged a success; reconnais-sance photos showed that serious damagehad been done to the Messerschmi plant.The Jafü 2 and Jafü Holland-Ruhrgebietcontrollers were puzzled by the non-arriv-al of the larger part of the B-17 force; thetwo American bombardment wings hadalways in the past coordinated their at-tacks to split the defenses, and the earlierradio tests indicated that the other bomb-ers were coming today. But they couldn’tworry about them now. The B-26 and RAFdiversion raids that ordinarily preced-ed the heavy bombers were now report-ed in the Channel. The enemy was com-ing across at such widely-spaced intervalstoday that these secondary forces, whichwere usually ignored, could be aacked.Five Allied formaons headed for the Pasde Calais, where the three Staeln of theJG 26 Geschwadergruppe [headquartersgroup] were waing. The intercepon wasnot a success; only one Typhoon was shotdown, for the loss of one Messerschmiand one Focke-Wulf to the Spiire escorts.The Spiires also encountered part of II./JG 2, probably en route to its base for theaernoon mission, and lost one pilot tothe Richthofen ghters.II./JG 26, which was commanded by MajorWihelm-Ferdinand “Wutz” Galland, broth-er of Adolf Galland, the General der Jagd-ieger [General of the Fighter Pilots], wasbased on several elds around Beauvais.The Gruppe was scrambled before noon,possibly just to clear their airelds in caseof a B 26 aack. It was not vectored toa target, and landed forty-ve minutes lat-er to prepare for future acon. The Gruppewas next ordered to y from Beauvais toLille-Nord. The reason for this move is un-known. Lille-Nord was closer to the pre-sumed path of the next heavy bomber raid,sll assembling over England, but it wasa ny eld that usually held only a singleStael, and was already hosng the JG 26Geschwadergruppe. II. Gruppe landed at1430, shortly aer the B-17s began cross-ing the English coast, but could not be re-fueled in me to play a role in the inter-cepon of the incoming Schweinfurt force.AghtB-17formaonisescortedbya4thFighterGroupP-47.ThisisprobablythemissiontoStugarton6September,1943.HISTORY20Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 21
Even without it, Oberst Grabmann was ingood condion to meet the long-delayedsecond B-17 force—which was followingexactly in the track of the rst. ThirteenGruppen of single-engine ghters had beenassembled along the Regensburg bombers’assumed return route; it was the largestdefensive force yet seen over Europe. Nowthe eort would not go to waste.The rst radar report of the 230 B-17s ofthe Schweinfurt force reached the control-lers at 1426. This formaon had a largerghter escort than its predecessor. Eightsquadrons of Spiires would accompanythe B-17s as far as Antwerp. There theywere to be relieved by two groups of P-47s,which could stay with the bombers as far asEupen, on the Belgian side of the Germanborder. Woensdrecht was once again onthe bombers’ path. The Focke-Wulfs of II./JG 1 and I./JG 26 had been reinforced withthe underwing cannon-armed Bf 109G-6sof III./JG 3, ying their rst RLV mission.These Messerschmis began taking to theair at 1430, and were the rst to contactthe bombers. The controller’s orders tookthem over the North Sea, directly beneaththe Spiires of No. 222 Sqd. These prompt-ly aacked, downing three MesserschmisWilhelm-FerdinandGalland’spassbookportrait.HisKnight’sCrosshasbeenpaintedontothephotograph.Wilhelm-Ferdinand “Wutz” Galland(1914 – 1943)The third son of a Westphalian land manag-er of Huguenot ancestry, joined the Luwaein 1935, originally in the anaircra arllery.He was successful there, being awarded theIron Cross First Class early in World War II, butrequested pilot training and a transfer to theJagdwae [ghter force.] He joined two of hisbrothers in Jagdgeschwader 26 in June 1941.This could have been considered neposm (hisbrother Adolf was Kommodore) but he soonproved himself to be an excellent combat pilotand formaon leader, some said the best inthe family. He was promoted to Kapitän of the5. Stael in June 1942, and to Kommandeur ofthe II. Gruppe in January 1943.Galland’s career was followed with great in-terest by the RAF radio intercept operatorsacross the Cnannel. His radio “handle” (Wutz,pronounced “Vootz”) was the most disncveon the Channel coast, his aggressiveness andthe rough tone he used with the leaders of fel-low Jagdwae units was noted, and “The dy-namic leader of the Vitry Wing” got more inkin the RAF intelligence reports than any otherLuwae personality.On 17 August 1943 Galland’s II./JG 26 ewtwo transfer ights with no contact, but wasup in force against the returning Schweinfurtaackers. The Gruppe made one success-ful head-on aack on the B-17s, but whilere-forming for a second pass was surprisedfrom the rear by the P-47s of the 8th US ArmyAir Force’s 56th Fighter Group. Galland wasshot down and killed early in this dogght.He remained missing for two months, unl hisbody was found buried with his aircra in theso soil of northern France. He was creditedwith 55 aerial victories in 186 combat missions,all in the West.The death of the popular and gied WutzGalland was a serious blow to the Geschwad-er and the Jagdwae. In his eight months asGruppenkommandeur he had gained a repu-taon in the Luwae (and to the Allies) asone of the best formaon leaders in the West.The surviving pilots of his Gruppe, who calledthemselves his “Cavaliers”, spoke of him inaeconate terms, and were convinced thatunder his leadership they had once again be-come the best unit on the Kanalfront [ChannelFront.]HISTORY21Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 22
and dispersing the German formaon be-yond recovery. Hptm. Walther Dahl, theGruppenkommandeur, furiously blamedthe Jafü, but the error was at least partlydue to the unit’s own inexperience in thewestern cauldron.Lt. Kiefner of I./JG 26 looked forward tohis second mission of the day with greatancipaon. He recalls:“Around midday, three to four Gruppen,mostlyMe109aircra,landedoneaertheother.Wearrivedatourdispersal,whichwasnow surrounded by closely packed ghterplanes. A powerful sight—but we weren’tfeeling very good, the birds could only becamouagedtoaverysmallextent.Then, shortly aer 2 p.m., Erhöhte Auf-merksamkeit [Increased Aenon]. Soonaer, Sitzbereitscha! [Cockpit Readi-ness!] The aireld was full of of ght-ers-the Beulen [Bf 109G-6s] took o rst,then the Focke-Wulfs. We were the last.Aerawhilethethreeplanesof3./JG26(PeterAhrens,MaxMunch,andI)becamethe Holzauge-Kee [cover detachment]abovethewholegiganchordeof75ght-ers.I’dneverseenussostrongandcouldn’tget over a feeling of perfect condenceandsecurity.”Fw. Peter Ahrens was leading the 3. Staf-fel trio, and tried to reach the bombers be-fore the Spiires turned back. Jörg Kiefnerconnues,“We were at 5000 meters when the dickenAutos came into sight—well below them,and in no kind of aack posion. To theright of us were about 180 bombers likethreeghtlypackedbunchesofgrapes.Yell-ingintheradio,“Watchout!Escortght-ersaround!”Peter[Ahrens] sheeredotothe right, just under the lowest Pulk, in or-dertocomeupontheotherside,tomakean undisturbed aack on the big Haufen[heap of bombers]. We were now yingalongsidetheBoeings—anerve-wrackingexperience. A glance up to the le, andHptm.WaltherDahl,KommandeurofIII./JG3,stridesforwardtocongratulate7./JG3pilotsaertheirsuccessful14Octoberight,againstthe2ndUSAAFSchweinfurtmission.Bf109G-6“White6”bearsfullmarkings:theGeschwaderemblemonthecowling,theGruppevercalbar,andawhitecometdenongtheStael.AWGr21mortartube,standardequipmentinthisStael,canbeseenbeneaththewing.Bf 109G-6, 7./JG 3, Bad Wörishofen,Germany, October 1943Eduard kit No. BFC055HISTORY22Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 23
I shouted over the radio, “Aufpassen, In-dianer!” Three Spiires were pointed atus. I shouted again, “Peter, they’re comingdown!”asheick-rolledlightning-quicktohis le. Münch followed. I banked to thele,tooslowly—mycratewassooncomingapart.Iscarcelynocedalightblowtomyleknee.Mywingssproutedcauliowers;bothaileronsoppedupanddown;Ifoundmyselfinaatspin,whichmymovementofthesckcouldn’tcontrol.Soout!Ifonlyitwassosimple...Iwasplasteredontotheright side of the cockpit, scarcely able tomovemyarms.SomehowIpulledthecan-opyleverandrippedomyharness.Iwassllinadamnedspin.Iwasnowat1500meters—WithalastpushIcamefree,andseconds later the wonderful white cloudblossomedaboveme.”Kiefner’s knee contained a .303” machinegun bullet, and he had hit his head on hisairplane’s tail when bailing out. Aer land-ing, he was taken to an Antwerp hospitalby two Belgian farmers. Aer a brief con-valescence; a briefer home leave; a stopat Kurheim Florida, the ghter pilots’ resthome; and a tour in an operaonal train-ing unit; he returned to the Gruppe in lateDecember.Josef “Pips” Priller(1915 – 1961)He joined the Luwae in 1936 and by theSecond World War was a ghter pilot in JG 51.He was very successful in the Bale of Britainand was awarded the Knight’s Cross in Octo-ber 1940. Adolf Galland, JG 26 Geschwader-kommodore, was able of get him transferredinto his own unit in November 1940, where hebecame Kapitän of the 1. Stael. He was pro-moted to Kommandeur of the III. Gruppe on6 December 1941, and became Kommodoreon 10 January 1943.Priller was twenty-seven years old when hetook over JG 26. He was the top-scoring pilotthen in the Geschwader, and had thus prov-en himself by combat, the main requirementfor promoon in the Jagdwae. He was alsoan excellent formaon leader and taccian.He was a notable bon vivant, displaying anoutgoing, eervescent personality in public.However, he took the responsibilies of com-mand seriously. He was always concerned forthe welfare of his men, who responded byholding him in great respect and aecon.He became famous because of his Focke-Wulf’s single strang pass aack on SwordBeach on D-Day, accompanied by his wing-man. This act was rst brought to the world’saenon by the book, and then the lm,The Longest Day.Oberst Priller le Jagdgeschwader 26 in Jan-uary 1945. Aer ve connuous years on theWestern front, his tour of combat duty had -nally ended. He had scored 101 aerial victoriesin 307 combat sores. He became Inspectorof Day Fighters (West), a sinecure which kepthim from further combat ying.Priller did not return to ying aer the warbut became general manager of the brew-ery owned by his wife. He died suddenly on20 May 1961 from a heart aack.MajorPrillerinightinFw190A-5W.Nr.7298,hisregularaircraduringmid-1943.Fw 190A-5, WNr. 0157 298, own by Maj. Josef Priller,CO of JG 26, Lille - Vendeville, France, May 1943Eduard kit No. 82143HISTORY23Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 24
The Spiires turned back at Antwerp. Oneof the two P-47 groups, the 4th, missed ren-dezvous, and never reached its assignedposion over the leading combat wings.The other unit, the 78th Fighter Group, car-ried out its escort of the rear B-17 wingsexactly as ordered. It saw lile combat,as the two Focke-Wulf Gruppen had al-ready found the unprotected van of thebomber stream. They were able to pre-pare well-coordinated head-on aacks inthe undisturbed air ahead of the forma-on. Once the cohesiveness of the leadingwing had been broken, successive aackssought out the least well-defended part ofthe bomber stream, in accord with the usu-al German paern. Other preferred targetswere bombers in the highest or lowest po-sions in the box formaons, which werenot as well covered by neighboring gunners.The American crews gave the name “cof-n corner” to the low squadron posion ina low box.Borris’s I./JG 26 stayed with the bomb-ers far longer than on their earlier mission,and claimed four bombers before break-ing away with low fuel; two claims wereconrmed. Their only casuales were Kief-ner and a brand-new pilot who ew asfar as Koblenz before running out of fuel;he was killed aempng to make a dead-sck landing. II./JG 1 rst aacked head-on by Schwärme in order of Staeln, andthen made repeated follow-up aacks.It claimed six B-17s downed and separat-ed from formaon; three claims were con-rmed. It lost four Fw 190s in crashes orcrash-landings; one pilot suered seriousinjuries.Examinaon of II./JG 1 Abschussmel-dungen [shootdown reports] from this bat-tle shows the diculty of assigning victorycredits. Uz. Schönrock shot down a 91stBG B-17 near Mayen-Andernach, visitedits surviving crew that night, and led anAbschussmeldung. JG 1 downgraded it toan eV; its ulmate disposion is unknown.Uz. Scharler last saw his target in a steepdive, but did not see it crash. He submit-ted a claim for an HSS, but JG 1 rejected it.Lt. Heinz Schwarz shot a B-17 from forma-on and later saw it under aack by threeghters and spinning down. He submieda claim for an HSS, which was rejected byJG 1.Oberst Grabmann med the approachof most of his defenders so that they con-tacted the bombers immediately aer theBf 109G-6, WNr. 18807, Flown by Ofw. AlfredSurau, 9./JG 3, Bad Wörishofen, September,1943 Eduard kit No. 8268Obfw.AlfredSurausitsonthewheelofhisBf109G-6“Yellow6”atBadWörishofeninthefallof1943.The9./JG3ghtercarriesafullsetofmarkings:theGeschwaderemblemonthecowling;ayellowspinner,machinegun“bump”andaircranumber,alongwithalargeeyeonthebump,allforthe9.Stael;avercalblackIII.Gruppebar;andblackvictorybarsonayellowrudder.HISTORY24Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 25
P-47s turned back at the German bor-der, as expected. For the next two hours,the bombers were baered by ghtersfrom ten Jagdgruppen, an intensity of at-tack far in excess of anything previously ex-perienced. Mietusch’s III./JG 26 is typical.It took o from Schiphol at 1439 underorders to head southeast, toward Germa-ny. They reached the bomber stream nearAachen and stayed in contact for thirtyminutes, claiming four conrmed victo-ries. One Messerschmi was shot down,and three sustained damage, but none oftheir pilots were injured. Other units claim-ing victories were I./JG 1, III./JG 1, I./JG 3,Stab/JG 11, I./JG 11, II./JG 11, III./JG 11,JG 50, and NJG 101. The most successfulwere I./JG 11 and JG 50, each of which wasawarded six victory conrmaons. SeveralStaeln carried underwing WGr 21 rockets,which were extremely tricky to use in thebriefed head-on aacks. Oblt. Heinz Knokeled his 5./JG 11 in a head-on rocket aackon a low box—probably the 92nd BombGroup—in a rear combat wing. Knoke washit in the wing by defensive re, causingone rocket to re prematurely. He missedwith the other, and dove away to examinehis damage. The rest of his Stael claimedtwo direct hits, but their targets did notleave their formaons, and the claims werenot led.The ghter aacks slackened when theB-17s began their bomb run on Schwein-furt. JG 50, which was the single-engineunit closest to its home base, was proba-bly the last to break contact. Bombs weredropped from 1559 to 1611. For a varietyof reasons that need not be addressedhere, no bomb group hit its target, even incondions of cloudless skies and light ak.Overall results were characterized as “verypoor”. Three B-17s from low groups weredamaged suciently by the Flak to leavetheir formaons; none reached England.The night ghters did an eecve job ofhunng down stragglers, receiving creditfor ve. A reconnaissance pilot joined thehunt and was credited with one B-17.The surviving bombers re-formed theirdefensive boxes and took up a returncourse slightly to the north of their in-bound route. The Americans credited thisroute with confusing the defenders; onlya few ghters were seen by the bombercrews unl they neared the Belgian border.In reality, the Germans were as exhaustedas the Americans. Aacks by single-engineunits ying their second or third soresTheBf109G-6oftheII./JG3Kommandeur,MajorKurtBrändle,whichwasnotyetacveintheRLVonthedayoftheSchweinfurt-Regensburgmission.HewaskilledinthisaircraonNovember3.ThewhiteruddermarksBrändleasaformaonleader.Fw 190A-5, WNr. 2700, 2./JG 11, Husum,Germany, August 1943Eduard kit No. 84118HISTORY25Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 26
were weak in strength and tentave. I./JG 1 claimed three victories in this period;two were conrmed. I./JG 3 also claimedtwo. II./NJG 6 scrambled six Bf 110s fromMainz-Finthen, under orders to aack in-tact combat boxes rather than stragglers.One Kee made a formaon aack on thetrailing, low 303rd Bomb Group from sixo’clock low, approaching to close range,as was customary when aacking RAF nightbombers. They were sing ducks for theB-17 tail and ball turret gunners, who shotall three down; only two of the six crew-men survived. The other Kee approachedthe 379th Bomb Group more gingerly; theyshot down one previously-damaged B-17,while losing one of their number.Formaon leaders who had landed awayfrom their own bases to refuel were underorders to improvise aack units from thepilots they found there. Oblt. Knoke hadlanded his damaged Bf 109 on Bonn-Hange-lar, where it was diagnosed as havinga cracked main wing spar. He gathereda small band of Bf 109 and Fw 190 pilotsand led them up in his damaged ghter tond the bomber stream. He concentratedon stragglers, and the maneuvers of hiscrippled bird were cauous enough to benoced by the crew of his target, a 305thBomb Group B-17. He was able to shootit down, but was himself hit; his engine quitat low altude, and he was forced to makea crash-landing that according to Knokele “nothing intact but the tail wheel.”One of his sleeves was blood-soaked froma shrapnel wound, but he returned to Je-ver the following day in the Gruppe ulityairplane.The controllers were counng heavi-ly on the aack of the only fresh Gruppele in the area, Wutz Galland’s II./JG 26.At 1650 Galland led his three Staeln upfrom Lille-Nord and ew southeast, alongthe reciprocal of the bombers’ returncourse. Obstlt. Priller, the JG 26 Geschwad-erkommodore [CO] also scrambled withthe JG 26 Stabsschwarm and the 8. Stael,but Galland, who led the larger unit, prob-ably held the taccal command. They metthe bomber stream head-on, just east ofthe Belgian border, and aacked the thirdof the three combat wings. Priller’s targetbegan to burn. Galland then re-formed asmuch of his Gruppe as he could and led ittoward the front of this half of the forma-on, for a second head-on aack.At this moment the Germans were stunnedby ghters aacking from their rear—fromthe direcon of Germany. Colonel Hub Zem-ke had led his “Wolfpack”, the P-47s of the56th Fighter Group, farther east than theyhad ever own before, een miles be-yond the German border. He had reachedthe rendezvous point exactly on me andcourse, but had then overown the B-17formaon, unobserved by the German at-tackers, who were thus set up for a surpriseaack. Wutz Galland disappeared aer theinial Thunderbolt bounce; the screamedwarning of his wingman Uz. Heinz Go-mann could not save him. Gomann’sB-17Fs/n42-29978„Hell‘sAngel“ofthe381stBombGroup,lost on Schweinfurt mission, August 17, 1943HISTORY26Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 27
Hubert „Hub“ Zemkeby Jan BobekThe 56th Fighter Group, led byCol. Zemke and equipped with P-47Thunderbolts was an American ght-er unit that played a signicant rolein the ght against the Luwae onAugust 17, 1943. One of its mem-bers shot down and killed Major Wil-helm-Ferdinand Galland, consideredthe best German ghter commanderon the Western Front at the me.Hubert Zemke was born on March14, 1914, in Missoula, Montana,to a family of German immigrants.He began his ight training withthe armed forces in February 1936.A year later, he was assigned to the36th PS, 8th PG, and earned his pi-lot qualicaon in August 1939.In 1940, Zemke was sent to GreatBritain to study RAF taccs, and inMay 1941, he joined the HQ squad-ron of the 56th Pursuit Group (later56th Fighter Group). In 1941, whilethe U. S. was sll neutral, he wassent to the Soviet Union to help trainSoviet pilots on Curss P-40s, therehe even had visual contact with Ger-man aircra.It is likely that one of his cousinswas already serving in the Luwae,possibly Uz. Egon Zemke, whoew Fw 190 A aircra with 2. /JG 54“Green Heart” on the Western Frontin 1944.Aer being promoted to Captainin the rst half of 1942, he brieyserved with the 89th FS, 80th FG.By September 1942, he returned tothe 56th FG, was promoted to Lieu-tenant Colonel, and took commandof the unit. Aer intense training andmodicaons to the P-47 aircra inthe U. S. , the 56th FG was deployedto Europe at the beginning of 1943.Under the leadership of Zemke andother ocers, the 56th FG quicklybecame one of the elite units on theEuropean baleeld. They masteredthe Thunderbolt deployment tac-cs so well that, with 664 victories,the 56th FG became the most suc-cessful American ghter unit in theEuropean theater. Unlike other unitsthat switched to Mustangs, the 56thFG kept the P-47 unl the end of thewar. Zemke systemacally focusedon developing combat mission strat-egies over occupied Europe and in-troduced a tacc for distant ghterescort combined with systemacenemy area reconnaissance, whichbecame known as the “Zemke´s Fan.“In August 1944, Hubert Zemkewas appointed commander of the479th Fighter Group, ying P-51s,and achieved several more victo-ries, bringing his score to 17. 75 con-rmed kills, with an addional twoprobable kills and nine aircra dam-aged. He also destroyed 6.5 aircraon the ground. One of his victorieshappened on August 17, 1943, whileescorng bombers back from theSchweinfurt mission, in the ensuingdogght he shot down a Bf 110 nightghter near St Trond.During a combat mission on Octo-ber 30, 1944, he was captured dueto serious damage to his aircra.In the POW camp Stalag Lu I, he as-sumed the posion of Senior AlliedOcer in December 1944, ulmate-ly responsible for about 9,000 pris-oners. Zemke became the main liai-son between the prisoners and theircaptors, signicantly improving theprisoners’ living condions and se-curity in the nal months of the war.Aer the war, Zemke command-ed the 36th FW and the 31st SFW.He rered in July 1966 and went onto write three books. Hubert Zem-ke passed away on August 30, 1994,in Oroville, California.[Photo: Fold3]HISTORY27Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 28
Robert B. Williams (1901-1977)by Jan ZdiarskýRobert B. Williams was born in Albany, Texas,where he joined the Army Air Force in 1923.Aer compleng his training, he worked as anaerial instructor in photo-reconnaissance unitsin the early 1930s. He later held command po-sions in bomber units and as an experiencedpilot ew several long-haul ights, includinga seven-bomber mission from Langley Field,VA to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the beginning ofWorld War II, he worked as a military observ-er in Great Britain. Aer returning to the US,he held command posions within the bomb-er air force, before being assigned to the8th Air Force in Great Britain inJune, 1943 with the rank of Brig-adier General. He subsequentlytook command of its 1st Bomb Di-vision. He personally led severalimportant missions with this unit.The rst of them was the tragic raidon Schweinfurt on August 17th,1943. Under the leadership of thismission, Gen. Williams receivedthe DSC. He was promoted to MajorGeneral in May, 1944 and returnedto the US in October, 1944 to parc-ipate in the Manhaan Project at Los Alamos.As commander of the Second Air Force, he wasresponsible for the training of heavy bomb-er crews and the development of techniquesfor dropping special weapons. He rered inJune, 1946 and moved to San Antonio, Texas.Among his major military awards are the Dis-nguished Service Cross, Disnguished Ser-vice Medal, American Defense Service Medal,American Theater Medal, WWII Victory Medal,European–African–Middle Eastern CampaignMedal, and the Brazilian Order of the South-ern Cross. General Williams died at the age of76 on February 10th, 1977. His story will becovered in more detail in a separate arcle ina future issue of this magazine.ghter was also hit. He managed to jumpout, but got hung up on his plane’s tail;he broke free just above the ground andwas knocked out when he landed. Aerregaining consciousness, he found that hehad suered only “slight injuries”, but wasnevertheless granted three weeks’ homeleave to recover. A third member of Gal-land’s Stabsschwarm was damaged on thesame pass, and put down on Brussels-Ev-ere; two more II./JG 26 pilots force-land-ed with damage. Galland’s remains werefound two months later, buried with thewreckage of his aircra twelve feet deepin the so soil near Maastricht.The disappearance of the popular andgied Wutz Galland was a serious blow tothe Geschwader and the Jagdwae [ghterBrig.GeneralRobertB.WilliamstalkswithCol.J.J.Nazzaro,CO,381stBG,England,12Sept1943.[Photo:U.S.ArmyAirForces]ReichsmarschallHerrmannGöringindiscussionwithGeneralAdolfGalland,GeneralderJagdieger.HISTORY28Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 29
force.] In his eight months as Gruppen-kommandeur he had gained a reputaonin the Luwae (and to the Allies) as oneof the best formaon leaders in the West.The surviving pilots of his Gruppe spoke ofhim in aeconate terms, and were con-vinced that under his leadership they hadonce again become the best unit on theKanalfront [Channel Front.]One of the three JG 2 Gruppen reachedthe bomber stream at this me and madea successful aack. This was Hptm. KurtBühligen’s II./JG 2, which was creditedwith four B-17s, one of them shared. How-ever, Zemke’s sudden arrival broke up theaacks of several more German forma-ons that were forced to turn on the Thun-derbolts. Aer the prolonged bale the56th returned to England claiming 7-0-1Fw 190s, 4-1-1 Bf 109s, and 5-0-7 twin-en-gine ghters, while losing three P 47s andpilots. The Focke-Wulfs were from I./JG 1as well as II./JG 26. One Bf 109 was fromJG 50. The twin-engine ghters were allBf 110 night ghters from II./NJG 1, whichlost four to the Thunderbolts and one toSpiires. Two of the lost P-47s were en-gaged in an aack on the Bf 110s when theywere bounced by III./JG 3 Bf 109s and shotdown; Hptm. Dahl’s pilots claimed threeThunderbolts, redeeming themselves aertheir failure against the Spiires on theirprevious mission. The third P 47 lost wasying high cover when it was bouncedfrom above and downed by a pair of Ger-man ghters that dove away.When the 56th Group was relieved bythe 353rd aer the most successful es-cort mission to date by an American ght-er group, there were no large Luwaeformaons in the area; the remainingGerman ghters were scaered far andwide, searching for stragglers. Obfw. Ad-olf “Addi” Glunz of II./JG 26 was the lastGerman pilot to make a successful aackon the bomber stream aer the arrival ofthe escort. Calmly scking to his ordersdespite the chaos around him, he main-tained contact with the bombers, andnally shot down a 305th Bomb GroupB-17 northwest of Diest, aacking “alone,head-on, and with a P-47 on his ass”,in the words of Ed Burford, an admiringB-17 crewman. Another II./JG 26 pilot andone from III./JG 3 downed straggling For-tresses near the coast, ending the day’sconrmed victories against the Viermots[four-engine bombers].Obfw.GlunzstandsbesidehisII./JG26Fw190A-7aerhisbestdayasaghterpilot–oneP-47and three B-17s shotdown, and two B-17sdrivenfromtheirformaon–Cambrai-Epinoy,early1944.HISTORY29Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 30
Major General Frederick L. Andersonby Jan BobekWhen the U.S. Air Force command evaluatedthe results of the raid on Regensburg and Sch-weinfurt, one of the ocers bearing respon-sibility for the mission’s outcomes and losseswas Major General Frederick Lewis Anderson.Anderson was born on October 4, 1905,in Kingston, New York. He graduated from theUnited States Military Academy at West Pointin June 1928 and was commissioned as a Sec-ond Lieutenant in the Cavalry. Later that year,however, he began pilot training at BrooksField, Texas, which he completed the follow-ing year at Kelly Field, Texas. He transferred tothe Army Air Corps and served in various rolesover the following years. In the mid-1930s,he joined bomber units in California and Colo-rado. In 1934, he skillfully piloted his burningaircra away from San Francisco and bailed outover the bay, earning the Disnguished FlyingCross for his acons. Aer compleng trainingat the Air Corps Taccal School at Maxwell Field,Alabama, in 1940, Anderson remained on theinstruconal sta as the head of bombardiertraining. In the spring of 1941, he was trans-ferred to the oce of the Chief of the Army AirCorps in Washington, D.C., where he served asDeputy Director of Bombardment in the Train-ing and Operaons Division. That same year,Anderson headed the Bombardment TaccsBoard, a team of ocers sent to Great Britainby General H. H. “Hap” Arnold to observe thebombing methods of the Royal Air Force.In early 1943, Anderson joined General IraC. Eaker’s sta to help dra the CombinedBomber Oensive plan. In April, he assumedcommand of the 4th Bombardment Wing ofthe Eighth Air Force, receiving the Silver Starfor gallantry in acon while leading the wingon four separate combat missions over Europefrom March to May 1943. He also parcipatedin other combat ights during this period andaerward.By July, Anderson had become command-er of the VIII Bomber Command. He planned“Blitz Week” at the end of July, which involvedaacks on Hamburg as part of Operaon Go-morrah. Several weeks later he planned thewell-known aacks on Schweinfurt and Re-gensburg (Operaon Double Strike). He wasamong the commanders who advocated fordeep raids into Germany without ghter es-cort, despite increasingly robust German de-fenses.Before the U.S. bombing formaons tooko for their August 17, 1943 raid on Regens-burg and Schweinfurt, Anderson was underexceponal pressure. He had to decide weth-er to cancel or not the mission due to unfa-vorable morning weather condions. Howev-er, Gen. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S.Air Force, was especially keen on carrying outthe raid. Aer tense discussions within the8th Air Force command, Anderson ulmatelydecided to send crews from LeMay’s 4th BombWing ahead of the 1st Bomb Wing, whose pi-lots were not trained for low-visibility takeos.LeMay’s bombers had to reach Africa beforesunset, so their departure could not be de-layed further. The ve-hour gap between thetwo wing’s takeos contributed to the loss of60 bombers and more than 500 crew mem-bers.In November 1943, Anderson was promot-ed to (temporary) Major General, becomingthe youngest American ocer to hold thatrank during the war. When the United StatesStrategic Air Forces in Europe was establishedunder General Carl A. Spaatz in January 1944,Anderson was appointed Deputy Commanderfor Operaons (A-3).Aer the war, Anderson served for two yearsas Assistant Chief of Air Sta for Personnel be-fore rering from acve duty in 1947 to pursuea business career. In March 1952, he becamethe U.S. Deputy Special Representave to theMutual Security Agency, and in April 1953,he assumed the role of U.S. Deputy Represen-tave to the North Atlanc Treaty Organizaon(NATO) Council. Anderson co-founded Draper,Gaither & Anderson, one of the rst venturecapital rms in what would later become Sili-con Valley.In 1956, Anderson served on the Rockefel-ler Brothers Fund Special Studies Project Pan-el on United States Internaonal Objecvesand Strategy, and he was also a member ofthe Hoover Commiee on the Reorganizaonof the Federal Government. Anderson passedaway on March 2, 1969, in Houston, Texas, andwas buried at Arlington Naonal Cemetery.[Photo: U.S. Army Air Forces]HISTORY30Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 31
As soon as the reconnaissance pho-tographs were received on the eve-ning of the 17th, Generals Eaker andAnderson knew that the Schweinfurtraid had been a failure. The excellentresults at Regensburg were but smallconsolaon for the loss of 60 B-17s,16% of those dispatched. The loss-es could not be hidden from USAAFheadquarters or the US press, but theresults of the bombing were exagger-ated, and the poor operaonal planthat guaranteed the high losses waswell disguised in the aer-missionreports. No general lost his job fromthe Schweinfurt-Regensburg mis-sion. The lessons learned were mixed.Everyone who ew the missionstressed the importance of the es-corts in reducing losses; the plannersgrasped only that Schweinfurt wouldhave to be bombed again, soon,in another deep penetraon, unes-corted mission.The lessons learned by the defend-ers were also mixed. Based purely onthe numbers, the ghters of the RLVhad scored an outstanding success.The OKW communiqué claimed 101heavy bombers and ve ghters shotdown. Claims for 87 bombers and sev-en ghters were ulmately conrmed,somewhat above the Allies’ truelosses, but close enough to preventany misinterpretaon of the results.As usual, performance of the variousunits making up the RLV varied wide-ly. JG 26 had one of its best days ofthe war, with 15 conrmed B-17 andtwo conrmed ghter claims, againstve pilots KIA and six WIA. JG 50, withless than one-third of the pilot estab-lishment of JG 26, did almost as well,with 12 conrmed B-17 claims for theloss of two pilots killed. (Of course,Graf’s unit had had the advantageof aacking unescorted formaons.)Other units were enrely shut out.I./JG 2 and III./JG 2 reached the bat-tle area in strength, but then disap-peared. And Priller and Hptm. Försterof NJG 1 led a formal complaint withthe oce of the General der Jagd-ieger denouncing the pilots of III./JG 1 as Leichenedderei [corpse-loot-ers] for failing to make a single con-certed aack. Aer reaching thebomber stream, these pilots had im-mediately split up to look for stragglers.HISTORY31Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionStrana 32
The dierence between the good andthe poor-performing units can be sum-marized as combat leadership and ex-perience. Unfortunately for Germany,the RLV was always short of both.The defenders lost about 40 ght-ers on the 17th, nine of which werenight ghters, which would soon beleaving the day order of bale, re-placed by the Zerstörergeschwader[heavy ghter wings] equipped withtwin-engine Bf 110 and Me 410 dayghters. These had powerful weap-ons that would increase the killingpower of the RLV. The success ofthese slow, heavy ghters would bedependent on the absence of Amer-ican ghters. They could either stayoutside the range of the P 47s oroperate under an escort umbrellaprovided by single-engine Germanghters. The Bf 109 and Fw 190 unitsbeing added to the RLV were intend-ed as bomber destroyers. Escorngthe heavy units violated current doc-trine, as did any menon of balingAllied ghters at the expense of max-imum-strength aacks on the bomb-er stream. Future success of the Re-ich defenses was thus predicated onthe assumpon that USAAF escortshad already reached their maximumrange. When Adolf Galland tried totell Göring that Thunderbolts hadcrossed the German border on the17th, the proof being several crashesnear Aachen, Göring cursed the re-port as “HirngespinsteschlapperDe-faisten” [ranngs of a worn-out de-feast] and gave Galland an “order”that Allied ghters had never pene-trated German airspace. A raonaldefensive strategy was impossibleunder such a commander-in-chief.August 17, 1943 marked the highpoint of the RLV day defenses. WhileGermany could produce great num-bers of (mostly obsolescent) ght-ers unl the nal breakdown in late1944, they could not train enough pi-lots or formaon leaders. The USAAFsimply outperformed it—more air-cra, longer-ranged ghters, moreand beer trained pilots, and aera change in commanders in January1944, the right taccs to defeat theJagdwae before the Western Alliesinvaded France in June, 1944.HISTORY32Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Double Strike: Schweinfurt-Regensburg MissionSubmarines at Manitowoc
The city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, lies on the west coast of Lake Michigan, some eighty miles north of Milwaukee. The city is bisected by a river of the same name, the Manitowoc River, and off its north bank at the mouth of the river, the Gato Class submarine USS Cobia is docked in front of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.
The city of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, lies on the west coastof Lake Michigan, some eighty miles north of Milwaukee.The city is bisected by a river of the same name, the Mani-towocRiver,andoitsnorthbankatthemouthoftheriver,the Gato Class submarine USS Cobia is docked in front of theWisconsinMarimeMuseum.TheWisconsinMarimeMuseumisnotlarge,butitsdisplaysin a modern building environment are very impressive. It hasseveralsecons,anditisdiculttosaywhichisthemostinteresngandtheyareallquitebreathtaking.Wewerenotpreparedforwhatwewouldndatthemuseum,reallyjustgoing there to see a submarine. We ended up being verypleasantly surprised.ManitowocSubmarinesby Vladimír ŠulcMUSEUM REPORT33Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 34
The exhibits are dedicated to the histo-ry of shipping on Lake Michigan, the his-tory of Wisconsin shipbuilding in generaland Manitowoc in parcular, shipwrecksin Lake Michigan, and the exploraon ofshipwrecks o the Wisconsincoast, where there are morethan seven hundred alone.This is a surprisingly high number, especial-ly when you consider that the Wisconsincoast includes only a poron of the GreatLakes region, in which thousands of shipsof various types and sizes have sailed overthe past two centuries, from small boatsand yachts, through to passenger shipsand ferries, and on up to large Great LakesModel of the City of Midland 41 ferry.Thetriple-acngsteamenginefromtheSSChiefWawatam.Itsdesignisverysimilar(virtuallyidencal)tothesteamenginespoweringthelegendaryTitanic.Photoonpreviouspage:TheManitowocMarimeMuseumbuildingwiththesubmarineUSSCobia(SS245)mooredonthelebankoftheManitowocRiver.Photographedfromtherightbankoftheriver.TheGatoclasssubmarinesare95metres(3118in)long.More about thecolleconcanbe found here:www.wisconsinmarime.org/collecons/IMUSEUM REPORT34Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 35
freighters transporng goods and raw ma-terials such as oil and iron ore. Some ofthe wrecks are old ships, abandoned andintenonally sunk in coastal waters at theend of their service lives. However, a largenumber of the sunken ships had a muchmore dramac fate and sank as the resultof accident or any number of other rea-sons, common denominators in ship disas-ters, such as navigaonal error, storms or,especially in older cases, res. These werea very common cause of disasters with fa-tal consequences in the nineteenth cen-tury, exacerbated by the insucient lifesaving equipment carriedby ships of that me. It wasworse than on the Titanic;ships on the Great Lakes inthe mid-nineteenth centu-ry praccally never had enough lifeboats,to say nothing of other life-saving equip-ment such as life jackets.The most common cause of shipwreckson Lake Michigan, and the Great Lakes ingeneral, were storms, especially in the fallmonths of October and November, whichbring strong weather systems, the famous“Gales of November”, accompanied by highgales, high waves, freezing rain and bliz-Apontoonfortransporngsubmarines fromManitowoc toNew Orleans inacontemporaryphotograph.MUSEUM REPORT35Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesMore on theshipwrecksof Lake Mich-igan can befound here:hps://wisconsinship-wrecks.org/Learn/ShipwrecksEverywhereIStrana 36
zards. The most dangerous area is consid-ered to be the Death’s Door Strait betweenthe upper Door Peninsula and Washing-ton Island, connecng Lake Michigan withGreen Bay in the northwest of Lake Michi-gan. This was the busy route used by cargoships carrying iron ore, coal and other min-erals from the port of Escanaba in northernMichigan, where iron ore was transferredfrom trains to cargo ships, typical for thetransportaon of minerals across the GreatLakes.The exhibion hall displaying ship mod-els is located next to another, which hous-es a reconstructed and funconing three-stroke steam engine from the ferry SSChief Wawatam. The exhibion explainsthe funcon of the steam engine, and it ispossible to start it and observe its opera-on. The same type of steam engine wasinstalled on the legendary Titanic.MUSEUM REPORT36ThemodeloftheSSPhoenixTheBaeryPhoenix,painngbyWisconsinarstWilliamJCoelpin(1938–1996),oiloncanvas.THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PHOENIXAt 3:30am on November 21st, 1847, a rap-idly spreading re broke out on the Phoenix,a wooden steamship sailing from Sheboyganto Manitowoc, 29 miles (46 km) away. Thir-ty-one passengers and crew members wererescued in two lifeboats. Two crew membersand one passenger were pulled from the wa-ter. Another 180 passengers and crew mem-bers died in the ames or in the freezing wa-ters of Lake Michigan. The destrucon of thePhoenix, the fate of the passengers, and thestory of the discovery and exploraon of thewreck are very well documented by the mu-seum’s exhibit. It is a very revealing windowinto history, showing, among other things,the ethnic composion of the passengersand capturing part of the story of the sele-ment of Wisconsin. In the nineteenth century,it was seled largely by immigrants fromnorthwestern Europe, Germany, Scandinavia,and the Benelux countries (comprising Bel-gium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), witha signicant Czech footprint as well.Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 37
ICE BREAKER FERRY CHIEF WAWATAMThe SS Chief Wawatam was a train and carferry icebreaker built in 1911 by the Tole-do Shipbuilding Company in Toledo, Ohio.The 103-meter-long ship, with a displacementof 2,990 tons, was equipped with three steamboilers and powered by three steam engineswith a total output of 4,500 hp (3.36 MW).She had three propellers, two at the stern andone at the bow. She carried up to twenty-sixrailroad cars on three parallel tracks.The Chief Wawatam, nicknamed ‘the Chief’,connected Mackinaw City and Saint Ignace,Michigan, on opposite shores of the Straits ofMackinac between Lakes Michigan and Huron,unl 1984. The ship provided full service topassengers and crew, as the journey across thefrozen ve-mile-wide strait could take severalhours in winter. The massive ice barriers thatform in this area of the lake in winter were thereason why the Chief was built as an icebreak-er, and as an icebreaker it was able to funconreliably for decades. To break up the ice, it usedits forward propeller, which, in addion to pro-pelling the ship and helping it maneuver, wasable to suck water from under the ice sheet,causing it to break up by gravity under its ownweight. In 1944, she was replaced in this role bythe modern, six-diesel-pow-ered Coast Guard icebreakerUSCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83), which then served inthe northern Great Lakes foranother 62 years, unl 2006.Chief Wawatam, which re-ceived a rudder and steeringgear from a destroyer aer a1945 conversion, ceased pas-senger service in 1957 with the opening of theMackinac Bridge. However, she connued tocarry trains across the Straits of Mackinac un-l 1984. She was the last steamship with hand-red boilers on the Great Lakes. She was soldin 1989, converted to a freighter, and scrappedin 2009.The USS POTOMACIn addion to submarines, the ManitowocShipbuilding Company built a number of otherinteresng ships. Among the most interesngis President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presiden-al yacht, the USS Potomac. Today, it is one oftwo surviving presidenal yachts. You can visitit in Oakland, California.It was built in Manitowoc in 1934 as the CoastGuard submarine chaser USCGC Elektra. At theme, the presidenal yacht was the USS Se-quoia, a small wooden yacht. The Secret Ser-vice deemed it a re hazard and unsuitable forPresident Roosevelt. The President’s phobiaof re may have played a role, as he had wit-nessed the tragic death of his aunt in a housere ignited by a kerosene lamp as a child. TheUSS Sequoia is the second presidenal yachtto survive.The Elektra was chosen for the conversion,which entered service in 1936 under the newname USS Potomac. It was very modern andluxuriously equipped, was wheelchair-accessi-ble and adapted to the needs of the President,who was parally dependent on a wheelchair.A rarity was the false rear funnel, in whichan elevator was installed that could take thepresident on board in a wheelchair. Securitywas also taken into account during the con-version, the ship had bulletproof glass and anan-aircra machine gun was installed whenthe President was on board. However, the ad-dional equipment shied the ship’s center ofgravity upwards and caused it to be unstable,lisng up to 48 degrees when the waves hit it.The President, as a former acve sailor, Assis-tant Secretary of the Navy in the administra-on of President W. Wilson and later AcngSecretary of the Navy, was not at all excitedabout it, but it did cause his visitors some dis-tress from me to me. The ship’s modica-ons cost 60,000 dollars.President Roosevelt oen and happily usedthe yacht for both recreaon and policalmeengs, and the ship, called the FloangWhite House, also played a signicant role inhistorical events. In 1939, Roosevelt hostedBrish King George VI and Queen Elizabeth onit during the rst ever visit by a Brish mon-arch to an American president. In August 1941,it was used as a real espionage operaon,when President Roosevelt sailed along thecoast of Massachuses, met and shed withNorwegian Crown Princess Martha and oth-er guests along the way, and then transferredto the cruiser USS Augusta in Vineyard Sound,on board which he sailed to Newfoundland,to meet with Brish Prime Minister WinstonChurchill, with whom he signed the AtlancCharter. You probably know what it is, but ifnot, follow this link:While Roosevelt and Churchill were negoat-ing in Newfoundland, the Potomac slowly sailedback along the Massachuses coast under thepresidenal ag. On board forthe duraon of the voyage wasa Secret Service agent, disguisedas the president, in an eortto confuse suspected Germanagents who were monitoringthe President’s acvies. Hemust have enjoyed himself.What the German agents reported about thisremains unknown.The Potomac’s golden era as a presidenalyacht ended with Roosevelt’s death. PresidentTruman had her replaced by the larger USS Wil-liamsburg. Legend has it that as an avid pianist,he wanted to have a classical piano on boardthe yacht, but the Potomac could not accom-modate one. But perhaps he simply did notlike the ship, and as a non-sailor he toleratedits characteriscs less well than his predeces-sor. The Potomac returned to the Coast Guard,and unl 1960 served with the Maryland Tide-water Fisheries Commission to control shing.Then it was sold to private ownership, ociallyserving as a ferry, but more likely it was usedto operate illegal gambling acvies at sea.It later changed hands, briey owned by ElvisPresley in 1964, and was seized by Customs in1980 during a raid on Mexican drug smugglers.The ship was towed to Treasure Island, where itsank, allegedly due to rusng of the hull. Aertwo weeks, it was raised and sold for $15,000to the only bidder, the Port of Oakland.Between 1983 and 1993, the ship was re-stored at a cost of $2.5 million by the non-prof-it Associaon for the Preservaon of the Pres-idenal Yacht Potomac. Today, the Potomac isa major aracon in Oakland and is used forcruises on San Francisco Bay. The Potomac alsostarred in the 2011 lm ‘The Master’, starringJoaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Homan andAmy Adams.Nolessinteresngisthisarclecoveringthe ship’s successor,the USCGC Mackinaw:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Mackinaw_(WAGB-83)hps://en.wiki-pedia.org/wiki/Atlan-c_CharterMore on the SSChief Wawatamhere:hps://en.wiki-pedia.org/wiki/SS_Chief_WawatamMore on the USSPotomac here:hps://en.wikipe-dia.org/wiki/USS_Potomac_(AG-25)IIIMUSEUM REPORT37Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 38
WARTIME PRODUCTIONThe Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company,founded in 1902, was a major shipyard thatbuilt ships for use on the Great Lakes andinland rivers. It primarily built ferries, tug-boats, and cargo ships. It became involvedin warme producon during World WarI, building cargo ships known as Design1044 under contract to the United StatesShipping Board (USSB) from 1917 to 1920,among many other projects.The company also became involved inwarme producon during World WarII. As early as 1939, company presidentCharles C. West proposed to the Govern-ment Bureau of Construcon and Repair(BuC&R) agency the building of destroy-ers for the US Navy. Although his propos-al was rejected by the Navy, the compa-ny was awarded a contract on September9th, 1940, to build ten Gato-class subma-rines, becoming one of four shipyards tobuild Gato and Balao Class subs during thewar. Manitowoc produced fourteen of the77 Gato Class submarines built in 1942 and1943, and fourteen of the 120 Balao Classsubs built between 1943 and 1945. Duringthe war, 7,000 workers and techniciansworked three shis in the shipyards, oper-ang seven days a week.The Manitowoc built USS Rasher sankeighteen Japanese ships during eight com-Memorialplaquetothosewhobuiltandservedonsubmarines,unveiledonthecentenni-aloftheUnitedStatesNavySubmarineService.MemorialplaquetothecrewofthesubmarineUSSLagarto,sunkduringhersecondwarpatrolonMay3,1945.MUSEUM REPORT38Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 39
bat cruises, totaling 99,901 GRT, makingher either the second or third most suc-cessful American sub of World War II, de-pending on the actual score of the USSFlasher. The problem is that the USS Flash-er would actually hold down second placewith 100,231 tons sunk. However, thereis some doubt to take intoaccount about her sinkinga Japanese destroyer, andif that tonnage is subtract-ed from USS Flasher’s score,Rasher takes second placein terms of sunk tonnage.Four Manitowoc-built submarines werelost during the war in combat: USS Golet,USS Kete (both Gato Class), USS Lagarto,and USS Robalo (both Balao Class). A to-tal of 336 ocers and crew members diedduring these losses.The Manitowoc shipyard was the only oneof the four American facilies that producedsubmarines to be located inland. And verydeep inland, at that. The submarines got tosea in an interesng way. They were load-ed onto a oang dock and towed to Chi-cago, and from there went through the Illi-nois-Mississippi waterway, the Illinois Riverand by way of a system of canals to the Mis-sissippi River and on downto New Orleans, where theywere ouied, armed andhanded over to the US Navy.Producon at the shipyard connued af-ter the war, ending in 1972 when the Man-itowoc Shipbuilding Company moved pro-ducon to Sturgeon Bay. However, boatproducon did not end there, as produc-on connues at the Burger Boat Compa-ny, where 330 employees produce an av-erage of three luxury yachts per year.The USS COBIAThe museum’s largest, most important,and most interesng exhibit, commemo-rang the warme producon of subma-rines at Manitowoc, the USS Cobia, wasnot built in Manitowoc. But that doesn’tmaer at all.Built in 1943 by the Electric Boat Compa-ny in Groton, Conneccut, her keel was laiddown on March 17th, 1943, launched onNovember 28th, 1943, and commissionedby the US Navy as SS-245on March 29th, 1944. Lieu-tenant Commander AlbertL. Becker was appointedas her rst captain and commanded heron ve of her six combat patrols. Duringthese patrols, Cobia sank eleven Japaneseships totaling 16,835 GRT, for which shewas awarded four Bale Stars. During herfourth patrol, Cobia suered her only lossof life when Ralph C. Hudson, the 20mmgun loader, was killed by return re froma Japanese freighter on February 26th,1945. Cobia completed her nal combatcruise on August 22nd, 1945, returning toSaipan, from where she sailed aer the warvia Pearl Harbor, Washington, and NewYork to the New London Submarine Basein Groton, Conneccut. There, she wasdecommissioned on May 22nd, 1946 andUSSCobiaconningtowerfromportsideMore on the USSRasher here:hps://en.wiki-pedia.org/wiki/USS_RasherMore on the USSFlasher here:hps://en.wiki-pedia.org/wiki/USS_Flasher_(SS-249)IMore onManitowocproduconhere:hps://content.wiscon-sinhistory.org/digital/collecon/tp/id/66326IIMore aboutAlbert L. Beckerhere:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_L._BeckerIMUSEUM REPORT39Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 40
placed in a US Navy Atlanc Fleet storagefacility. She returned to service on July 6th,1951 as a training vessel for the develop-ment of US Navy reservists and studentsof the Naval Submarine School (NAVSUB-SCOL) and the Naval Enlisted Sub School.On October 29th, 1953, shesailed for an overhaul at Ports-mouth Naval Shipyard in Kit-tery, Maine. Aer the overhaul,she returned to New Londonand was placed back in storageon the 19th of March 1954.In 1959, the Navy deemedCobia obsolete and trans-ferred her to the Wiscon-sin Naval Reserve Centerin Milwaukee, where sheserved as an auxiliary sub-marine under the designa-tion AGSS-245 for the nexteleven years as a stationarytraining base for US Navy re-servists. Thanks to this, likemany other preserved Gatoand Balao Class submarinesin the United States, she hassurvived to this day, as mostof these preserved exhibitshave completed their servicein this role. A total of 58 ofthese training submarines for weekendexercises of US Navy reservists were an-chored at various locations around theUnited States. They were stationary train-ing ships and did not leave their points ofanchor. They were used to practice themovement of the crews aboard ship andthe operation of onboard weapons andsystems and other similar naval activities.In the 1970s, they were decommissionedby the USN, and most of them were un-fortunately scrapped. Some even morerecently, like the USS Clamagore (SS 343,Balao Class), which was moored along-side the USS Yorktown at Patriot Pointin Charleston, South Carolina, and wasscrapped just last year.On July 1st, 1970, the Navystruck the Cobia from itsNaval Registry. The subma-rine was towed to Manito-woc, where it served as In-ternaonal Submarine Memorial. In 1986,it became part of the Manitowoc MarimeMuseum, was declared a Naonal HistoricLandmark, and was listed on the NaonalRegister of Historic Places.In 1996, the USS Cobia underwent a ma-jor overhaul in dry dock for half a milliondollars and is maintained in excellent con-dion, one of the best of the six preservedGato-class submarines in the United States.Two of her four diesels are in operang con-dion, and has a funconing radio and radar.The laer being probably the oldest workingradar in the world. True, the Reichenbergradar at the observatory in Ondřejov in theCzech Republic can compete with it in termsof age, but it is likely a few months newer,and it only serves as a passive receiver ofradio waves from deep space. The SJ-1 ra-dar on another museum Ga-to-class submarine, the USSCod in Cleveland, Ohio, is alsoin working order.In addion to standard tours, you can payfor an overnight program with a sleepoveron Cobia. It costs 50 dollars, there is nofood, and you need to have your own sleep-ing bag. If you go for it, I wish you a niceexperience. I missed this opportunity, andfor me it is one of the reasons why I wouldlike to return to Wisconsin and Manitowocsomeday.More about theSJ radar here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SJ_radarMore aboutthe EnlistedSubmarineSchool here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Enlisted_Submarine_SchoolFurther readingon USS Cobia’sSecond WorldWar service canbe found here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_CobiaIIIForwardtorpedoroomMUSEUM REPORT40Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 41
GalleyForwardtorpedoroomcontroldeskForwardtorpedoroomtorpedostoreRestroomMUSEUM REPORT41Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 42
The crewquartersDining roomShowerWaterproofbulkheadMUSEUM REPORT42Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 43
CaptainquarterOceGalleyPeyocersquartersMUSEUM REPORT43Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 44
Control roomDivingstaonMUSEUM REPORT44Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 45
WashroomRestroomDining roomWaterproofbulkheadMUSEUM REPORT45Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 46
Engineroom,GeneralMotorsModel16-248V16dieselengineMUSEUM REPORT46Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 47
Engineroom,GeneralMotorsModel16-248V16dieselengineSomelever:-)MUSEUM REPORT47Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 48
DetailsoftheinstrumentaonMechanicsworkshopMUSEUM REPORT48Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 49
DetailsoftheinstrumentaonMUSEUM REPORT49Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 50
DetailsoftheinstrumentaonMUSEUM REPORT50Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 51
MechanicsoceRestroomMUSEUM REPORT51Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 52
Aertorpedoroomtorpedostore BroomMUSEUM REPORT52Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 53
AertorpedoroomTorpedolauncherMUSEUM REPORT53Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 54
Conning tower back side The bow with the Jack of the United States Detail of conning tower with radar antennaandperiscopeMUSEUM REPORT54Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 55
Conning tower back side DetailofdeckwithbollardandmooringropeMUSEUM REPORT55Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 56
GERMAN SUBS IN THE GREAT LAKESU-505In addion to the museum’s Gato-classsubmarines, you can nd one unique ves-sel in the Great Lakes region that was also inUS Navy possession at the end of its career,but hails from the dark side of the SecondWorld War. It is the German submarine U-505,which is one of only two Type IXC U-Boatsin the world that are currently preserved.The other is U-534 at the Western Approach-es Museum in Liverpool, UK.U-505 was launched on May 24th, 1941and accepted into the Kriegsmarine on Au-gust 26th, 1941. On her twelh combatcruise on June 4th, 1944, under the com-mand of Oberleutnant zur See Harald Lange,U-505 was discovered by Task Force 22.3,consisng of the aircra carrier USS Gua-dalcanal and the destroyers Pillsbury, Pope,Flaherty, Chatelain and Jenks, about 150naucal miles west of the coast of Rio deOro (Western Sahara). The submarine wasaacked by the destroyers and by aircrafrom the USS Guadalcanal. The subma-rine was damaged, surfaced, and her crewopened the oodgates and abandoned ship.TF 22.3 Commander Daniel V. Gallery or-dered an eight-man team from the destroy-er Piillsbury, led by Lt. Junior Grade AlbertDavid, to board the submarine. While thedestroyers Chaelain and Jenks rescuedthe submarine’s crew, all but one of whomsurvived the bale, Lt. David’s team closedthe oodgates and stopped the submarinefrom sinking. The semi-submerged subma-rine was then towed 1,700 naucal milesacross the Atlanc Ocean by the aircracarrier USS Guadalcanal to Great Sound,Bermuda.The capture of U-505 was not planned andwas basically the result of acons taken byCaptain Gallery. The submarine was exam-ined in Bermuda by Navy technical teams,but its capture was kept a secret. The rea-son was the fear that if the enemy discov-ered that the submarine had been capturedwith the Enigma encrypon device intact,they would change the codes used, mak-ing it impossible for the Allies to decipherGerman messages. These had already beensuccessfully decoded by the previously cap-tured Enigma machines from submarinesU-110 in 1941 and U-559 in 1942. The crewof the submarine was therefore held in iso-laon in a prison camp in Ruston, Louisiana,unl 1947, when all 58 crew members re-turned to Germany, where they were de-clared dead in 1944. As part of the secrecy,the submarine was painted like an Ameri-can submarine and renamed the USS Nemo.It was not unl aer the end of the war inEurope that it was introduced to the publicand included in the program to promote thesales of war bonds. During a tour of Ameri-can ports, it visited New York, Philadelphia,and Balmore, and was stored at the Ports-mouth Navy Yard in Kiery, Maine aer thewar. The Navy wanted to use it as a trainingU-505connigtowerwitharmament,a3.7cmSKC/30an-aircragunandtwotwin2cmFlaK30an-aircraguns.MUSEUM REPORT56Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 57
TherstthingthevisitorseeswhenenteringthemainhallofU-505exhibitisthesubmarine’sbowwiththeupperbowtorpedotubesopenandthetorpedolaunchedfromthestarboardupperbowtorpedotube.Formanyvisitors,thiscreatesawoweectand the feeling that they are seeing the world’s largest submarine, or at least the world’s largest World War Second submarine.Butthat’sjustanillusion.TheGato-classsubmarines,whichdonotusuallyimpressvisitorsinthisway,wereinfactnearlytwentymetreslongerthantheTypeIXCsubmarines.TheGatowas95metresinlength,whiletheTypeIXCU-Boatmeasured76.76metres.MUSEUM REPORT57Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 58
target, but by then Rear Admiral Gallery wasalready ghng to save it. His brother, FatherJohn Gallery, contacted Lenox Mohr, presidentof the Chicago Museum of Science and Indus-try, and convinced him to have the museumnegoate with the Navy about donang thesubmarine to it. The long negoaons wereulmately successful, and the Navy did indeeddonate the submarine to the museum in 1954.U-505 was towed to Chicago via the GreatLakes with a stop in Detroit in July, 1954, pulledashore at Navy Pier and taken to the museumin a parade with great fanfare. It became partof the exhibion on September 25th, 1954.However, it was in no condion to serve as anexhibit, everything removable from the exte-rior and interior having been dismantled andmost of the parts lost. The ship was placed inthe museum yard for many years, exposed tothe elements and gradually deteriorated. Nev-ertheless, its story has a happy ending, and yyears aer its arrival in Chicago, U-505 receiveda complete reconstrucon and its own displaypavilion. In 2004, it was moved to the foun-daons of a new air-condioned building thatwas built around the submarine. The result ofa long and demanding restoraon, where theenre project cost a respectable 35 million dol-lars, the vessel is in absolutely mint condionand one of the most comprehensive and beau-ful museum specimens dedicated to a singleship that can be found anywhere in the world.UC-97U-505 was not the rst German submarine tond itself in the Great Lakes. That honor goesto UC-97, a mine laying submarine launchedin Hamburg in March, 1918. It was one of sixGerman submarines acquired by the UnitedStates in early 1919. A group of twelve ocersand 120 sailors, called the Ex-German Sub-marine Expedionary Force, was sent to Eu-rope to transport the submarines to the Unit-ed States. Four of them sailed from Britain inApril, 1919 and arrived in New York via theAzores and Bermuda. They were assigned tothe Liberty Bonds campaign. UC-97, under thecommand of Lt. Commander Charles A. Lock-wood, who later commanded the Pacic Fleetsubmarines during World War II (and thus theManitowoc-built submarines as well), wassent to the Great Lakes region. She arrived inChicago in August, 1919 and was assigned tothe 9th Naval District. She was rst moored atNavy Pier, then moved to the Chicago Lake-front near Grant Park.She served as a tourist aracon unl 1921.Then the peace conference decided that allGerman ships in Allied possession would bedestroyed by July 1st, 1921. UC-97 was towedto Lake Michigan, and on June 7th, 1921, shewas sunk by a baery of four-inch guns fromthe gunboat USS Wilmee. The ring began at11:45 a.m., with naval reservists taking turnsat the guns. The rst shot was red by gunnerJ. O. Sabin of Iowa, and the eighteenth and -nal one, een minutes later, by A. H. Ander-son, the man who had red the rst Americantorpedo at a German submarine a few yearsearlier, during World War I. UC-97 sank to theboom of Lake Michigan, where it rests to thisday. Her sinking was ordered by none otherthan the acng Secretary of the Navy, FranklinDelano Roosevelt.The gunboat Wilmee was also a ship withan interesng fate. Originally built in 1903 asthe cargo steamer SS Eastland, it was subse-quently converted into a cruise ship. On July24th, 1915, it was chartered by Western Elec-tric to take its employees to a picnic venuein Michigan City, Indiana. Shortly aer set-ng sail, while sll in the dock on the Chica-go River, the ship capsized and sank parallyon its side to a depth of six meters (18 feet).The cause was a malfuncon of the ballast tanks,which shied the center of gravity of the shipupward and caused the ship to become unsta-ble. A large number of the 3,000 passengerscrowded onto the starboard side of the ves-sel to wave to their loved ones on the shore,then ran to the port side in an aempt to evenout the list of the ship, but she capsized ontoher port side. 844 people died in the disaster,of whom 220 were of Czech origin. Most ofthe Czech vicms of this disaster are buried atthe Czech Naonal Cemetery in Chicago.The ship was raised and soldto the US Navy that same year,serving as USS Wilmee unlthe 1940s. In 1941, she was re-classied as auxiliary ship IX-29,and scrapped in 1947.MUSEUM REPORT58Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesMore on thecatastropheof the SS East-land here:hps://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_EastlandIStrana 59
Aviewofthesubmarinefromtheportsidewiththevisitorexitopen.Mostmuseumsubmarineshaveentryholescutintothehullordeckforeasyvisitoraccess.OneofthefewmuseumsubmarinesthatdoesnothavetheseentrancesandissllinitsoriginalcombatconguraonistheUSSCodinCleveland,Ohio.TheU-505doesnothaveaperiscopeinstalledinthetower.Itisdisplayedseparatelyintheexposionandallowsvisitorstotryobservingwiththeperiscope.It’sabitofacheat,thereisnoopcsintheperiscope,butacamera.Butitdoesn’tmaer.Theperiscopeitselfalsohasaninteresngfate.Aerthewar,theNavydismantledit,likevirtuallyallsubmarineequipment,andplaceditattheArccSubmarineLaboratoryatPointLomanearSanDiego,California.Aerthelabwasclosedanddemolishedin2003,theUSNavydonatedtheperiscopetothemuseum,allowingittobepartoftheexhibitattheMuseumof Science and Industry.Further readingabout Point LomaLaboratory:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcc_Sub-marine_LaboratoryIMUSEUM REPORT59Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 60
MUSEUM REPORT60Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 61
The galley.ThecrewquartersintheforwardtorpedoroomOcers’quarters,withtwobunkbedsoneachsideofthepassageMUSEUM REPORT61Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 62
Thesoundroom,whereanoperatormonitoredthesoundsarounda submerged submarine.The radio room. The brown case on the right deskisthewoodenboxforanEnigmamachine.MUSEUM REPORT62Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 63
Controlroom.Thecirculardevicewiththeredframeonthetopleandintheblackandwhitephotoistheboardtele-graphfortransmingorderstotheengineroom.Charttableatthenavigaonocer’sstaoninthe control room area (starboard side).MUSEUM REPORT63Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 64
Passage from the control romm to the engine roomEngine room with two MAN nine-cylinder diesel enginesPracovištěradistyMUSEUM REPORT64Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 65
Electricmotorcontrolpanel.Totheleoftheupperlecornerofthepassageisatelegraphfortransmingcommandsto the engine room.The engine room The engine roomRelief of a lion’s head on the frame of the electric casein the engine room of the electric motors.MUSEUM REPORT65Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 66
MemorialplaquededicatedtoTaskGroup22.3Theaertorpedoroom.MUSEUM REPORT66Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesStrana 67
SUBMARINES ON THE GREAT LAKESThe USS Cobia is not the only submarinethat can be found in the Great Lakes region.On the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, in Mus-kegon, Michigan, one of the most successfulAmerican submarines of World War II, the USSSilversides, has been docked since 1987. It isa ship with a very interesng history, as youcan read by following the aached link. In itsmore recent history, the USS Silversides ap-peared in the 2002 horror producon ‘Below’.It was towed onto Lake Michigan for the lm-ing, where it was used to portraythe conal submarine USS Ti-ger Shark.In Bualo, New York, on LakeErie, the Bualo and Erie Coun-ty Naval & Military Park exhibitsthe USS Croaker, which in 1953underwent modernizaon and conversioninto an aack submarine (Hunter-Killer Sub-marine), designed to aack enemy subs.In as good a condion as the USS Cobia, if noteven beer, is the USS Cod, docked in Cleve-land, Ohio. In 2021, its hull underwent a $1.1million overhaul in dry dock at the DonjonShipbuilding & Repair facility in Erie, Pennsyl-vania. The Cod is also interesng and authen-c in that, as probably the only museum USNavy submarine, it does not have entrancescut into the hull with stairs installed for visitors,and is accessed through her original hatchesand along the original ladders. I think this sub-marine is worth a visit for that alone. It alsohas all four of its diesel engines working, aswell as a backup. They were manufactured atthe General Motors Cleveland Diesel EngineDivision in the west part of Cleveland.The museum also has two other GM Cleve-land Model 16-248 V16 engines from thesubmarine USS Sngray. The Mark IV torpe-do computer, J-5 radar, on-board telephoneand on-board radio are also fully funconal.The USS Cod, as does the Cobia, has an ama-teur radio set installed, which carries the callsign W8COD.The USS Cod is another of the museum spec-imens that have parcipated in lmmaking,and really quite a star among them. The USSCod rst appeared in the 1958 NBC series ‘TheSilent Service’ in S2 E13 ‘The USS Cod’s LostBoarding Party’.In 2015, the USS Cod was used for exteriorand interior lming for the Smithsonian Chan-nel documentary ‘Hell Below’. The Cod playedthe role of the American submarine USS Tangand the German subs U-99 and U-100 in thelm. The documentary aired in 2016.The USS Cod is also the sub-ject of a two-part documenta-ry on the ‘World of Warships’YouTube channel, in the epi-sode ‘Naval Legends: USS Cod’, released in July,2019.The Cod again portrayed German U-boats inthe 2022 Dolph Lundgren lm ‘Operaon Sea-wolf’.More on the USSCroaker here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_CroakerMore on the USSSilversides here:hps://en.wiki-pedia.org/wiki/USS_Silversides_(SS-236)More on thisfascinangvessel here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_CodIIMUSEUM REPORT67Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesUSSCroaker[NavalHistoryandHeritageCommand]USSCod[NavalHistoryandHeritageCommand]Strana 68
The USS Cavalla and the USS Drum then roundout the lisng of Gato Class submarines in thepossession of museums. The USS Cavalla is dis-played on land at Seawolf Park in Galveston,Texas, home to another major aracon, theUSS Steward, an Edsall Class escort destroyer.The park is named aer the USS Seawolf, a Sar-go Class sub, and features a number of otheraracons.The USS Drum is part of the collecon at theBaleship Alabama Memorial Park in Mobile,Alabama. It is also mounted on-shore, some-what to the side of the main exhibit, the mas-sive baleship USS Alabama. The USS Alabamais one of the museum’s ships that is kept in ex-cellent condion and is worthy of a dedicatedarcle in and of itself, which I hope will hap-pen one day, so no spoilers here…LCT 5 and YOIn addion to submarines, the shipyard alsoproduced 36 LCT-5 landing cra, the produc-on of which is the subject of one of the mu-seum’s exhibits. Nine LCTs built in Manitowocwere sunk in World War II. The shipyard alsoproduced YO (self-propelled fuel oil barge)harbor cargo boats, used to supply ships inport with fuel and other materials.The SS EDMUND FITZGERALDPerhaps the most famous shipping disasteron the Great Lakes occurred on Lake Superioron November 10th , 1975, when the 729-foot(222 m) iron ore freighter Edmund Fitzgerald,bound for Detroit, Michigan, broke up in ex-tremely rough seas with 36-foot (11 m) wavesand hurricane-force winds shortly aer 7:00p.m. She disappeared very quickly into thedepths with all 29 on board, so quickly thatno distress signal had been sent. The last ra-dio message was sent by her captain Ernest M.McSorely at 7:10 pm, and read ‘We are hold-ing our own’. The broken wreckage was foundby a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion reconnaissance air-cra four days later, on November 14th, in Ca-nadian waters, thirteen naucal miles (24 km)west of Deadman’s Cave, Ontario, and eennaucal miles northwest of the entrance toWhitesh Bay. The disaster led to signicantchanges in the regulaons of shipping on theGreat Lakes, including mandatory lifesavingequipment and inspecons of vessels, andbecame a part of popular culture through the1976 folk anthem ‘The Wreck of the EdmundFitzgerald’ by Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lighoot.Ocialaudioof the songon Youtube:hps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzTkGyxkYIFurther readingabout the GatoClass Subs:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gato-class_submarineIIThe successor to the WWII sub-marineUSSCavalla(SS-244)wasthe Srugeon-class submarine ofthesamename(SSN-684),com-missionedin1973andinserviceunl1998.[NavalHistoryand Heritage Command]SS Edmund Fitzgerald[GreatLakesHistoricalSociety]Strana 69
THE IRON TRANSPORTATIONOne of the museum’s exhibits isdedicated to models of ships asso-ciated with the Great Lakes. A mod-el of a loading dock for transferringiron ore from trains of the Chicago &Northwestern Railroad to cargo ships,called self-unloading bulk carriers ofthe American Steamship Company,is an example of the fascinang indus-trial history of the American Midwest,now known as the Rust Belt. Opera-ons on the Chicago & NorthwesternRailroad line and the loading docks inEscanaba were disconnued in Au-gust 2016, ending a 165-year histo-ry of transporng cargo from portsin northern Michigan south to Chi-cago and further to the industrial re-gions of Illinois and Indiana.The model of the iron ore freighter,called the self-unloader SS Adam E.CorneliusAuthor of the arcleat the USS Cobia’s bellModel of a pier for transferring iron ore from Chicago & Northwestern Railroads trainsto American Steamship Company freighters at Escanaba, in northern Michigan.More onthe Adam E.Cornelius here:hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_E._Cornelius_(1959_ship)IMUSEUM REPORT69Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Manitowoc SubmarinesSOURCES:Manitowoc. (Manitowoc, Wis.: The Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, 1948); online facsimile at hp://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1241hps://www.wisconsinmarime.org/Wisconcin´s Great Lakes shipwrecks hps://wisconsinshipwrecks.org/Home#anchor3hp://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08245.htmhps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitowoc_Shipbuilding_Company#Post_World_War_2U-505 The nal journey, James E.Wise Jr, Naval Instute Press, Anapolis, Maryland, 2005, ISBN I-59114-967-3hps://www.burgerboat.com/hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Chief_Wawatamhps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gato-class_submarinehps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balao-class_submarinehps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cobiahps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_Boat_Companyhps://www.facebook.com/CNWOREDIVISION/hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgeraldhps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Chief_Wawatamhps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_IX_submarine#Type_IXC/40hps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Potomac_(AG-25)hps://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastlandhps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Eastlandhps://www.lidovky.cz/svet/parnik-eastland-havaroval-presne-pred-100-lety-mezi-844-obetmi-byli-i-cesi.A150724_193406_ln_zahranici_ELEFlying with the Bloody Hundredth
John H. “Lucky” Luckadoo Interview by Matt Mabe
Flying withthe Bloody HundredthJohnH.“Lucky”LuckadooInterviewbyMaMabePhotos:JohnH.Luckadoo,100thBGArchives,tleartworkbyPiotrForkasiewicz,SquadronSignalINTERVIEW70Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Strana 71
MATTWell Lucky I‘ll thank you again for takinga few minutes to talk with us. It is a rarehonor and a privilege to get to talk withyou and learn more about your me inthe 100th Bomb Group. I knowyou havealotofuniqueexperiencestoshare,havingbeen there during some of the early daysofthegroup.ButI‘llstartbackatthebe-ginning, where it started for you, and thatyou joined the US Army Air Forces shortlyaerPearlHarbor,andIwaswonderingifyou could talk a bit about what it was liketotrainasanaviaoncadet?LUCKYSure. Well, I joined up almost immediatelyfollowing Pearl Harbor. The Army Air Forc-es had a tremendous inux of personneland as a result when I joined the aviaoncadets, they accepted me,but put me on leave and said‘Well we‘ll call you when wecan put you into the pipe-line’. So they did and I actu-ally joined up… I think mydate of enlistment is some-me in January of 42 andin March they noed methat I would be sent to Max-well Field in Montgomery,Alabama for my pre-ight.And I reported there on the1st of May. One of the rstthings they did was … therewere four thousand cadetsand they marched us out toa parade ground and select-ed a few of us to, I guess tryout to be appointed as thewing adjutant. And the try-out was to stand in the mid-dle of the eld and screamas loud as you could ‘passin review’. I won. So, I guessLucky duringthe basic training.John Luckadoo&MaMabeINTERVIEW71Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Lucky Luckadoo: Flying with the Bloody HundredthStrana 72
maybe my hard-calling days back in Ten-nessee came into play there. I don‘t know,but I was fortunate enough to have beenselected as the Wing Adjutant, who was ac-tually the second in command of the cadetcorps of that class. And this was to provelater on to be a disnct advantage to meand I‘ll tell you about that in a moment. Butthe commander of the regiment, the cadetwho was selected, was a young man bythe name of Bert Shaber. He was not verytall, not very impressive at all, rather quietguy, but he was selected as the cadet com-mander of the enre 4 000 cadet corps,all the way through ying training, andI didn‘t see him because once we nishedour pre-ight training, which was nineweeks, we were di-vided up into groupsof about 100 andsent out to variousair bases for our pri-mary training. I wassent to Avon Park,Florida, learned toy the PT-17, the Stearman Cadet and itwas, I guess, sort of automacally - be-cause I‘d been a Cadet Ocer in pre-ight,I was designated as the cadet captain ofmy class. Graduang from primary, I wassent to Shaw Field in Sumter, South Car-olina, for my basic training and that wasa big step up because from a biplane of 225horsepower we were thrown into a bulkyvibrator, a BT-13 which was 450 horsepow-er and quite a bit larger low wing airplanewith retractable gear and aps and a lot ofother things, that we had to learn how tooperate. You were allowed 12 hours of dualtraining and if you were unable to solo atthe end of that 12 hours, you were washedout. Well, I was having diculty really mas-tering that big leap up from the primarytrainer to the basic trainer. I was a CadetCaptain of my class there as well and hada military ocer, a second lieutenant WesPoynter, who was my instructor, and he wasnot able to really in-struct me. He couldy the airplane him-self, but he certainlywasn‘t imparng anyinstrucon to me asto how to handle theaircra. And I wason the verge of the brink of actually beingwashed out and I think the fact that I wasthe cadet captain of the class gave themsome second thoughts because I learnedlater that a civilian instructor had heardabout the fact that I was about to be washedout and he said ‘Well it‘s going to be a badmorale factor if the captain of class getswashed out, so let me take him for 30 min-utes and if I can‘t solo him then you canwash him out’. So he approached me andtold me to go out and get in an airplaneand he got in the back seat. We ew out toan auxiliary eld, landed and he got out onthe wing, and he said -I‘mgengaheadof myself, he‘d taken me up and really runthe airplane out. He showed me how tostall, how to recover from stalls, and howto loop it, and he had over 6,000 hours inthe airplane so he was really able to makeit do anything he wanted to, and he couldy the airplane. And he taught me morein that 30 minutes than I‘d learned in 10hours of instrucon from that lieutenant.Lt. John H. Luckadoo“... if you were unable tosolo at the end of that 12hours, you were washedout...“INTERVIEW72Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Lucky Luckadoo: Flying with the Bloody HundredthStrana 73
So he climbed out on the wing of the planeand he said ‘Now Luckadoo, if you can takethisairplaneoandyitaroundthepat-ternandlanditthreemeswhileIgooverand sit under that tree and smoke a ciga-ree,youpass’. So, he gets out and goesover and sits under the tree and I very gin-gerly take the thing o and y around thepaern and make three landings. I don‘trecall how good they were or bad, but atany rate he comes backand gets in the airplanehe says ‘let‘s go backto the base’. So, we yback to the base andhe gets out and startswalking into the readyroom and turns around and just gives mea thumbs up. So that‘s how I kept from be-ing washed out in the middle of my train-ing. I was very grateful to him because hereally saved my neck. I went ahead andcompleted basic and then was sent downto Valdosta, Georgia, for advanced trainingon twin engines. When I got to Valdosta,they also had a conngent of single enginepilots, who were going to be ghter pilots,on the same base, going through at thesame me, and Bert Shaber was the cap-tain of the single engine class, and I wasthe captain of the twin engine class. Well,at graduaon in February of 43 he was notin aendance. That puzzled me greatly. ButI was so glad to have goen my wings andmy commission that I didn‘t think a wholelot about it. Only to nd out some monthslater that they had discovered while hewas going through training that he wasa German plant and they allowed him toget all the way through to graduaon be-fore they lowered theboom on him. But hehad immigrated withhis family at 15 fromGermany, Schaber wasa German name ofcourse and that sort of,I guess, caused some suspicions to causeto start with, but anyway it was quitea shock and a surprise to learn that thathe was a mole and so he didn‘t graduatewith us. But as you know, upon graduaon,40 of my classmates from twin engine ightschool and I were sent to Kearney, Nebras-ka, to join the 100th Bomb Group, immedi-ately out of ying school. And we were ofcourse designed as co-pilots to replace allof the co-pilots in the group. Now that wasone of the most mysterious things to hap-pen I think during World War II, as to why inthe world, just before the group was aboutto be sent overseas, would they sudden-ly remove all the co-pilots and replace us,replace them with us, newly admied pi-lots who‘d never been in a B-17. Heck we‘dnever seen anything as large as a four-en-gine airplane in our lives and here we werestuck in the right-hand seat second in com-mand of a 10-man crew to learn how toy B-17s not with any combat instruconbut only from the pilot we were assignedto. And that was an extremely hazardousand unfortunate thing to have had occur.So far as we‘ve been able to determine,it didn‘t happen in any other group. Andwhy it happened to the Hundredth Groupis sll to this day unknown.MATTThat‘s denitely an interesng way ofcoming into the Hundredth. And one thingIndsofascinang-youknowwewatch“...we‘d never seenanything as large asa four-engine airplanein our lives...“INTERVIEW73Eduard Modeller‘s Den No. 0 - December 2024Lucky Luckadoo: Flying with the Bloody HundredthStrana 74
moviesthesedaysandthepeopleportray-ingWorldWarIIveteransareprobablyintheir 30s in real life, but you guys, you wereinyourearly20sandIknowinyourcaseif my math is right youwere 21 as a SecondLieutenant when youstarted ying combatmissions in 1943. AndI was wondering if youcould tell us a bit about the weight on yourshouldersasapilot,butalsoaleaderwith-in the crew.LUCKYWell, I will menon of course that, as re-placement co-pilots, we were not alwayswelcomed by the crews that we were as-signed to. It so happened that in the crewthat I was assigned to, the navigator andthe bombardier were very fond of theirco-pilot. They buddied with him and hungout with him, and they were cresall-en when he was removed. And they pro-ceeded to make my life hell, because theyresented the fact, that I didn‘t know any-thing about the B-17 and I was thrust intotheir crew, forced down their throats andso they were really prey resenul andhurt by this move. Andit was sort of juvenileon their part to makemy life miserable be-cause, aer all, I wassecond in command ofthe crew and if anything incapacitated thepilot I was to take over. And sure enoughthat happened when we hit Newfoundlandenroute to our overseas base.