FIRST DAY COVER RAF SC23 SIGNED 10 LUFTWAFFE VETERANS
This is an extremely RARE First Day Cover featuring a Supermarine Walrus RAF SC23.
It has been Signed by no less than 10 Luftwaffe veterans from Fighter, Bomber and Stuka Units.
The Cover has been Signed by:-
OBERST VICTOR VON LOSSBERG - KNIGHTS CROSS
Von Lossberg led III/KG26 during the Battle of Britain flying the He111 bomber and later participated in the night 'Blitz'. He later, because of his experience in flying twin engined aircraft, flew as a test pilot evaluating types as to there suitability as Night Fighters. In March 1943 Von Lossberg flew a Ju188 in a mock combat against a He219 flown by Werner Streib - the Heinkel proving much the better aircraft! He also helped develop the 'Tame Boar' tactics of the Luftwaffe Night Fighter Units. He was awarded the Knights Cross.
HAUPTMANN WALDEMAR PLEWIG - KNIGHTS CROSS
Plewig served with StG77 in the Battle of France flying the legendary Ju87B 'Stuka'. He then flew the 'Stuka' in the Battle of Britain, being Kommandeur of II Gruppe StG77. On 8th August 1940 Plewig led Ju87's of StG77 against a convoy in the Channel and was shot down into the sea during the attack. He was eventually picked up by a Royal Navy corvette and spent the night in a Portsmouth Hospital. He was awarded the Knights Cross whilst a POW.
OBERST EDUARD 'EDU' NEUMANN
Neumann served the the 'Condor Legion' in the Spanish Civil War before leading 4./JG26 at the start of WW2. He was promoted as Adjutant of I/JG27, where he took part in the Balkans Campaign. In 1942 he was promoted again to Kommodore of JG27 and under his leadership the entire Wing went to the Western Deserts of North Africa. JG27 were the only Luftwaffe fighters in that theatre for a long while but Neumann had some star pilots - Hans-Joachim Marseilles, Gustav Rodel and Werner Schroer to name a few. He later served in Staff Positions until the end of the war.
HAUPTMANN KARL-HERMANN MILLAHN - KNIGHTS CROSS
Millahn served with KG76 during the Battle of Britain flying the Dornier Do17-Z and later flew the Ju88A over Russia, where he and his crew suffered a 'taran' ramming attack by a Soviet fighter. Millahn later flew the amazing Arado 234B jet. He was awarded the Knights Cross.
HAUPTMANN WILHELM 'WILLI' BATZ - KNIGHTS CROSS WITH OAK LEAVES AND SWORDS
Willi Batz arrived at the front quite late in the war, being attached in Fenruary 1943 as Adjutant to Johannes 'Macky' Steinhoff in II/JG52 in Russia. By May he was leading 5./JG52 and had seven victories to his credit but for the rest of the year, Batz began to pile up the victories - he had 75 by years end. Batz continued to score and fight and by wars end had 237 victories - making him the 4th highest JG52 ace behind Hartmann, Barkhorn and Rall.
LEUTNANT KARL 'QUAX' SCHNORRER - KNIGHTS CROSS
Karl Schnorrer joined JG54 on the Eastern front in December 1941. He acquired his nickname of 'Quax' from an accident-prone cartoon character 'Quax the crash pilot', especially after crashing three Me109F's on landing! Luckily, Schnorrer became the Wingman of none other than Ace Walter Nowotny and they were soon firm friends. These two were then joined by two more Aces - Anton Dobele and Rudi Rademacher - to form the dreaded 'Nowotny Schwarm', which hunted Soviet aircraft and scored heavily. In November 1943 the 'Schwarm' splintered - Dobele was killed in a mid-air collision and Schnorrer baled out of his blazing Fw190 at low level - broken legs and a fractured skull ensuring he was out of combat for a long time. 'Quax' later joined JG7 and flew the Me262 jet fighter - Schnorrer being one of the first pilots to use the R4M air-to-air rockets in combat. On 30 March 1945 he was forced to bale out of his Me262 but struck the tailplane, resulting in him having to have a leg amputated. Schnorrer scored 46 victories and was awarded the Knights Cross.
OBERLEUTNANT HEINZ EBELING - KNIGHTS CROSS
Ebeling joined 8./JG26 and fought in the Battle of France, where he scored his first air victory - a morane 406. He later flew during the Battle of Britain under Adolf Galland's leadership and on 22 August 1940 he was made StaKa of 9./JG26. He survived a ditching in the Channel and continued to lead the Staffel. On 5 November 1940 he collided with another Me109E and baled out over Dungeness to become a POW. He scored 18 victories and was awarded the Knights Cross.
HAUPTMANN JOHANNES 'HANS' GEISMANN - KNIGHTS CROSS
Geismann began his career in K.Gr606 flying the ubiquitous Ju88A before being appointed Staffel Kapitan of 1./KG77 also equipped with the Ju88A. Geismann and his Staffel were deployed to the Mediterranean theatre and were used in anti-shipping operations - with some success - sinking 98,000 tons of Allied shipping. Geismann was awarded the Knights Cross for his leadership. He trained on the use of torpedo attacks and flew some sorties with the new weapons. In 1944 his Units was disbanded and he chose to retrain for Night Fighting, flying with IV/NJG1. He is credited with sinking 71,000 tons of shipping.
OBERLEUTNANT WILHELM 'BOBBI' BROMEN - KNIGHTS CROSS
'Bobbi' Bromen joined the elite 'Stuka' Unit StG2 'Immelmann' in Russia in late 1941 being assigned to 4th Staffel. He flew sorties against Serbian partisans as well as taking part in the Battles around Stalingrad. By the end of 1942 he had flown an astounding 500 sorties culminating in the award of the Knights Cross. He continued to fly sorties in his Ju87 into 1943 but converted to the more survivable Fw190F 'Schlact' variant. Bromen continued to battle ever increasing odds & on 30th April 1945 the Fw190G's of I.(Pz)SG9 were returning to their airfield when they were attacked by 'Spitfires' (possibly Tempests?) and Bromen was shot down and badly wounded. In all 'Bobbi' Bromen flew 965 sorties, destroyed 76 tanks and also claimed 1 air victory - in the Ju87!
EDUARD ZIMMER
Zimmer was Co-Pilot to Wolfgang Von Gronau, who flew the Dornier Do.J 'Wal' in an attempt to cross the Atlantic in 1930. The flight was a success with the crossing being made in 44 hours.
A Cover with a truly amazing collection of Signatures!!
