2.(F)/FAGr 5

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2.(F)/Fernaufkl.Gr. 5



Formation. (Jul 43 - Nov 43)

Formed June-July 1943 at Achmer (ex-3.(F)/100), converting from Ju 88s to the Junkers Ju 290.[1]


West France. (Nov 43 - Aug 44)

13.11.43: conversion, training and work-up completed, transferred from Achmer to Mont de Marsan in SW France with 7 Ju 290s; one had been lost at Achmer when it crashed on take-off due to engine failure on 13 October. This aircraft was apparently repaired in time to depart with the Staffel a month later.[2]

15.11.43: commenced operations from Mont de Marsan, flying a mission off the Iberian Peninsula and spotting the combined Allied convoys MKS 30/SL 139 bound from Gibraltar to England with 66 freighters and numerous escorts. After shadowing and tracking the convoys, the German Navy was able to direct repeated U-boat and air attacks against the ships over the next week.[3]

20.11.43: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-2 (9V+CK) shot down by a RAF Mosquito operating from England over the Bay of Biscay off NW Spain, 100%, 9 KIA.

24.11.43: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-4 (9V+FK) crashed on take-off from Mont de Marsan and burned, 100%, 9 killed.

26.12.43: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-3 (9V+DK) crashed in the Pyrenees, 100%, Hptm. Richard Schmoll (observer), Oblt. Werner Nedela (pilot) and 8 others all killed.

16.2.44: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-5 (9V+DK) shot down by RAF fighters while shadowing a convoy over the Atlantic off Ireland, 100%, Staka Hptm. Bergen and crew KIA.

19.2.44: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-5 (9V+FK) shot down over the Atlantic off Spain by RAF Mosquitos flying convoy escort, 100%, crew MIA.

26.5.44: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-3 (9V+GK) shot down over the Atlantic by carrier-launched Sea Hurricanes, 100%, 5 MIA and 5 rescued and taken to the U.S. as P/Ws.

26.5.44: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-7 (9V+FK) failed to return from a convoy recce over the Atlantic west of Portugal, 100%, crew MIA.

31.5.44: (Lfl.3) - Ju 290A-7 (9V+LK) flew into a mountain along the coast of Spain, 100%, crew killed.

3.6.44: Ju 290 (9V+MK), after moving temporarily to Trondheim/Norway on 29 May, carried out the most spectacular mission undertaken by the Staffel this date. Hptm. Emil Sachtleben and crew flew an extremely dangerous long-range rescue mission to Shannon Island off the east coast of Greenland, landing the huge 37-ton aircraft on shelf ice and took aboard 26 men from a German weather station and the support ship "Coburg" who had become stranded after being discovered and attacked by Allied forces, and

then flew back to Trondheim-Vaernes without incident.[4]

26.6.44: still at Mont de Marsan.[5]

16-21.8.44: transferred from W France to Mühldorf am Inn/80 km E of Munich.[6]


Germany. (Sep 44 - Apr 45)

9/44 - 1/45: Staffel inactive with its big 4-engined Ju 290s dispersed and parked at Mühldorf, Neubiberg near Munich and perhaps at several other airfields.[7]

7.2.45: Staffel ordered disbanded by OKL this date.[8]

8.2.45: 2.(F)/FAGr 5 ordered disbanded at Munich-Neubiberg this date - all assets to be used to strengthen 1.(F)/FAGr 5.[9] This is probably a repeat of the 7 February OKL order.

21.2.45: disbandment order cancelled by OKL - for the duration of Operation "Eisenhammer", planned long-range attacks on Soviet hydro- and steam power generating plants located deep inside the Soviet Union, elements of 2.(F)/FAGr 5 ordered attached to 1./KG 200. In practice, this may have involved only a handful of pilots from the Staffel.[10]

28.2.45: (Reich) - Ju 290A-3 crash landed at Munich-Neubiberg, 15%.

28.2.45: Staffel ordered renamed 2.(F)/FAG 1, but this never carried out.[11]

10.4.45: elements of 2.(F)/FAGr 5 at Lärz/4 km SSE of Rechlin in the lake district NNW of Berlin.[12]

11.4.45: main component of 2.(F)/FAGr 5 at Munich-Neubiberg.[13]

12.4.45: following the abandonment of Operation "Eisenhammer" in early April, 2.(F)/FAG 5r released and reassigned directly under OKL this date. A day or two later, 6 of the Staffel's 12 Ju 290s were destroyed by low-level Allied attacks on several airfields in North Germany, including Lärz.[14]

23.4.45: 2.(F)/FAG 5 ordered disbanded this date by OKL. Over the next several days two of the remaining Ju 290s were reassigned to Fliegerstaffel des Führers and the rest were flown to a dispersal field south of Munich where the Staffel was disbanded and the remaining personnel released.[15]



FpN: (L 55985 C)



Staffelkapitän:

Hptm. Karl-Friedrich Bergen (Jun 43 - Feb 44)

Hptm. Georg Eckl (Feb 44 - May 45)





Also see:

NEDELA, Werner, Oblt.

SACHTLEBEN, Emil, Hptm.

SCHMOLL, Richard (Werner?), Hptm.

Stab/FAGr. 5 for any additional names.



© H.L. deZeng IV, 2022

References

  1. ↑ See under Stab/FAGr.5 for formation references.
  2. ↑ Kössler/Ott-Dessauer:181; Kurowski-Seekrieg:218; AFHRA Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama: decimal 512.619 British AirMin P/W interrogations, ADI(K) series, microfilm rolls A5400-05, ADI(K) report 249/44.
  3. ↑ Rohwer/Hummelchen-Chronology of the War at Sea 1939-1945:246.
  4. ↑ Kössler/Ott-Dessauer:189-90.
  5. ↑ NARA WashDC: RG 242/T-971 roll 8/frame 545; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 40/Kart.
  6. ↑ See under Stab/FAGr. 5 for this date.
  7. ↑ Kössler/Ott-op cit; Dierich-VdL; Flugzeug magazin: Helf (issue) 5/1991.
  8. ↑ Gellermann-KG 200:68 and 72.
  9. ↑ BA-MA: Gen.d.Aufkl.Fl. KTB entry in: BA-MA RL 4 II/32.
  10. ↑ Kössler/Ott-op cit:196; Flugzeug 5/91-op cit; Gellermann-op cit:68 and 72.
  11. ↑ Dierich-op cit.
  12. ↑ PRO London: DEFE 3 ULTRA signal KO1289.
  13. ↑ ULTRA signal KO756.
  14. ↑ Gellermann-op cit:68 and 72.
  15. ↑ BA-MA: document OKL Qu.2 Nr.1874/45; Kössler/Ott-op cit:199.

Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5

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