The Real KG200

Secret Weapons Used

Fi-103

The Fi-103 was the manned version of the V1 "doodlebug" and was called the "Reichenberg". The Reichenberg I (or R.I) had no warhead, was unpowered and had landing skids and flaps and was used as a development aircraft. The R.2 was the trainer with an instructor in place of the warhead. The R.III was the powered trainer and the R.IV was the operational weapon with pulsejet engine, warhead, nose fuse, and no landing skids or flaps. The R.IV was to be launched from an He-111 (see below) and guided to it's target by the it's pilot who would bail out at the last possible moment (his chances were slim at best!) At war's end IV/KG200 had 175 R.IVs and 100 trained pilots but none were launched.

MISTEL 1 (Ju-88A & Bf-109F)

User: 6/KG200 (part of II/KG200)
II/KG200 took over all Mistel operations in late 1944. These bomb laden bombers were released close to the target and radio guided the rest of the way by the pilot in the fighter. Needless to say these missions were very dangerous, burst tires on take off were common, not to mention the great loss of maneuverability encountered by this "pick-a-back" scheme. The warhead was armed with an 8,377 pound hollow charge which could penetrate 25 feet of steel or 60 feet of reinforced concrete!

Mistels of KG200 at Rechlin

Mistels were to be used for "Operation Iron Hammer". The destruction of the Soviet's electrical generating stations, these were really their Achilles' heel! The central grid near Moscow supplied the power to 75% of their armament industry! The Germans were trying to knock out an entire network of factories in one swift blow. Then, the Red Army having spent most of it's equipment would be pushed back by fresh SS divisions and a separate peace could be negotiated with the Western Allies to carry on the fight against Bolshevism. But the force was caught on the ground at Rechlin air base by raiders of the US 8th Air Force who destroyed 18 of them. With the main strike force destroyed, Iron Hammer was cancelled. Attacks by flights of 2 to 4 Mistels went on until the end of the war against key pinpoint targets such as bridges.

Mistel S1 trainer

User: 7/KG200 (part of II/KG200)
The Mistel S1 was the trainer variant of the Mistel 1 composed of a Bf-109F and a Ju-88A with a crew also in the latter during the training phases. The Mistel S2 was the trainer for the Mistel 2 (Fw-190A8 and Ju-88G-1)

Henschel He-293

Users: 1/KG200 and 2/KG200 (both part of I/KG200)
The Henschel Hs-293 rocket-driven remotely-controlled missile. Originally an anti-shipping stand-off weapon, it soon proved it's worth against a multitude of targets. The weapon was radio controlled to the target by the bomb aimer of the mother aircraft, it was first used successfully against British destroyers in the Bay of Biscay by Do-217s of II/KG100. On March 1, 1945, Hitler personally appointed Oberst Baumbach, ex-CO of KG200 and now "inspector of bombers" to the post of plenipotentiary for preventing an Allied crossing of the Oder and Neisse rivers. On March 6, an Hs-293 launched by a KG200 Do-217 hit the Oder bridge at Goeritz. The same bridge was again attacked 2 days later by II/KG200 with five Mistels escorted by Ju-188 bombers which scattered the air defenses. The Mistels destroyed two bridges.

Focke Wulf Fw-190F8

User III/KG200
III/KG200 was formed to fit the Fw-190 fighters with torpedoes but never entered into action.

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