Photo of the week
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This weekends extra.
The BFW M.20 (also known as the Messerschmitt M.20) named "Rhön" (registration D-2349, later D-UMOK / D-OFOT) was a specific Bavarian Aircraftworks M.20b-2 passenger aircraft operated by Deutsche Luft Hansa.
The Luft Hansa M.20s entered service in 1929 on routes that went from Switzerland via Germany to the Netherlands and from Stuttgart via Marseille to Barcelona. From the mid-1930s, they were operating German internal and holiday routes. Two were still flying such routes in 1942.
The aircraft named "Rhön" (production/factory number 547) entered service with Deutsche Luft Hansa in September 1932.Operational Fate: Transferred to the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) in 1936, operated by Hansa Flugdienst in 1938, requisitioned by the Luftwaffe as a trainer in 1939, and eventually destroyed in 1942. -
This midweeks photo.
Mitsubishi A6M5 Model 52 fighter assembly line, Nakajima Aircraft Company, Koizumi, 1943–1944
Sometimes considered to be the most effective variant, the Model 52 was developed to again shorten the wings to increase speed and dispense with the folding wing mechanism. In addition, ailerons, aileron trim tab and flaps were revised. Produced first by Mitsubishi, most Model 52s were made by Nakajima. In June 1943, the prototype was made by modifying an A6M3 and was first flown in August 1943.The first Model 52 is said in the handling manual to have production number 3904, which apparently refers to the prototype. -
This weekends photo.
Wrecked and dismantled German aircraft at Berlin-Tempelhof Airport (Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof). In the foreground are Focke-Wulf Fw.190 fighters. In the background are Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft.
From January 1940 until early 1944, Weser Flugzeugbau assembled Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers; thereafter, it assembled Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter planes in the still unfurnished main hall and hangars 3 to 7 of the new terminal, which were supplied by a railway and trucks via a connecting tunnel. Hangars 1 and 2 were not used to assemble aircraft as these were already used by Luft Hansa for its own planes. Aircraft parts were brought in from all over the city while complete aircraft engines were trucked to Tempelhof. Once the airframes were complete and the engines had been installed, the finished aircraft were flown out. The Luftwaffe did not use Tempelhof as a military airfield during World War II, except for occasional emergency landings by fighter aircraft.
