Well, seems like I cannot find the proper key words for this in the net, but anyway, I think it was in Galland´s book mentioned briefly.

I think it was August 1939 and possibly in Munich and the Luftwaffe intended to show Hitler that Stuka can dive bomb even through the clouds. During the maneuvre the cloud line had fallen lower and some 11 Stukas one after another hit the ground in front of Hitler before the show was cancelled...

I wonder if someone has more information on this, and perhaps can confirm the time and place??

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I have a copy of 'The First And The Last' here and must admit I can't find any reference to this.....

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

On 15-8-39, 1st group StuG 76 under her CiC Hauptmann Walter Sigel started from Cottbus airfield to show high-ranking Luftwaffe officers an exercice in dive bombing of an entire Stuka-group at Neuhammer paving ground. Weather forecast reported a bottom cloud layer of 900 m above ground, so good sight below that altitude.

At 6:00 am 2nd Staffel with Hptm. Sigel was the first to dive, but after getting out of the clouds, Sigel noticed that he is only approx. 100 m over ground due to unexpected ground fog. He orderd to "pull" and succeeded; he made it just some meteres above ground.

The rest of the 2nd Staffel, lead by Oberleutnant Goldmann crashed with nine JU-87s

3rd Staffel, who was next, lost "some" (=4 ?) Ju-87s

1st Staffel, under Oberleutnant Peltz who was the last in dive bomb, broke off the dive; no losses.

Altogether 13 JU-87 with 26 men rammed into earth that day under the eyes of General Major Richthofen.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

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"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"
(President Merkin Muffley in "Dr. Strangelove")

Thanx Andy, excellent, though not so excellent for those Ju 87 boys...

It must have been horrible to watch it happen and not being able to do a thing as those planes came down one after another...argh!!
Must have been one of the most terrible accidents of its kind ever!

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I can remember seeing a film clip of this in the mid 1960's on a show called the 20th Century with Walter Crokite, on CBS.
I don't know if this is the same incident or not but I do remember the Ju-87s hitting the ground one after anouther and I am thinking what is wrong with those guys !!
I wish I knew how or where to get the clip but it seems like the propaganda film crews would have been there to film the airshow. Perhaps someone out there in cyberspace knows how to find old film clips.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

One interesting incident from the past...

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