U boats and seaplanes in the Artic.
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 1:06 pm
Hello to all ; a new topic. AFAIK it was in this theater where cooperation between Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe reached a high degree....................................................
Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland).
During Unternehmen Wunderland, five seaplanes Blohm und Voss BV-138, able to stay in the air for 12 hours without refueling, were to cover large swatches of sea along the most important shipping routes. However, after all the seaplanes needed resupply and the only way to carry out that was with U boats as milk cows. One of those "cows" was U 255....................
On August 4, 1942 at 20:09 hours U-255 (kplt. Reinhart Reche) sailed from Bergen as part of Group "Nebelkönig". On August 11, 1942 she was conducting reconnaissance of the coast of Spitsbergen Island and on August 12 at 16:00 ran a special task, refueling a seaplane BV 138 at Grid AG81.
However shortly afterwards, U-255 (Kptlt Reinhart Reche) rescued the crew of a Blohm & Voss BV 138 (3./KüFlGr 406, BV 138 C-1, 310117, K6+HL) in Grid AG 8188 (approx. 78°57'N, 20°45'E, about 5 nautical miles south-east of Wilhelmøya, Spitsbergen) at 17:52hrs on 14 August 1942. The U-boat was co-operating with the flying boat since 11 August in preparation of Operation "Wunderland" (attack of the German heavy cruiser ADMIRAL SCHEER on the Siberian sea routes) and had refuelled it on occasion, but on 14 August the flying boat was forced to carry out an emergency landing near the U-boat after two engines failed due to contaminated fuel. It was taken in tow and they moved slowly with intermediate stops along the east coast of Spitsbergen until the BV 138 capsized due to strong winds at 17:10 hrs on 17 August in Grid AG 7969 (approx. 77°27'N, 18°15'E, in the Storfjorden) and had to be scuttled with gunfire. ObltzS Dierschke and Unknown number of crewmen survived.
Sources: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... var2=wert2
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost. ... stcount=24
http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/MM/MM-40/0054-01-2-1.jpg
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... b900ab5630
Cheers. Raul M .
Milk Cows for Seaplanes (Unternehmen Wunderland).
During Unternehmen Wunderland, five seaplanes Blohm und Voss BV-138, able to stay in the air for 12 hours without refueling, were to cover large swatches of sea along the most important shipping routes. However, after all the seaplanes needed resupply and the only way to carry out that was with U boats as milk cows. One of those "cows" was U 255....................
On August 4, 1942 at 20:09 hours U-255 (kplt. Reinhart Reche) sailed from Bergen as part of Group "Nebelkönig". On August 11, 1942 she was conducting reconnaissance of the coast of Spitsbergen Island and on August 12 at 16:00 ran a special task, refueling a seaplane BV 138 at Grid AG81.
However shortly afterwards, U-255 (Kptlt Reinhart Reche) rescued the crew of a Blohm & Voss BV 138 (3./KüFlGr 406, BV 138 C-1, 310117, K6+HL) in Grid AG 8188 (approx. 78°57'N, 20°45'E, about 5 nautical miles south-east of Wilhelmøya, Spitsbergen) at 17:52hrs on 14 August 1942. The U-boat was co-operating with the flying boat since 11 August in preparation of Operation "Wunderland" (attack of the German heavy cruiser ADMIRAL SCHEER on the Siberian sea routes) and had refuelled it on occasion, but on 14 August the flying boat was forced to carry out an emergency landing near the U-boat after two engines failed due to contaminated fuel. It was taken in tow and they moved slowly with intermediate stops along the east coast of Spitsbergen until the BV 138 capsized due to strong winds at 17:10 hrs on 17 August in Grid AG 7969 (approx. 77°27'N, 18°15'E, in the Storfjorden) and had to be scuttled with gunfire. ObltzS Dierschke and Unknown number of crewmen survived.
Sources: http://historisches-marinearchiv.de/pro ... var2=wert2
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpost. ... stcount=24
http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/MM/MM-40/0054-01-2-1.jpg
http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... b900ab5630
Cheers. Raul M .