German double decker in World War II
The Air Force of the Third Reich was equipped with a considerable number of biplanes . At the beginning of the war, the machines were still used in combat missions, but then increasingly used for training and other tasks, for example as tow planes for gliders , as sea rescue planes or for sea reconnaissance. Only the Henschel Hs 123 remained in continuous use at the front until there were no more machines available in 1944.
On the eastern front , the Soviet side began with biplanes, mostly Polikarpow Po-2 , z. Sometimes also with female crews to fly nightly disturbance attacks against ground targets. The planes were called sewing machines by the German soldiers because of the chugging noise of their five-cylinder engines. They were initially opposed by Czechoslovak Letov Š-328s as night fighters , and later others such as Fw 189 . The Air Force soon took over this Störtaktik and formed in October / November 1942 three Behelfskampfstaffeln biplanes, which until the beginning of 1943 to four Störkampfgruppen were expanded. In the course of 1943 these were transformed into night battle groups and expanded. An additional unit, the Ostfliegerstaffel 1, was recruited from Soviet defectors and partly equipped with captured aircraft. Volunteers from the Baltic countries also flew such missions. In these associations, in addition to monoplane attack aircraft such as the Junkers Ju 87 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 , especially the Arado Ar 66 , which was built in 1356 for the Air Force, and the Gotha Go 145 (built in 1192) were used, also the Heinkel He 45 and He 50, and after Italy left the axis also the Fiat CR 42, which was taken over from there. Machines of these types were partly still in service in 1945.
The Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann and Bü 133 Jungmeister were built long after the war in Spain, for example, and are still flown as acrobatic aircraft today.
Series models
- Arado Ar 65 Jäger, later a fighter training aircraft and cargo glider tow plane (193? Built)
- Arado Ar 66 trainer and jammer for night attacks (1356)
- Arado Ar 68 fighter, later fighter training aircraft (511)
- Arado Ar 95 torpedo bombers / reconnaissance aircraft, carrier-supported or on floats (approx. 20)
- Bücker Bü 131 trainer aircraft
- Bücker Bü 133 Single-seat aerobatics training aircraft (72)
- Fieseler Fi 167 carrier-supported torpedo bomber, after the end of the aircraft carrier program as a coastal reconnaissance aircraft (15 built), sold to Croatia in 1944
- Focke-Wulf Fw 44 trainer aircraft (1702)
- Heinkel He 42 trainer aircraft with floats (241)
- Heinkel He 45 reconnaissance aircraft, later night attacks on ground targets (512)
- Heinkel He 50 dive fighter, reconnaissance aircraft, night warplane (93)
- Heinkel He 51 fighter and fighter training aircraft (502)
- Heinkel He 59 multi-purpose aircraft, sea rescue aircraft, transporter (166)
- Heinkel He 60 maritime patrol aircraft with floats (366)
- Heinkel He 72 trainer aircraft, glider tow (767)
- Heinkel He 114 coast surveillance and reconnaissance, with swimmers (124)
- Henschel Hs 123 dive and attack aircraft (266)
- Gotha Go 145 trainer aircraft, later disruptive aircraft for night attacks (1192)
Prototypes
The Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) awarded contracts based on tenders. Several companies, usually three, then built prototypes, sometimes followed by small pilot series , and tested them. They were then flown and assessed at the test sites. Most of the following models did not get beyond these steps and were then assigned to flight schools or were already retired at the beginning of the war.
- Arado Ar 67 Jäger (only a prototype, development abandoned in favor of the Arado Ar 68)
- Arado Ar 81 dive fighter (only three prototypes, in competition with Junkers Ju 87 )
- Arado Ar 195 carrier-supported torpedo bomber (only three prototypes, in competition with the Fieseler Fi 167)
- Arado Ar 197 carrier-supported fighter (three prototypes and four pilot series aircraft , in competition with the Bf 109T )
- Fieseler Fi 98 dive combat aircraft (only two prototypes, in competition with the Henschel Hs 123)
- Focke-Wulf Fw 62 sea reconnaissance aircraft with floats (only four prototypes, in competition with the Arado Ar 196 )
Loot planes
In addition, captured aircraft were also used in the Luftwaffe, with double-deckers being taken over in significant numbers from Czech and Austrian stocks, especially in 1938. Czech and Italian double-deckers continued to be produced in some cases under German occupation.
Czechoslovak captured planes , 1938
- Aero A-100 / A-101 reconnaissance / light bomber, passed on to Italy
- Avia BH-33 , Avia B-34-4 , Avia Ba-122 trainer aircraft
- Avia B-534 fighter training aircraft, tow aircraft, later night raids on ground targets
- Letov S-328 and S-528 reconnaissance aircraft, trainer aircraft and night fighter
- Praga E-39 trainer aircraft
- Praga E-241 trainer aircraft
Italian captured aircraft , from the Austrian Air Force in 1938 or directly from Italy in 1943
- Caproni ca.113 trainer aircraft
- Fiat CR.20 trainer aircraft
- Fiat CR 32 hunter
- Fiat CR 42 fighter, later night raids on ground targets
- IMAM Ro.37 reconnaissance aircraft
Polish captured planes , 1939
- PWS-26 , 30 machines at short notice as training aircraft, resold to Romania
- Potez 25 , two machines for testing purposes
French captured planes , 1940
- Breguet 521 Bizerte Maritime Rescue (17 machines bought by Vichy government)
Individual prey machines from other nations
- Polikarpow Po-2 Soviet, a few used in "Ostfliegerstaffel 1" for combat missions
- Polikarpow I-153 Soviet, as a training aircraft in JVS 3
- De Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide British, during the French campaign in 1940
literature
- Dr. Christian Möller: The operations of night battle groups 1, 2 and 20 on the Western Front from September 1944 to May 1945 - With an overview of the formation and use of the sturgeon and night battle groups of the German Air Force from 1942 to 1944. Dissertation (358 p., 196 fig .), Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-938208-67-0 .