Junkers Ju 88. Eastern Front 1941 part 9
Junkers Ju 88 A-5, 9K+FA with Stab KG 51 before sortie. Signs of success at the helm are remarkable.
In the early morning of June 22, 1941, the German-Soviet war began. For Operation Barbarossa, the Germans assembled 2995 aircraft on the border with the Soviet Union, of which 2255 were ready for combat. About a third of them, a total of 927 machines (including 702 serviceable), were Dornier Do 17 Z (133/65) 1, Heinkel He 111 H (280/215) and Junkers Ju 88 A (514/422) bombers. ) bombers.
Luftwaffe aircraft intended to support Operation Barbarossa were assigned to three air fleets (Luftflotten). As part of Luftflotte 1, operating on the northern front, all bomber forces consisted of 9 squadrons (Gruppen) equipped with Ju 88 aircraft: II./KG 1 (29/27), III./KG 1 (30/29), and ./KG 76 (30/22), II./KG 76 (30/25), III./KG 76 (29/22), I./KG 77 (30/23), II. /KG 76 (29/20) , III./KG 76 (31/23) and KGr. 806 (30/18) for a total of 271/211 vehicles.
Formation of a Ju 88 A-5 belonging to III./KG 51 during a sortie.
Luftflotte 2, operating on the middle front, included only two squadrons equipped with Ju 88 aircraft: a total of I./KG 3 (41/32) and II./KG 3 (38/32) together with two Stab KG 3 aircraft, they were 81/66 cars. Operating in the south, Luftflotte 4 had five squadrons equipped with Ju 88 A bombers: I./KG 51 (22/22), II./KG 51 (36/29), III./KG 51 (32/28), I ./KG 54 (34/31) and II./KG 54 (36/33). Together with 3 regular machines, it was 163/146 aircraft.
The first task of the Luftwaffe bomber units in the campaign in the East was to destroy enemy aircraft concentrated on border airfields, which would allow them to establish air supremacy and, as a result, freely be able to directly and indirectly support ground forces. The Germans did not realize the real strength of Soviet aviation. Despite the fact that in the spring of 1941 the air attache in Moscow obst. Heinrich Aschenbrenner made a report containing almost exact data on the actual size of the Air Force, the 8000th division of the Luftwaffe General Staff did not accept these data, considering them exaggerated and remaining with their own estimate, which stated that the enemy had about 9917 aircraft. In fact, the Soviets had 17 vehicles in the Western Military Districts alone, and in total they had no less than 704 XNUMX aircraft!
Even before the start of hostilities, 6./KG 51 began the proper training of Ju 88 aircraft for planned air operations, as Ofw recalls. Friedrich Aufdemkamp:
At the Wiener Neustadt base, the conversion of the Ju 88 to the standard attack aircraft began. The lower half of the cabin was armored with steel sheets, and a 2 cm cannon was built into its lower, front part to control the observer. In addition, the mechanics built two box-shaped containers into the bomb bay, each of which contained 360 SD 2 bombs. The SD 2 fragmentation bomb weighing 2 kg was a cylinder with a diameter of 76 mm. After the reset, the outer hinged shell was opened into two half-cylinders, and additional wings were extended on the springs. This whole structure, attached to the body of the bomb on a 120 mm long steel arrow, resembled butterfly wings, which at the ends were tilted at an angle to the airflow, which caused the spindle connected to the fuse to rotate counterclockwise during the explosion. bomb drop. After 10 revolutions, the spring pin inside the fuse was released, which fully cocked the bomb. After the explosion, about 2 fragments weighing more than 250 gram were formed in the SD 1 case, which usually caused fatal wounds within 10 meters from the explosion site, and light ones - up to 100 meters.
Due to the design of the gun, armor, and bomb racks, the Ju 88's curb weight increased significantly. In addition, the car has become a little heavier on the nose. The experts also gave us advice on how to use the SD-2 bombs in low-altitude air raids. The bombs were supposed to be dropped at a height of 40 meters above the ground. Most of them then exploded at a height of about 20 m, and the rest on impact with the ground. Their goal was to be airfields and army groups. It became clear that we were now part of the "Himmelfahrtskommando" (detachment of losers). Indeed, during air raids from a height of 40 m, we were subjected to massive ground defense, consisting of light anti-aircraft guns and infantry small arms. And in addition, it was necessary to take into account the possible attacks of fighters. We have begun vigorous exercise in conducting such steam and power raids. The pilots had to be very careful to ensure that when bombs were dropped by a steam or key commander, they should always be at least at the same height or higher than the leader so as not to fall into the zone of action of exploding bombs.
