“Luftwaffe in 45. Recent flights and projects. Continued, part of 1
This text is a continuation of the abridged translation of the book “Luftwaffe'45. Letzte Fluge und Projekte ”, made by a colleague of NF, is the author of translations of many interesting topics related to the German air force. The illustrations are taken from the original of the book, the literary processing of the translation from German was made by the author of these lines.
It was planned to use the air groups I./ZG 26 and II / ZG 76. They planned to discontinue the production of the Me-410, so in the future it was planned to use repaired aircraft instead of new ones. But these plans were short-lived, as these planes were planned to be used until February 1945. Instead of the Me-410, they were to organize the production of Do-1945 planes before the end of 335, and if they were successfully used in confrontation with the British Mosquito, it was planned to arm such by air of at least 8 air groups. Additionally, from August to December 31, 1945, it was planned to arm 2 air groups with fighters of the Ju 388 Jl or J-3 type. In the late autumn of 1944, 21 reconnaissance squadrons armed with Ju-88 D or Ju-88 F aircraft were located on the Eastern Front. Three more reconnaissance squadrons were armed with Me-410 aircraft. For night reconnaissance there were special night reconnaissance squadrons, and for conducting reconnaissance over the sea, the 1st and 2nd squadrons of the 5th reconnaissance air group were intended. In addition, there were two squadrons aviation reconnaissance group "123", which were armed with aircraft of the type Me-109. In total, it was planned to have 29 reconnaissance squadrons on the Eastern Front, designed for reconnaissance in the daytime. These reconnaissance squadrons were supposed to be armed with Ar 234 Bl, Do 336 A-4 or Ju 388 L-1 aircraft. Three of these 29 squadrons were to be armed with Ar 234 aircraft, 10 squadrons with Ju 388 aircraft and 14 squadrons with Do 335. At night, instead of Do 217 and Ju 188 aircraft, it was planned to use Ju 388 L-1 aircraft or L-3. The reconnaissance squadrons of the Western Front (Wekuste OK11 group) were to use aircraft of the Ju 88 G-1 and G-2 type. The reconnaissance squadrons of the Weskuste OKL 2 air group were supposed to use He 177 type aircraft with a long range for weather reconnaissance. Later, for conducting meteorological reconnaissance, it was planned to use aircraft of the Ju 635 type or, possibly, of the Hü 211. According to other optimistic plans, in France it was planned to use the KG 51 squadron equipped with Me 262 Al / A-2 aircraft
Me 262 A-1a from KG (J) 54.
and a KG 76 squadron armed with Ar 234 B2 aircraft. Later it was planned to stop the production of aircraft such as Ju 388, and instead produce jet aircraft. There were plans to use aircraft types Do 335 and Ju 287 as fighters after using these aircraft as bombers will no longer be possible. For protection against enemy bombers, absolute priority was given to fighters, including jet ones. Instead of fighter squadrons armed with aircraft types Fw 190 D-9 or Bf 109 K-4, Me 262 type fighters were to be used in increasing numbers. There were also night scouts 4./NSGr. 2. in groups of NSGr. 4 and 5, armed with planes like the Fiat CR 42 and the NSGr group. 7. Most of these units, performing auxiliary functions, were armed with training planes of the type Ar 66 C and D, Go 145, converted into combat, as well as with aircraft of the types Fw 56 and Si 204В.
In the little-needed naval aviation connections there were flying Do 24 T-1 type boats that accompanied ships and were engaged in search operations, as well as several aircraft of the Ju 88 C-4 and C-7, Fw 190 A-8 type and fighter type aircraft Me 410. Surprisingly, the Reich Minister A. Speer considered it possible to increase the production of aircraft, despite the increasingly powerful air strikes of the allies and the Allies occupied part of Western Europe in 1944. The fighter aviation headquarters formed in 1944 should have led to a sharp increase in aircraft production year by producing standard versions of aircraft. General management of this headquarters was carried out personally by A. Speer and Field Marshal E. Milch. Their general deputy (HDL) and at the same time the graduate engineer K. Saur (Karl Otto Sаur) was appointed as the immediate supervisor of the headquarters. Schiempp, a graduate engineer, was appointed to be responsible for preparing the necessary design documentation. For the implementation of relations between enterprises involved in the production of aircraft in the headquarters was responsible graduate engineer Wagner (Wagner).
Thanks to these people, the headquarters in the shortest possible time was able to achieve a noticeable increase in the release of aircraft. A. Hitler also adhered to the same view regarding the concentration of industry efforts. The Reich Minister Shpeer received significant powers, and the fighter aviation headquarters began not only to organize the mass production of aircraft, but at the same time create conditions that contributed to an increase in the mass production of aircraft, which had a direct impact on the decisions made by the Reich Ministerial Ministry (RLM). Since 1 July 1944, the headquarters of the fighter aircraft began to fully use its capabilities. During the meeting, the Minister of Aviation G. Goering ordered to increase the monthly production of fighters to 3 800 units per month. Among these 3 800 fighters 500 should have been jet fighters of the type Me 262. The release of 400 fighters and 500 night fighters was also envisaged. Together with the repaired 300 fighters, the headquarters of the fighter aircraft in the amount expected to receive monthly up to 5 000 fighters. Also, special attention was paid not only to the production of aircraft engines and equipment, but also to an increase or decrease in the production of all necessary equipment.
The released production capacity should immediately be used to increase the production of fighters with jet and piston engines, which, as they hoped, would have made it possible to achieve superiority in the air, at least over the territory of the Reich. Director Karl Fridag (Karl Frydag) was appointed to be responsible for the increase in the production of the aircraft, Dr. Waerter (Włner Werner) was responsible for the increase in engine production. A little later, 27 July 1944, General (GLZ), who was on the staff of the Reich Ministry of Aviation (RLW), took another position, becoming the head of Technical Production (Chef TLR), subordinate to the Luftwaffe General Staff, which allowed in a shorter time to bring to mass production aircraft with even higher performance characteristics. Before 1 September 1944, all Air Force test centers under the supervision of the appropriate command (KdE) came under the supervision of the Technical Production Manager, as well as the Luftwaffe Technical Academy, and the leadership responsible for the research in the interests of the German Air Force.
The first result of these reorganizations was the streamlining of production, but even these measures could only partially affect the successful implementation of the planned plans. Although the number of aircraft in service has grown to a scale never seen before, however, Speer and his deputies were by no means satisfied with this. During a meeting with Goering and HDL representative Saur (Karl-Otto Saur) 12 in December 1944, the latter presented real data on the development program of German aviation, which he wanted to launch in the coming months. It was planned to produce monthly on 1 500 aircraft types Me 162 and Me 262. At the same time, the production of fighter type Bf 109 modifications G-10, G-14 and K-4, as well as Fw 190 modifications A-8, A-9 and D-9 was supposed to be minimized, and instead of them monthly produce 2 000 type fighters That 152. To protect the territory of the country, it was also planned to produce 150 aircraft of the Me 163 type and Me 263 types on a monthly basis. In addition to this, since the beginning of 1945, in variants of fighters, night fighters and scouts, it was planned to produce monthly 300 Do 335 and 100 Ju 388. Planned to begin production of a bomber version of the Ar 234 jet bomber. 500 aircraft of this type, located in many combat units, should be converted into night fighters and reconnaissance aircraft.
A total of 1945 6 combat aircraft have been planned monthly since the beginning of 000, of which 4 000 single-engine fighters and 400 training aircraft. At the same time, Saur proposed to assign the highest priority to the production and deployment of Me 262 and Me 162 fighters to combat units. Night fighters received a much lower priority. Until the middle of 1945, they planned to reduce their monthly production to 200 units, and then slowly increase them to 360 units. The entire production of interceptors was planned to be reduced in favor of the release of fighters and then to increase the production of 2-x motor interceptors of the type Do 335. It was also planned to first reduce the production of training aircraft, and suddenly instead of the monthly production of 600 training aircraft like Fw 190, production of 350 training aircraft like Ta 152 was planned. Jet planes of types Ar 234 or Ju 287 since the beginning of 1945 were mentioned only sporadically. Jet fighters, especially single-engine fighters of Me 262 A-1 and Non-162 A-1 / A-2 types, should have already bypassed in terms of production fighters with piston engines. Due to the difficult situation of the country, airplanes with jet and rocket engines of types But 229 or Me 263 could no longer be produced in the required volumes, it was also not clear when these planes could be brought to the stage that allowed them to be mass-produced.
Soon after his appointment as head of the TLR and after Hitler’s last mention of the need to concentrate, the Fighter Headquarters demonstrated its capabilities.
At the same time, the general situation of the Reich could be characterized as very complicated, and the state of transport communications and the transportation of components and finished products between German enterprises were on the verge of collapse and disruption, respectively. In January, 1945, the industry could still work at the expense of previously accumulated reserves, but since February, many enterprises could not produce products due to the termination or disruption of the supply of components from related enterprises. The Allies struck particularly hard blows against the Reich railway lines, as a result of which the state of the railway network soon became critical. To partially compensate for these problems, especially with regard to the production of various types of fighters, the head of the fighter headquarters, engineer Saur and the headquarters of industry, tried to do everything possible to support the production of single-engine fighters with piston engines in southern and central Germany. In January, the 1945 109 190 fighter type Me-2 and FW-441 alone were scheduled for release in January. 1 467 are Me-109 type fighters. In addition to the 64's new Me-109 type fighters, the 104 standard Me-109 G-10, 268 Me-109 G-10 / R6 G-79 Me-109 G-10 / U4 was launched. Despite the difficult situation of the German industry, X-NUMX Me-79 G-109 and 14 Me-258 G-109 AS and Me-14 G-109 AS / U14 were released. After repairs, 4 fighters of the Me-1944 type were sent to the ranks of the air forces during January 277. In January, the 109 in the German Air Force were approximately 1944 1 more powerful combat-ready fighter type FW-000. Most of the fighters of this type, 190 units, were the FW-380 A-190 version, and 8 - FW-43 A-190 / R8. The FW-2 A-190 and FW-9 A-190 / R9 fighters are increasingly replacing the FW-11 A-190 fighters. Luftwaffe got 8 fighter type FW-117 A-190. FW-9 D-190 and FW-9 D-190 / R9 were in high demand, and 11 units were released. In addition to the fighter air groups, 275 type Me-9 and 247 type FW-109 fighters were sent to the training air groups of the 48 th air corps.
Most of the 103 aircraft required by the plans for manning the air groups were to arrive before the end of January 1945. The 20 / ZG 190 air group received the FW-2 fighter aircraft as part of the Mistel, 76 bundle. For the Croatian allies, ten planes of the Me-109 type were supplied, and for the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) - the 6 Me-109. From the 19 of the just built fighters with higher TTX of the Ta-152, 12 type aircraft, it was first decided to test for tactical purposes in the new test squadron subordinate to the TRL leader. 108 fighters of the Me-262 type were distributed among combat units, including 15 fighters received the 1 / JG 7 air group, another 11 aircraft were transferred to the 3 / JG 7 air group, 36 airplanes were sent to the reserve squadrons, and the battalions of the squadrons left them. KG (J) 1, six in 6 / KG (J) 1, eight in the ISS division, designed to protect industrial plants. Only three aircraft arrived for tactical tests in the 54-e test unit. Serial production of the Do-16 type aircraft was still behind schedule, and only one Do-335 A-335 aircraft arrived at the disposal of the TRL manager. The situation with the supply of night fighters was somewhat better.
For a squadron of night fighters there were X-NUMX fighters of the type Me-48 G-110, X-NUMX He-4 A-38 and 219 Ju-0. The X-NUMX Ju-222 G-88 and G-11 were intended for night reconnaissance. Four prototypes were converted into combat aircraft, and four aircraft were handed over to the TRL leader for testing. FW-88 aircraft were used as ground attack aircraft, primarily the F-1 version. These attack aircraft in small quantities used on the Eastern Front. In total, there were 6 attack aircraft, of which 190 was at the disposal of the SG8-SG512 air groups, 477 in SG1. Also expected to receive 77-ti aircraft in the air group 21 / SG151 and four - at the disposal of the head of TRL. As for the bomber units, the transition from non-10 H-1, Ju-1 A-111 and Ju-20 A / E types to jet Ar-88 B-4 was carried out at that time. In February, the 188 aircraft type Ju-234 A-2 and 23 type Ju-88 were converted from prototypes into combat units. Several Ju-4 A-9 and Ju-188 aircraft were sent to training units. In the reconnaissance units, the transition was also made to jets of the Ar-88 and Me-4 types. The 188 Me-234 and four Ar-262 aircraft, converted from prototypes to combat, were expected to be transferred to the night reconnaissance units. Another 37 aircraft type Ar-109, converted from prototypes, were transferred to the front of the unit "B". In addition to 234 aircraft such as the Ju-11 D and Ju-234 T, there were also 13 aircraft ready for flying such as the Ju-88 and four aircraft such as the Ju-88. Planes of the Ju-15 and Ju-188 types were to be transferred to long-range reconnaissance air groups.
Ten of the 15-ti planes of the Ju-188 type were planned to be transferred to the night reconnaissance aviation groups. Two aircraft such as the Ju-388 L-0 and Ju-388 L-1 aircraft from test aircraft groups were made available to OKL and the head of TRL. Also 15 aircraft type Fi 156 were assigned to the rescue units. Additionally, several Ju-52 / 3m type aircraft and three Ka-430-type transport gliders were also transferred there. Together with the already existing production, distribution of new, repaired and training aircraft from 1944, the Head of Technical Department (TRL) took under his leadership all research and development in the aviation field, as well as the acceptance of aircraft produced by industry and the aviation fuel necessary for them. Were also reassigned to the processing and evaluation of materials for the ongoing development, the entire test management at all Luftwaffe test centers and aircraft operation. This applied both to the Luftwaffe Technical Academy and to research leadership in the interests of the Luftwaffe. From 1 in August 1944 was appointed head of the RLM planning department, Colonel U. Dizing (Ulrich Diesing), who was in this position until his death in the 14 accident in April 1945. The Allied offensive made the TLR leader difficult.
The advance into Germany in the north-west direction forced the transfer of production of automatic cannons MK 108 from the region of Lüttich. Necessary for this vehicle was not available, so all the equipment had to be transported on cars alone. Allied aviation attacks made it impossible to use the railways, as the railway lines were constantly in need of repair, complicated by a shortage of workers. Increasingly, Allied aviation destroyed bridges, which forced to deliver weapons and other necessary materials using detours. As a result, in many aircraft fighter squadrons, the delivery of automatic guns of the 108 MK for Me 262 A-1 type fighters was carried out with interruptions.
3-cm automatic gun MK 213.
Meanwhile, the Allied bombing of industrial enterprises affected more and more. The aircraft manufacturing company in Pollitsch (Pölittsch) was bombed, which led to almost complete suspension of work. The lack of coal for power plants led to power outages and a decrease in the number of products produced. 10 January 1945. Engineer Saur decided to equip future fighters with high performance characteristics with not only new MG-213 turret guns, but also automatic sights with EZ 42 type gyros. In the first decade of January, 1945 planned to produce 66 such sights. There were problems with the stability of aircraft type He 162 A-1 / A-2. The first night auxiliary fighter type Me 262 B-1 / U1 should be ready before the end of the month. The readiness of the BV 155 fighter caused fears, since it was impossible to foresee in advance when its first flight could take place. By 14, February 1945. The production of Me 262 aircraft reached the value of 50% of the planned, the production of other aircraft also increased not as fast as expected.
During January and February, only 1945 FW-15 D-190 and FW-11 D-190 aircraft (with a DB 12 type engine) were built 603. In this situation, Focke-Wulf could not bring clarity to the launch of the FW-190 D-14 type fighter in serial production. Another prototype, which had high hopes, the fighter of the Horten 9 type (8-229) was also far from mass production. The company Gothaer Wagonfabrik was able to assemble at the enterprise in Friedrichroda three experimental aircraft developed by the Horten brothers. 15 January The 1945 began a large Soviet offensive, and the regions of Poznan and Silesia could be completely lost to the Germans in the near future. In addition, power supply restrictions also had an effect, and by 18 in January of 1945 g, the Fighter Headquarters believed that everything related to the production and testing of aircraft could be even less satisfactory than before.
- Valentin Maltsev
- from the original book
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