Part II
Weapons of war
You’re the fuel to the fire
You’re the weapons of war
You’re the irony of justice
And the father of law.
- Stone Temple Pilots, Naked Sunday.
The city is closing in on him
And everywhere’s getting smaller
And smaller
And his fingers are getting itchy.....!
– Space, 2 Mister Psycho.
Wever and Milch went about to create a powerfull fighter arm, under Air Generals Hans Jeschonnek and Ernest Udet, that consisted of Me-109 fighters, a strong tactical arm, under Generaloberst Otto Rudel and Air General Hugo Sperrle, that consisted mainly of Ju-87 dive bombers for ground support and He-111 bombers for ordinary tactical attacks and finally a relatively weak strategic bomber force, under Air General Robert Ritter von Greim, that was made up by Do-19 heavy bombers.
Wever and Milch had to make some tough choices in regards to the hasty re-building of a German air force. Without the the political clout of the former boss, they ran into a lot of trouble getting sufficient resources as Schact, as Minister of Economics and General Plenipotentiary for the War, and to a somewhat lesser degree the Chief Plenipotentiary for Economics , Funk, was increasingly against spending absurd amounts of hard-earned Reichsmarks on weapons and the Wehrmacht in general. Strangely enough, the ambitious and generally disliked Chief of the Four Year plan, Reichsleiter of the NSDAP, Martin Bormann, came to their aid and secured the Luftwaffe a decent flow of much needed resources. Later this initial scarceness of resources and means would benefit the duo in charge of the German air force and industry as they learned to do things the most efficient way! As it was Wever and Milch focused nearly entirley on four designs and did their best to streamline the production of these!
Likewise did the trouble with funding help to iron out the differences between Wever, Kesselring and some of the other high ranking officers in regards to strategies and furture goals for the re-surgent Luftwaffe. As it was clear that the Luftwaffe couldn’t do it all, so to speak, it was decided to focus on gaining air superiority and the means to achive that – fighters! Eventhough Hitler and some of the Generals were furious, Wever and Milch held their gound.
The Me-109 was to become one of the best known German fighters because of its early successes in Spain, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Low Countries, France and especially over Britain. The Me-109 was the backbone of the German fighter command and ruled the skies over Europe from 1938 to late 1940 – where it began to be replaced by the truly deadly FW-190 -, as the German Führer, Adolf Hitler, spread Nazism across the continent of Europe by the force of arms.
The Me-109 was designed by Willie Messerschmitt in 1934 and was first flown in September 1935. In July 1938, the firm that initiated the design - Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG -, was redesignated Messerschmitt AG, so the plane often carried the prefix "Bf" instead of "Me".
In Oberkommando Luft – OKL -, Luftwaffes supreme command, it was from an early stage clear, that the Me-109 had one serious flaw, or more to the point, an Achilles heel; it was very short ranged. In the Spanish Civil War its short range prevented the Me-109 from escorting Luftwaffe bombers, thus contributing the some rather heavy losses among the new Dornier Do-19 four engine heavy bombers that Wever had been a proponent for. The problem was, however, quite cleverly solved with the application of drop tanks – ejectable, aerodynamic fuel containers strapped under the wings of the fighters.
The Me-109s earned the respect of Germany's enemies in every theater of conflict and were greatly feared by the pilots of RAF’s Fighter Command during the Battle for France and later that of Britain itself.
Another of the famous early Luftwaffe designs originated in 1935 and would be one of the leaders of Luftwaffes darlings for years to come. The Junkers Ju-87 Sturzkampfflugzeug – dive bomber -, or Stuka as it was generally called, would become synonymous with the great successes of the Luftwaffe.
The Stuka proved extremely successful in the Spanish Civil War as flying artillery with nearly pin-point accuracy. Stuka’s could dive into a near-vertical dive over its targets and hit them with godlike accuracy time after time, doing as much damage to morale as material. This ability combined with the nerve-wrecking howl of its build-in sirens, made the Stuka as much a destroyer of morale as of material things.
As long as total air supremacy was secured, the Ju-87 would be a formidable plane, but in a contested sky it would prove a death trap. The Stuka got updated several times during the War and continued to serve untill the end of hostilities in 1947.
The third of Lufwaffe’s core designs was the Heinkel He-111. It was originally designed for civilian use in Lufthansa, but had nonetheless provisions for three gun positions and a 1,000kg bomb load. Early versions featured a conventional cockpit and nose section and were used during the Spanish Civil War.
In 1938, a new version of the He-111, the He-111P, began to leave the production lines and featured a completely redesigned wing and nose with extensive glazing and off-set to improve pilot visibility and this was to become the trademark of the type for the remainder of its service. Another feature of the new P-series was its more streamlined look. By the time of the Battle of Britain, yet another variant had seen the light of day. The He-111H was an up-dated version of the He-111P and was equipped with heavier defensive armaments as the plane had proven to vulnerable to fighter attacks in Spain and Poland. Luftwaffe control of the sky wasn’t always complete as command and control facilities were somewhat lacking in the late 30’s. Later the Heinkels would be replaced with Junker Ju-88 medium bombers, which were faster and carried an expanded bomb load.
The last of Luftwaffes so-called core designs of the 30’s was Dornier’s Do-19 heavy bomber. As Wever became Luftwaffe's first Chief of Staff he, and to a lesser extend Milch, was the most persistent advocate of long-range strategic bombers. Both Dornier and Junkers were competitors for the contract, and each received an order for three prototypes in late 1935. The Dornier design was given the project number of Do-19, while the Junkers prototype became the Ju-89.
The design that were picked was Dornier’s. The Do-19 was a innovating design constructed mostly of metal and had retractable landing gear. The Do-19 had a crew of nine - a pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, radio operator and five gunners. Its defensive armament consisted of two 7.92mm MG 15 machine guns, one each in nose and tail positions, and two 20mm cannon in ventral and dorsal turrets. The defensive armament would be upgraded after its trial by fire in Spain and later Poland as it too poved to be a relative easy target for enemy fighters. It could only, however, carry some 1600kg of bombs in internal bays.
As the Luftwaffe had to prioritize after Göring’s death, the strategic bombers never showed their real worth in the the early days of the reborn Lufwaffe, but would prove invaluable in the Eastern War!
) death!
