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Author
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Topic: OT: A treasure trove discovered!!!
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BlackLion
Member
Member # 3737
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posted 12-19-2000 05:53 AM
    
Last weekend, I donned my working clothes and took a dive into history, as I was looking for the thingmies of my late grandfather, who, for those not familiar with the story, was actually a pilot during WWII in the Luftwaffe, first on Transports, later on fighters, both the 109 and the 190;
my grandma always said that his flightlog and other stuff should be hidden somewhere in the cellar of their house, and thats were I went after getting clearance from my grandma; she always refused to let me have a look for it, as she was ashamed of the "career" of my grandpa, a problem nearly all ex-servicemen of the German Army, Luftwaffe or Marine have; I know cases were old men, paying their tribute to their fallen comrades on memorial places were called murderers or even some worse names by some sort of political correct people;
well, but thats not the topic-so after being allowed into the cellar for searching the stuff, it took me the better part of an hour to locate a box, looking well used and very antique and thats where I placed my hope on-there was only a problem-it was secured with a lock and I did not have the key for that lock; but I finally managed to open it as the lock was quite old and rusty and therefor quite easy to break;
when I opened it, I nearly began to cry-what I found was GREAT!
well, no flightlog, but amongst others, biographies of Manfred von Richthofen, signed by a pilot of the JASTA Richthofen, some Carl August Freiherr von Schönebeck, a bio of Major Walter Nowotny (258 kills) signed by his son, a bio of Adolf Galland, and one of Erich Hartmann; some issues of "Der Adler", the Luftwaffe magazine, one of my grandpas diaries (from Feb. 1940 to Dec. 1941) and last but not least, two albums full with pics mostly from the campaign in France, where my grandpa flew with a Transport in support of the many Luftwaffe airfields being set up then;
the best pic I dug out shows a shot up and crash landed Fairey Battle with my grandpa standing in front of it!
the best thing about that pic is that I found a pic of this very Battle while it was still flying, its squadron code D 0 RH showing prominently on both pics;
btw-the pic with this Battle flying can be found on one of the first pages of French Aces by Osprey Publishing;
I will try and get some pics scanned and post them here, as they cover a wide array of the war; some pics show gigantic French tanks, after being strafed and destroyed on their railway carts, a bombed bridge, allegedly destroyed by Stukas, the graveyard of a Fighter base with 3 dumped 109s and a dumped Fieseler Storch and many other very interesting images!and I also had a talk to my father, who related some hairraising stories to me, one of which about the near demise of my grandfather owing to a clash with a Snakeplane over Russia in 1944 I will post later this day, so stay tuned  p.s: I still have hopes of finding the flightlog of my grandfather, maybe that will become some sort of christmas present!
Posts: 294 | From: any Cockpit I can get my hands into | Registered: Mar 2000 | IP: Logged
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JG5_Jerry
Member
Member # 1076
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posted 12-19-2000 06:29 AM
That sounds great, BlackLion!!You should post info on this find the '12 O'Clock High!' BBS - alot of researchers visit that forum and would be very interested to hear about it:
http://disc.server.com/Indices/3051.html As I said before, Oleg Maddox would also be interested in any info from your gradfather's time atthe Eastern Front. ------------------
C/O, Jagdgeschwader 5 'Eismeer' http://www.btinternet.com/~jj_b/jg5/
Posts: 702 | From: Kingston-Upon-Thames, UK | Registered: Nov 1999 | IP: Logged
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BlackLion
Member
Member # 3737
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posted 12-19-2000 06:48 AM
BTW, thanx to some still existing contacts to other Luftwaffe people my grandfather knew, I may be able to relate their stories as well, I know one former bomber pilot who flew everything from Heinkel 111s to JU-88s and finally He-177s;
my dad said something about a former Stuka-driver he can also remember, so maybe many more experiences to relate, I will stay tuned on that!and I already had a talk to a local historian, more on that later too! thx guys for the interest anyway! BL
Posts: 294 | From: any Cockpit I can get my hands into | Registered: Mar 2000 | IP: Logged
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