Foreign Planes in the Service of the Luftwaffe by Jean-Louis Roba

Author:Jean-Louis Roba [Roba, Jean-Louis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783409860
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2010-01-19T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

ON ALL THEATRES OF WAR (JUNE 1941 – OCTOBER 1942)

Having noticed the transfer of nearly all German fighter units to the new Eastern Front, the RAF launched an ambitious aerial offensive over Northern France/Belgium, the so called ‘Non-Stop Offensive’. It turned out to be very costly and a large number of British planes were destroyed, some of them falling nearly intact into German hands.

In the night offensives launched against German towns, British bombers damaged or disoriented landed in enemy-held territories and were captured. In this way, in August 1942, the Luftwaffe acquired its sole Stirling, a bomber already obsolete at the time.

In the theatre of the Mediterranean Sea, planes were only rarely captured by either side. The air fighting occurred mainly over the Libyan desert, and all planes which force-landed in the open were usually considered 100 per cent lost. Indeed, specialised recovery units were scarce and didn’t have enough vehicles to operate in the harsh desert conditions. The best way to save something was to dismantle the most valuable parts and leave the rest of the plane/wreck rusting in the sand.

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