We’re back at Furstenau airfield on the morning of 1st January 1945 again. We were here a while back for this build.
Furstenau really was an airfield. There were no significant or permanent structures and the aircraft were dispersed in the woods around the field.
The subject this time is another Fw 190 D-9, W.Nr.210079, ‘Black 12’ flown by Lt. Theo Nibel of 10./JG 54.
The kit is the Hasegawa 1/32 Dora offering. It's a good kit (though the gun cowl leaves something to be desired) and very simple in this large scale.
Nibel had joined his unit on 16th September 1944 and Bodenplatte would be his third and last combat mission. Here he is in his No.1 uniform, or whatever the Luftwaffe called it
.
It was a cold morning and frozen flaps delayed Nibel’s take off. I have him preparing to board his repaired aircraft, the flaps are down fifteen degrees, ready for take off.
A quick imaginary walkaround.
A close up and an aerial shot (just for Ian M as I know he likes to see the camouflage )
The optional history bit!
Nibel and the rest of III./JG 54 set of this morning to attack the allied airfield at Grimbergen. Luftwaffe intelligence was not good. The Fw190s arrived to find only four B-17s, one P-51 and an unidentified (by them) twin engine aircraft. They also saw a large white cross on the field indicating that it was not being used. Nonetheless they set about attacking what they could.
Nibel saw and attacked the twin engine aircraft. Immediately afterwards he saw a light AA position which he also attacked. As he pulled up his engine stopped. Nibel instinctively released his drop tank and, being too low to abandon the aircraft by parachute, looked for a place to land. That place was one of two ploughed fields that lay ahead of him. He made a decent belly landing. Accounts vary as to what happened next. Some say that he was released by Belgian civilians, others that he got out by himself and attempted to destroy his largely intact aircraft with a couple of flares. Either way the aircraft was not destroyed and became the first intact D-9 to be captured by the allies. Nibel was taken initially to Wemmel police station in the village near which he had landed and later to Evere airfield. He spent what was left of the war as a PoW.
His aircraft was much examined by the allies. It was established that Nibel had not been shot down but was the victim of a bird strike. A Partridge was identified as the culprit, having punctured the annular coolant radiator of the Jumo 213. The Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report (CEAR) remarks that the unfortunate bird had made a hole “several inches in diameter” in the even more unfortunate Nibel’s radiator.
The aircraft was photographed in situ and, as was usual, the CEAR was made. It was from this report that the slightly unusual, mismatched, camouflage scheme originates. The aircraft was eventually transported to Farnborough. It took part in a couple of captured enemy aircraft shows, though in a rather dilapidated state, before being scrapped.
Cheers
Steve
Furstenau really was an airfield. There were no significant or permanent structures and the aircraft were dispersed in the woods around the field.
The subject this time is another Fw 190 D-9, W.Nr.210079, ‘Black 12’ flown by Lt. Theo Nibel of 10./JG 54.
The kit is the Hasegawa 1/32 Dora offering. It's a good kit (though the gun cowl leaves something to be desired) and very simple in this large scale.
Nibel had joined his unit on 16th September 1944 and Bodenplatte would be his third and last combat mission. Here he is in his No.1 uniform, or whatever the Luftwaffe called it
.
It was a cold morning and frozen flaps delayed Nibel’s take off. I have him preparing to board his repaired aircraft, the flaps are down fifteen degrees, ready for take off.
A quick imaginary walkaround.
A close up and an aerial shot (just for Ian M as I know he likes to see the camouflage
)The optional history bit!
Nibel and the rest of III./JG 54 set of this morning to attack the allied airfield at Grimbergen. Luftwaffe intelligence was not good. The Fw190s arrived to find only four B-17s, one P-51 and an unidentified (by them) twin engine aircraft. They also saw a large white cross on the field indicating that it was not being used. Nonetheless they set about attacking what they could.
Nibel saw and attacked the twin engine aircraft. Immediately afterwards he saw a light AA position which he also attacked. As he pulled up his engine stopped. Nibel instinctively released his drop tank and, being too low to abandon the aircraft by parachute, looked for a place to land. That place was one of two ploughed fields that lay ahead of him. He made a decent belly landing. Accounts vary as to what happened next. Some say that he was released by Belgian civilians, others that he got out by himself and attempted to destroy his largely intact aircraft with a couple of flares. Either way the aircraft was not destroyed and became the first intact D-9 to be captured by the allies. Nibel was taken initially to Wemmel police station in the village near which he had landed and later to Evere airfield. He spent what was left of the war as a PoW.
His aircraft was much examined by the allies. It was established that Nibel had not been shot down but was the victim of a bird strike. A Partridge was identified as the culprit, having punctured the annular coolant radiator of the Jumo 213. The Crashed Enemy Aircraft Report (CEAR) remarks that the unfortunate bird had made a hole “several inches in diameter” in the even more unfortunate Nibel’s radiator.
The aircraft was photographed in situ and, as was usual, the CEAR was made. It was from this report that the slightly unusual, mismatched, camouflage scheme originates. The aircraft was eventually transported to Farnborough. It took part in a couple of captured enemy aircraft shows, though in a rather dilapidated state, before being scrapped.
Cheers
Steve
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