KG.200 and allied planes used by the Luftwaffe

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KG_200

History
The unit’s history began in 1934, when the Luftwaffe, impressed with Colonel Theodor Rowehl’s aerial reconnaissance missions over Poland, formed a special squadron under Rowehl’s lead that was attached to the Abwehr, Germany’s military intelligence department. As the Abwehr started to lose the Führer’s good will during the war, a new reconnaissance unit, the 2nd Test Formation, was formed in 1942 under the command of Werner Baumbach. This unit was united with 1st Test Formation in March 1944 to form KG 200. From then on, all aerial special-ops missions were carried out by KG 200 under Baumbach’s command.

Organisation
KG 200 consisted of 2 operational squadrons; several other squadrons were planned but did not become operational before the end of the war. The squadrons operated in complete secrecy from several bases spread out over all of Europe; individual squadron members and their airbases’ ground crews knew little if anything at all about the extent of KG 200’s organisation.

1st squadron was responsible for delivering secret agents and spies to their destinations behind enemy lines. It operated under direct command of the Sicherheitsdienst.

2nd squadron was in charge of all other missions, including long-range reconnaissance, delivery flights to Japan and special bombing missions.

3rd squadron was to use Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters armed with torpedoes for coastal defense.

4th squadron was used for pilot training; it was also intended to carry out suicide missions.

5th squadron was planned as a long-range unit using Junkers Ju 90 and Ju290 planes. Had it become operational, this squadron would have been responsible for reconnaissance flights and delivery of agents to the United States.

Missions
The unit carried out a wide variety of missions:

Long-range reconnaissance
Before the beginning of the war, aerial reconnaissance was usually carried out by relatively inconspicuous civilian Lufthansa planes equipped with cameras. This practice was continued throughout the war as long as civilian airlines remained operational; later on, recon missions were most often carried out by Junkers Ju 90s flying at very high altitudes or by flying boats. Due to the lack of German aircraft with sufficient range, some recon missions even used captured American B-17 and B-24 bombers.

The Mistel program
Beginning in 1942, to compensate for its lack of heavy bombers, the Luftwaffe started to experiment with packing some of its war-weary Junkers Ju 88 bombers with explosives and guiding them to their targets with a fighter airplane mounted on the back of the unmanned bomber. Although not as effective as the Luftwaffe planners had hoped, the Mistel program was continued until the end of the war. From March 1944, all Mistel missions were carried out by pilots of KG 200.

Suicide missions
In the last months of the war, a small number of high-ranking German officers pressed for a suicide fighter program as a last-ditch effort to stop Allied bombing runs over the Reich. This program, known as Selbstopfer (“self sacrifice”), was intended to use piloted V1 pulsejet cruise missles to attack enemy bombers and ground targets. Several test flights were carried out by KG 200, and mass production of the converted rockets had begun, but the program was stopped due to intervention from Baumbach who felt that these missions would be a waste of valuable pilots.

Special missions
The unit also carried out a variety of special missions, like parachuting spies behind enemy lines, operating radar-jamming aircraft, carrying out long-range transport flights to Japan, clandestine bombing missions and infiltrating American bomber formations with captured aircraft in an attempt to spread confusion.

I would guess Henk that some of 2 and maybe most of 3 sqns missions were en masse. The others would be single or ata push 2 planes max i would guess.

A picture of the piloted V1 or Fi-103 R(V-1) Reichenburg IV Piloted.

of the sort that would have been used by KG.200.

Did it ever fly? I know the V-1 flew but did this one fly?

Henk

I believe so Henk

From http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_germany_fiesler.html

Fieseler Fi 103R

The Fieseler Fi 103R manned missile was one of the many desperate projects conceived as the German
situation became more hopeless. Basically the Fi 103R was a piloted version of the V-1 flying bomb,
powered by the same Argus pulsejet engine. By mid-1944, preparations had been made for mass production,
in time for the operation to attack the Allied forces amassed in southern England.

The Fi 103R was to be carried by a parent aircraft and released near the target. Then the pilot would take over
and direct the bomb into a dive towards the target. The pilot was to detach the canopy and bale out just before impact.
The canopy, however, would almost certainly block the pulsejet
inlet and reduce the chance of pilot survival to almost zero. Nevertheless, the Germans went to great
lengths to distinguish their Selbstopfermänner (self-sacrifice men) from the Japanese Kamikaze pilots, whose cockpits
were sealed closed before take-off
.

The Fi 103R’s operation was codenamed Reichenberg and a total of about 175 manned Fi 103Rs (R for Reichenberg) were
made. The R-I, R-II and R-III were used for test and training, and R-IV was to be the production model. Two Rechlin pilots
crashed while test-flying the Fi 103R, and afterwards trial flights were transferred to DFR test pilots Hanna Reitsch and
Heinz Kensche. Flying the Fi 103R was quite simple, since the Fi 103R’s unmanned version could fly without direct control.

Landing, on the other hand, was very difficult due to the primitive control system, absence of landing gear and high landing
speed. This should not have mattered much because the Fi 103R was not designed to return anyway! The project never took
off, due to the Germany high command’s apathy, even though some 70 pilots volunteered for training.

My bold, not necesarily carried out!!!

Edited to allow better viewing.

More info about the units in KG.200 and another special unit KG.100.

From http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/rpav_germany_fiesler.html

The first two groups of KG 200 were the only ones ever fully developed, although several other projects were planned. III/KG 200 was to have fitted Focke-Wulf Fw-190 fighters with torpedoes but was never inaugurated. IV/KG 200 was the training and replacement group for KG 200 and trained the nearly 100 “self-sacrifice” pilots who flew the Reichenberg modified V-1 suicide weapons. KG 100, which handled Fritz X and Hs 293 guided missiles, was also associated with KG 200. The fifth long-range reconnaissance group flew Ju-90s and Ju-290s on their missions. The test unit of the Luftwaffe commander flew high-altitude reconnaissance and testing aircraft and also conducted evaluation flights of captured Allied aircraft.

Wow, thanks.

Henk

Firefly

I think the book you may have read is “KG 200”, a novel based on some fact by John Clive & JD Gilman.

Please note they have the authors slightly wrong in this link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380391155/002-3589138-9522417?v=glance&n=283155

I think it’s a very good book, even for a novel. IIRC, John Clive also wrote a book called “Broken Wings”, also a novel, about British & German airmen interned in Eire during the war. I think this was made into a film called “The Brylcream Boys”.

Kind regards

Fluff

From one of the contributers

Reviewer: Blair Colquhoun (Saco, Maine)

It was a violation of the Laws of Land Warfare which state that you can’t abuse a flag of truce. They also state that you can’t use an enemy’s flag and uniform. That was one reason why Otto Skorzeny was tried for war crimes after the war. What did KG-200 do that was contrary to the
the Laws of Land Warfare? They used captured Allied aircraft.

I don’t think there is anything that says you can’t use captured hardware is there? Not completely sure it is wrong to dress up as the enemy either. Although could be wrong. Obviously you can’t dress up as medics and carry ammo, or abuse the flag of truce.