"More" Luftwaffe Aces signed photos

Werner Streib, One of the first nightfighter aces



Erich Rudorffer



Hermann Buchner



Hermann Buchner



Gerhard Schoefpel



Gerhard Schoepfel



Gunter Rall



Adolf Glunz



Franz-Josef Beerenbrock



Franz-Josef Beerenbrock


Gunter Seeger



Hermann Greiner and Werner Streib, night fighter Aces



Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert



Georg-Peter Eder

 

interesting that Streib would sign a Do 217 J that was not issued to NJG 1 at all, very similar to the one my cousin, an ace flew in NJG 3.

great pics once again L ~

 

Erich,

I am guessing most of them signed what ever photo was provided for them to sign.

I do love the armament on that Do217, two MGs and 4 cannons, I am guessing that could definitely bring down any 4-engined heavy bomber. were there any other weapons on that model?

 

am surprised the old crate could catch anything as it was really slow, too many cannon/mg's. some versions had the upward Schräg-waffen of - get this, four 2cm cannons as experimental trials. My cousin even shot down a 605th sqdn Mossie over the area of Sylt in a Do 217N. this has to be one of the most bizarre aerial victories.

did you know that Rudi Schönert of NJG 100 fame flew one of these at night over the Ost front

 

Some great signatures again, very impressive to say the least

 

I did not know that about Schonert. I did notice on this photo that it appears the Do217 had only two blades on the props, I guess this would be one of the reasons for it's slow speed.

when you mention your cousin are you still referring to Bar? Or do you have another cousin that was an ace?

 

Hans Baer Gruppenkommandeur of II./NJG 5 flying Bf 110G-4's before his accidental death in December of 1943. seems in my Familie the ae was reversible with the ä in the last name.........weird.

Rudi shot down a B-25 I have the full and very strange story and had a terrible time trying to catch up speed wise with the Mitchell and lost him 2 times before he could get into position to bring it down

 

Some of the "N" versions had all in all 4 MG151/20 as "Schräge Musik" plus 4 MG151/20 as front guns. Not the badest choice!

Regards

Ulrich

 

my cousin flew an N-1 and had just 2 SM 2cm weapons fitted, the four mg's in the nose were not needed as the LW NF crews later found out, they were just pop guns on the heavier Lancs and Hali's

the four upwards firing 2cm cannons were a development in the testing stages with NJG 101, but it was just too much weight and firepower as it was reduced shortly to the standard two fittings

my cousins unit 4./NJG 3 was stationed in the Westerland to catch the first bombers over the coast and especially en-route back to England

 

Erich,
Our keyboards in the USA do not have umlauts to put over the "a" in Bar, so frequently US spellings of German names or words that have umlauts over the "a" use the "e" after the "a" to somehow signify they sound of the umlaut.

my screen name of nachtjager would be spelled in the US nachtjaeger.
Bar is Baer,
Spate is Spaete

I wish I had a keyboard with the umlaut and the other vowel pronunciation symbols
L. S.

 

hey Erich I was wondering if you could tell me who this guy is?

 

yes it's my cous. Heinz Bär. Originally my German familie coming to the east coast was told that the umlaut was not acceptable and that the name had to be spelled Bear, but they still stuck with Baer of which as I mentioned earlier kept along with Bär while in Germany. cover up possibly ? Heinz's last name is spelled both ways.

if you use your US key board all you have to press is the Alt button and hold it down with ä 132
ö 148, ß 225, ü 129

that should get you by for a time, also Heinz used the Sutterlin with his own personal scripting of B

 

Me163 Komet, signed by Franz Woidich,

Just looking at this thing makes me nervous and I could not imagine riding this rocket up into the heavens to chase bombers and Mustangs knowing full well that when the fuel runs out I can only glide it back to an airfield while the mustangs and P47s are chasing me.

 

Rudi Opitz told me they did not have a problem if it was a safe take-off and even during an attack on US bombers it was only not even gliding down with US escorts on their rear but landing the little bug if any fuel was held in the crate. so did Rolf "Bubi" Glogner

practice using the ümlauts Lacy

 

Wow...They signed their own pictures like movie stars. That's great. Did pilots from other countries do the same?...
Erich, have you written about that B-25 incident ? I am sure we would like to read about it.

 

Poppy,

I know you can find British, American and Canadian signed pilots photos, most of them post war. I don't think that during the war they were doing it as much as the Germans. The Germans had portraits made by two main sources during the war that the pilots and other soldiers would autograph, usually Knight Cross Winners, these were 4x6 postcards and were collected like baseball cards. The two main producers of the postcards were Hoffman and Rohr, the Baer photo above is an example of a Rohr postcard. You can find the unsigned postcards of various knights cross winners for sale quite easily.

99% of my collection are post war signed photos that are photos that have been reproduced onto post cards made by Argenta and then signed by the veteran. These were obtained at airshows around the USA and Europe, Knights Cross veteran reunions, by arranged visits directly with the vet in question and by sending the photo to the vet with a letter and return envelope asking for a signature.

A lot of collectors sent repro photos directly to the veteran and asked them to sign the photo and send it back.
I have a few of those which also came with an letter from the veteran, I have one from Johannes Wiese (133 confirmed victories and 75 unconfirmed) which had a two page letter telling about what he has been up to and his plans for the upcoming new year in 1986 and he was very cordial and sent a signed photo of himself taken during the war as well as a current photo of himself "hanging out" in his house.

I have posted quite a few threads with various "themes" on here all with signed photos. There is another thread of pilots with a brief description of their victories, there is a U-Boat thread of U-Boat commanders signed photos and also Stuka pilot and bomber pilot threads as well all with signed photos if you want to check them out.
thanks and Cheers
Lacy

 

Interesting stuff . Another ww2 angle that I've never considered. I did wonder about the blue felt pen one fellow signed with. But you have explained... Wonder if because the Allies rotated their airmen after so many missions, the airmen were not promoted as stars because they'd be gone when duty done? Whereas the Germans kept their boys flying forever and could be relied on to be there as permanent stars?

 

That is something that could be arranged . It's a matter of shipping.