Richard Bock was typical of many early
pilots who trained on gliders and went on to become operational pilots. Seen here in
pre-war days, he flew with KG55 in Europe and Russia before he was shot down over England
on 30 July 1942. KG55
The photographic history of KG55
by Steve Hall and Lionel Quinlan.
Published by Red Kite
ISBN 0-9538061-0-3
Price £17.95
100 A-4 pages, including 4 pages of colour
profiles by Mark Rolfe.
To
order your copy, click here. KG55
These are just a few of the 250 photographs that illustrate the book.
Click the thumbnail for the full size image.
Click here to download the PDF file for KG55's losses in the West
Richard Bock was typical of many early
pilots who trained on gliders and went on to become operational pilots. Seen here in
pre-war days, he flew with KG55 in Europe and Russia before he was shot down over England
on 30 July 1942.
On 12 September 1939 Herman Goring
visited the Stab of KG55 at Marzdorf/Ohlau. The officer in the white dress cap is
Generalmajor Süssmann. (Hans Strobl)
6./KG55 lost G1+HP on 16 August 1940
during the attack on Feltham, near London. Gunfire from Squadron Leader Pemberton’s
No. 1 Squadron Hurricane damaged the oil cooling system causing failure of the engines.
The pilot, Oberleutnant Wilhelm Wieland, brought the Heinkel down to a good landing
at Annington Farm, Bramber, Sussex.
Gordon James took this photo at Oakhill, Bursledon, Hampshire, as the
remains of G1+HP were transported to a scrap yard. It was against the law to take
such photos, so Mr James kept his camera hidden until after the war, when he finally had
the film developed. (Peter White)
KG55 lost four Heinkels on 26 August 1940, during the attack on
Portsmouth. G1+DM Wn. 2124 was shot down by Spitfire pilots of No. 602 Squadron and
crashed on the beach at Bracklesham, Sussex.
G1+DN was another victim of 25 September’s raid on the Bristol
aero engine works at Filton. Oberleutnant Gottfreid Weigel and his crew baled out safely
before the Heinkel crashed at Racecourse Farm, Portbury, near Bristol. An anti-aircraft
shell fired by the 237th Battery, 76th HAA regiment based at Portbury had exploded under
the Heinkel’s tail and damaged its controls.
G1+HS of 8./KG55 returned to Villacoublay on 20 October, 1940, but a
‘hung-up’ incendiary bomb ignited and set fire to the aircraft. Oberfeldwebel
Bernhard Hickel and his crew escaped injury. (Hickel)
He111 P, Wn. 1992 was the survivor of many raids on Britain.
Wearing the codes G1+HP of 6./KG55 and the highly individual tail graffiti, it was a
regular mount of Gerhard Pulver, but was not the aircraft in which he was killed on 16
August, which also wore the codes G1+HP. (Magdalene Burmeier)
Colin North and Dennis Clayton, members of C Company 5th Royal Warwick
Home Guard, pose with the wreck of G1+MT at Fulford Hall Farm, south of Birmingham.
Oberleutnant Johannes Speck von Sternberg, Staffelkapitän 9./KG55, and two others were
killed in the crash on 10/11 May, 1941. Gefreiter Rudolf Budde managed to bale out of the
flaming bomber and was captured, but suffered terrible burns. It was reported shot down by
Lewis gun fire from Lance Bombardier A. A. Hanson from the 380th Battery, 45th Searchlight
Regiment, Royal Artillery.
The He111 H-6 was the standard
equipment of the Heinkel units in Russia. In addition to KG55, KG27, KG53 and KG4 were
operational Heinkel Geschwadern in Russia, but by August 1941, they had only 128
servicable aircraft between them.
A battered Heinkel whose markings have become indecipherable under the mud
which has splashed up the fuselage sides.
A 20mm Flakvierling 38 Sd. Kfz. 7/1 half-track used to defend KG55’s
airfields against Russian bombers.
A Petlyakov Pe-2 found near Kiew in 1941. The majority of missions
were flown against Russian forces in the Charkow region, an area in the Ukraine that was
fought over and changed hands many times in three years.
On 14 January 1943 Pitomnik airfield was captured by the Russians.
This had been a vital base for the Stalingrad airlift, so many supplies had to be
parachuted in. The last 40,000 German troops surrendered on 2 February. The German losses
at Stalingrad had been 110,500 killed, 50,000 wounded and 107,500 taken prisoner. The
Russians lost 750,000 troops and 250,000 civilians killed. The Luftwaffe lost 266 Ju52s,
165 He111s, 42 Ju86s, 9 FW200s, 5 He177s and a single Ju290 in the air lift. KG55 lost 59
aircraft, but evacuated 9,161 troops from November to the fall of Stalingrad.
Otto Gabenstätter, Rheinhard Haase and Andreas Rumpmaier of 4./KG55
pose with a captured Russian ANT-4 bomber built in the mid 1930s. The annotation reveals
their opinion of the aircraft!
All units with the exception of IV Gruppe had returned to the Ukraine
by the end of April 1942. The German 11th Army was besieging Sewastopol and 6th Army was
involved in battle in the Charkow area where the front line moved back and forth until the
6th Army took control in June.
A safe landing. The wooden propeller blades on the port engine have
been shattered, but only the lower blade on the starboard engine is broken, indicating
that failure of the starboard engine caused the crash landing. (Martin Junglehner).
A Polikarpov Po-2 ‘Sewing Machine’ used for nuisance raids
over airfields near the front line.
Pre-heating the engines was vital in the winter when temperatures
fell to minus 30 degrees Centigrade.
This rare photograph shows an He111 H-16 used by 14.(Eis)/KG55 the
specialist train-busting unit. It has been fitted with six forward firing 20mm cannon.
He111s of this unit were fitted with an electronic alitmeter that allowed them to fly at
only 20 metres above the tracks. The Staffel lost nine crews but flew over 5,000 missions.
He111 H-20/R3 flown by Feldwebel Egon Burschlen. This was one of the
last variants of Heinkel’s design and was fitted with a 13mm MG131dorsal turret that
was remotely operated.
Wireless operator / gunner Unteroffizier Heiner Blanz and his He111
H-20 of III/KG55. This has the MG81Z ‘twin’ machine guns in the fuselage.
This card was made to celebrate the 207th mission of Leutnant
Keinpkens crew. The crew had been shot down three times and in 1943 were based at Dijon.
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