some wonderful pictures from the Bundesarchiv :-)

[winny]

Originally Posted by kendo65

Very interesting. I love the picture of the Heinkels skimming the wave tops, which I'd seen before.

Amazing pic with the Spitfire.

Thanks

It's the infamous captured Spitfire, easily spotted becuse the roundels are in the wrong place, covering the black crosses which are underneath them.

[kendo65]

It did cross my mind that it might be set up actually.

There is another pic I've seen of a Spitfire photographed from the nose of a German bomber. Is that a propaganda pic too?

[winny]

Originally Posted by kendo65

It did cross my mind that it might be set up actually.

There is another pic I've seen of a Spitfire photographed from the nose of a German bomber. Is that a propaganda pic too?

If it's the one I'm thinking of then yes.. The roundels on the wings are too close to the fuselage. There are a few photos that must have been taken of it. They pop in books every now and then and are mistaken for 'real' photographs all the time.

I think it's the same Spitfire that made a forced landing at Calais-Marck airfield during the Dunkirk evacuations. If anyones interested it's an interesting story, it's the one where 2 spitfires and an unarmed training aircraft (a Master) went back over the channel to rescue the C.O who's Spitfire it was. Al Deere was one of the Spifire pilots. They fought of a bunch of 109's and managed to get the C.O out of there.

EDIT: Same Spit different shot, notice the fuselage roundel is in the wrong place too and no squadron lettering either.

[drewpee]

I just love to see old photos. Thanks for posting.

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by winny

If it's the one I'm thinking of then yes.. The roundels on the wings are too close to the fuselage. There are a few photos that must have been taken of it. They pop in books every now and then and are mistaken for 'real' photographs all the time.

I think it's the same Spitfire that made a forced landing at Calais-Marck airfield during the Dunkirk evacuations. If anyones interested it's an interesting story, it's the one where 2 spitfires and an unarmed training aircraft (a Master) went back over the channel to rescue the C.O who's Spitfire it was. Al Deere was one of the Spifire pilots. They fought of a bunch of 109's and managed to get the C.O out of there.

EDIT: Same Spit different shot, notice the fuselage roundel is in the wrong place too and no squadron lettering either.

It was another pic I was thinking of - taken from the nose of a German bomber looking forward, the Spitfire is further away, apparently pulling away after an attack (though could possibly be from the same sequence as the one you posted?)

Interesting about the Al Deere connection. I'll have to pull out my copy of Nine Lives again.

Apologies to Sternjaeger for distracting from his excellent pics

[winny]

A couple more of the same..

[kendo65]

Yep, those are the ones. All posed then...

Have to say, some of the Bundesarchiv pics of the Dorniers in formation are incredibly atmospheric.

Remind me a little of the incredible sequence of photos taken by Rolf von Pebal and included in the book The Hardest Day. They document the low-level attack on Kenley by 9th Staffel KG76 on 18th August. You see them approaching Beachy Head a few feet above the waves, heading inland with panicked civilians in the streets below and finally the most famous of the sequence showing a Spitfire in its blast pen at Kenley during the actual attack. (interestingly the original version of this wasn't dramatic enough for publication in Der Adler and was retouched with extra smoke and fire effects!)

I've had a search for the pics online but no luck.