Photo of the week
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This midweeks photo.
And a couple of shots of a Messerschmitt Bf-110 heavy fighter from Zerstorergeschwader 1,having its guns sighted, taken in the Crimea.
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This weekends extra.
And a nice air to air of a Nakajima E8N.
The Nakajima E8N was a ship-borne catapult-launched reconnaissance seaplane designed and produced by the Japanese aviation manufacturer Nakajima Aircraft Company. Flown by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS), the Allies assigned it the reporting name "Dave" while it was identified by the British as the Nakajima KT-95 Dave. -
This midweeks photo.
A nice shot of a Hawker Osprey, of 800Sq aboard HMS Ark Royal.
800 Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm was established on 3 April 1933, at RAF Netheravon in Wiltshire, through the amalgamation of Nos. 402 and 404 (Fleet Fighter) Flights, FAA, within the Royal Air Force.
The squadron was first equipped with nine single-seat Hawker Nimrod fighter aircraft and three two-seat Hawker Ospreys to act as navigation leaders for the Nimrods. It served aboard HMS Courageous in the Home Fleet. In 1935–1936, the carrier and squadron operated in the Mediterranean. The squadron re-equipped with the Blackburn Skua in November 1938 and took these aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. The Skua was a dive bomber with a secondary fighter role to allow the destruction or driving-off of enemy reconnaissance aircraft.
In 1939, 800 Squadron predominantly operated Blackburn Skuas, along with a limited number of Blackburn Rocs. from HMS Ark Royal. The Squadron was transferred to Admiralty control on 24 May 1939. -
This weekends photos.
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-8 used for reconnaissance of I.-NAGr. 12 (Short-Range Reconnaissance Group 12.) it is getting a new paint job. Taken at Mostar, Croatia. Spring of 1944.
Later to be flown by Oberleutnant Heimo Emmerstorfer.
In the summer of 1944, as the fighting in Italy intensified and the Luftwaffe struggled to contain Allied air superiority, Oberleutnant Heimo Emmerstorfer flew reconnaissance and tactical support missions in his Bf 109G‑8 “Weiß 14” with 2. Staffel, I./NAG 12. The aircraft, a workhorse of the German fighter arm, served in the demanding role of battlefield reconnaissance—missions that required precision flying, sharp observation, and the ability to evade Allied fighters that increasingly dominated the skies. Emmerstorfer, already a seasoned pilot, had accumulated hundreds of hours in the cockpit, his experience reflected in the calm confidence with which he approached each sortie.
By 1944 he had flown 217 combat missions, totalling more than 1,100 flight hours. His decorations testified to the intensity of his service: the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the Luftwaffe Honour Goblet, the Reconnaissance Combat Pilot Clasp in Gold, the Wound Badge in Black, and the German Cross in Gold. These were not awards given lightly; they marked a pilot who had survived repeated exposure to danger in a theatre where losses were constant.
His final flight in a Bf 109 came not in battle but in the chaotic aftermath of Germany’s collapse. On 9 May 1945—one day after the war officially ended—Emmerstorfer took off from Ziri, west of Ljubljana, determined to avoid Soviet captivity. The Russians occupied the airfield that same evening. Flying west toward Austria, he reached his hometown of Hörsching without incident, but with American columns moving through the region he pressed on. At 19:35 he belly‑landed near Haibach on the Danube and continued the last part of his journey on foot, returning at last to his parents’ home.
