Daily ebay scan - Bf 109 Schwarze 9 from III./JG 5

Some finds on ebay.de is just not worth the money - and hopefully no one will be tempted to  use EUR 70 minimum on the auction of the following photograph, even if it show a spectacular sideview with interesting camouflage:

In my opinion this is (and the seller also indicate this) a post war copy of a well known and published photograph.

You should rather spend your hard earned cash on one of the books in Eric Mombeek's excellent series on JG 5, or even by the book on camouflage and markings on fighter and fighter bomber aircraft authored by Kjetil Aakra and myself:

Daily ebay scan - Trondheim harbour?

I got a tip about the item shown below currently for sale by the seller bobbau-militaria on ebay.de - with a question about the localization. After reviewing this item and the other photographs currently on auction by the same seller, I believe them to show scenes from Trondheim harbour, the main focus in this small series being a He 115 from Küstenfliegergruppe 506:

Heinkel He 115 from Kü.Fl.Gr.506

Sharing family history - a 1.(F)/120 Bordfunkers tale

The first post of today is dedicated to nickname beaverpatrol on the 12 O´Clock High discussion forum.

We have all seen original and unique items auctioned off on for example ebay - often catching sums far out of reach for a hobby researcher.

It was thus what one could call a total breath of fresh air when beaverpatrol posted a thread on his grandfather showing photographs from his wartime photo album.

Page from the photo album of Gerhard Losse

The follow up was even more important to me, as beaverpatrol decided to share his grandfathers flight log books and award documents openly online. The log books contain numerous flights from Norwegian airfields, with a selection of reconnaissance targets, and provide a detailed insight to the operations of the Fernaufklärungsstaffel 1.(F)/120, as well as a very interesting insight into the type conversion process from Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88 to Focke-Wulf FW 200 using an aircraft from KG 40 at Gardermoen!

Flugbuch page showing flights in Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88

Flugbuch page showing conversion training flights on one of the Focke-Wulf FW 200 aircraft of KG 40

Thank for the generosity, beaverpatrol!