The
Real KG200
German
Bomber and Bomber Reconnaissance Aircraft Used by KG200
KG200 used a great variety of aircraft types. This incredibly versatile
unit used whatever aircraft type was best suited to it's many different assignments.
Arado Ar-196
User: 3/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
The Ar-196 was used by KG200 as a utility or passenger transport.
Arado Ar-234
User: ??
Blohm und Voss BV138
User: 3/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
The BV-138 was used as a transport by KG200, it was tough and relatively fast
for a flying boat and had an adequate range of 2,500 miles (4023kms).
Dornier Do-18
User: 3/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
Both the Do-18 (above) and the Do-24 (below) were used for reconnaissance and
as transports by KG200.
Dornier Do-24
User: 3/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
Dornier Do-217
Users: 2/KG200 (part of I/KG200) and 5/KG200 (part of II/KG200)
Used as medium range bombers and as a platform to fire the Hs-293 radio guided
missile. A Hs-293 can be seen under the right wing while a drop tank is under
the left wing to counter balance it. See "SPECIAL WEAPONS" for more
details on the Hs-293 and it's targets.
Focke Wulf Fw-200 Condor
Users: STAB/KG200 and 1/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
The Fw-200 was used as a "special" transport aircraft all over the
European theater.
Heinkel
He-111
Users: 5/KG200 (part of II/KG200) and IV/KG200
The He-111 was used by KG200 to tow the Go-242 and DFS-230 gliders (see Go-242)
and to air launch the Fi-103 (see Fi-103 in weapons). Needless to say that both
applications made this aging bomber even more vulnerable to attack. Below, a
He-111H carrying a V-1 for air launch as it would a Fi-103 Reichenberg.
Junkers Ju-88S
Users: 2/KG200 (part of I/KG200) and 5/KG200 (part of II/KG200)
This version of the versatile Ju-88 engines were re-fitted with BMW 801G radials and
the features were streamlined a little to increase performance. It was used
as a fast transport, bomber and pathfinder.
Junkers Ju-188
Users: STAB/KG200, 2/KG200 (part of I/KG200) and 5/KG200 (part of II/KG200)
KG200 flew many radar equipped Junkers Ju-188s. These aircrafts would act as
bombers, pathfinders or radar jamming aircrafts. Some Ju-188s of 5/KG200 were
also used as flare launchers to illuminate targets for Mistels or Hs-293 missiles
during night operations.
Junkers Ju-290
User: 1/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
In 1944, three of these made round trips to Manchuria. This very impressive
reconnaissance bomber had a wing span of 138 feet and was 98 feet long. It was
powered by four 14 cylinder 1700hp BMW 801s giving it a speed of 275mph (445kmh)
with a range of about 3700 miles (5950km)
Junkers Ju-390
User: 1/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
KG200 inherited one of the very few Junkers Ju-390s built. This larger six engine
development of the Ju-290 had a 32 hour flight endurance and
once flew within 12 miles of New York city!
Disputed New York flight in 1944
There is a heavily disputed claim that in January 1944, a Ju-390 prototype
made a trans-atlantic flight from Mont-de-Marsan
(near Bordeaux)
to some 20 km (12 miles) off the coast of the United
States and back. Critics claim FAGr.5 (Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5)
never flew such a flight. Supporters say the only link between FAGr.5 and
the New York flight is the common use of an airfield at Mont-de-Marsan
and the veracity of the New York flight is neither proved nor disproved by a
lack of unit records for such a flight. Indeed the flight may have had nothing
whatsoever to do with FAGr.5 operations.
Whilst the Ju-390's 32-hour endurance would have certainly made such a
crossing theoretically possible, there is a lack of evidence to support the
claim. Aviation historian Horst Zoeller claims the flight was recorded in
Junkers company records.
Critics have also pointed to the vagueness of the aircraft's alleged position
and even the date of what would have been a milestone flight. The best known
(and maybe earliest publication) of the claim in English was in William
Green's Warplanes of the Third Reich in 1970,
where he wrote that the Ju 390 flew to "a point some 12 miles from the US
coast, north of New York". Critics say the vagueness of detail and lack of
corroborating evidence are hallmarks of an urban
legend.
Critics believe that the aircraft would have had to overfly parts of the Massachusetts
coast in order to fix their location, and point out the likelihood of the
aircraft being spotted by observers and/or radar, which it was not. If New York
state were meant, this would have put the aircraft closer to Boston.
Critics ask why this city wasn't referred to for fixing the position of the
claim. Finally, it is questioned how the aircrew would have been able to fix
their position so accurately anyway.
Supporters argue that a Ju-390 crew could have obtained a highly accurate fix
from public broadcast radio stations. Also that a Ju-390 would not have needed
to overfly Massachusetts at all. They say there was no reason why New York City
could not have been approached purely from the sea.
Supporters also note that the mission was designed to deliver a single bomb
to New York and that such a bomb could only have been the atomic
weapon under development. Japan
and Germany at the time were using the "Harteck Process" of
gaseous uranium centrifuges. Germany in 1944 was shipping both uranium
ores and centrifuges
to Japan by U-boat.
Supporters of the New York flight say of course the mission was kept secret
so as not to tip off the US Government to provide better air defences. It was an
ultra top secret test flight for the delivery of an atomic bomb.
Corroboration is gleened from the so-called Silbervogel
sub-orbital
bomber designed to attack New York from space with only a single bomb. Only one
type of bomb was worth all the time and expense involved. Supporters say a
mission so secret would never have found its way into FAGr.5 logbooks.
Supporters note the top secret unit, II/KG200
also flew the Ju-390 as did Junkers company test pilots in Czechoslovakia.
Following the war, Hitler's armaments minister Albert Speer also recounted to
author James P O'Donnell that a Ju-390 aircraft flown by Junkers test pilots
flew a polar route to Japan in 1944.
Heinkel He-115
User: 3/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
The He-115 was tough and incredibly versatile, it was used for a variety of
missions including the ferrying of agents, as a utility transport, for reconnaissance,
mine laying and even torpedo bombing. It had excellent low speed performance,
as low as 75 knots! Making it an ideal aircraft to operate from relatively small
bodies of water.
Heinkel He-177
"Greif" (Griffin)
User: 2/KG200 (part of I/KG200)
The large Heinkel He-177 was used from late 1944 to the end of the war by KG200
(in conjunction with KG100) to launch the Hs-293 guided missiles as seen here
attached under this one on the center rack, 2 more could be carried, 1 under
each wing. KG200 operated the He-177 successfully only because they overhauled
the engines after every single mission!
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