Savoia-Staffel
Savoia-Staffel
(Unit Code: 1Z+_D)
also as:Savoiastaffel
1. Savoia-St.
Savoia-St. 1
Formation. (May 43)
Formed February 1942 at Brindisi/SE Italy with Savoia-Marchetti SM 82 transports and attached to III/KG.z.b.V 1. Although flying an aircraft manufactured in Italy, the Staffel’s personnel were all German. Its relationship to III/KG.z.b.V 1 remained in force throughout its existence.[1]
Italy. (Feb 42 - Sep 43)
Apr 42: transferred from Brindisi to Lecce/38 km SSE of Brindisi to begin air transport operations into North Africa.[2]
May 42: operating from Lecce on flights to Benghazi.[3]
28 Jul 42: Staffel received the Ju 90 V-8 preproduction aircraft at Lecce for evaluation purposes.[4]
Aug 42: from August forward, an ever-increasing number of Ju 90s from Lufthansa and Luftverkehrsgruppe Berlin were flown to Lecce and attached to the Savoia-Staffel for operations around the Mediterranean and in North Africa.[5]
23 Aug 42: SM 82 (1Z+BD) reported missing near Derna/Libya, 100%, 5 MIA.
10 Nov 42: 2 SM 82s shot up or bombed on the ground during low-level Allied attack on Tunis – El Aouina airfield, 100% and 25%.
12 Nov 42: SM 82 bombed on the ground at Tunis, 100%.
8 Dec 42: SM 82 crashed and burned at Bologna airfield, 100%, 4 killed.
Jan 43: still based at Lecce.[6]
Feb 43: transferred from Lecce to Castel Vetrano airfield/44 km SE of Trapani/Sicily for operations under Stab/KG z.b.V. “S”.[7]
11 Apr 43: SM 82 (1Z+CD) shot down by a fighter west of Marsala/Sicily, 100%, 4 MIA.
12 Apr 43: SM 82 crash landed at Brindisi, 30%.
13 Apr 43: 2 SM 82s bombed on the ground at Castel Vetrano, 100% and 50%.
25-30 Apr 43: transferred from Castel Vetrano to Naples-Capodichino airfield.[8]
4 May 43: based at Naples-Capodichino - ordered to Rome-Ciampino airfield this date with all serviceable SM 82s to pick up and deliver supply canisters to Trapani airfield in western Sicily, and then pick up Flak guns there and fly them to Foggia in eastern Italy.[9]
10 May 43: SM 82 bombed on the ground at Trapani/W Sicily, 100%.
Jun 43: now back at Lecce.[10]
27 Jul 43: SM 82 bombed on the ground at Scalea, 100%.
18 Aug 43: based at Grosseto airfield/NW Italy.[11]
4 Sep 43: SM 82 crashed north of Poffia due to engine failure, 80%.
14 Sep 43: SM 82 crash landed at Rome-Ciampino/South, 25%.
16 Sep 43: SM 82 damaged taxiing at Siena airfield, 75%.
17 Sep 43: ordered expanded into a Gruppe at Siena/Süd under Obstlt. Kögel.[12]
18 Sep 43: took part in the large-scale airlift operation under the command of Stab/TG 5 to transport the German garrison on Corsica (30,000 men) to Pisa on the Italian mainland, which continued until 28 September.[13]
22 Sep 43: SM 82 crash landed at Pistoia, 25%, 2 injured.
23 Sep 43: 4 SM 82s shot down by Allied fighters near Corsica, all 100%, 12 KIA and 2 MIA.
25 Sep 43: SM 82 damaged its undercarriage while landing at Lucca airfield, 40%.
27 Sep 43: SM 82 (DR+AM) ditched in the sea west of Castiglione – no details, 100%, 3 crew and 13 passengers missing.
30 Sep 43: Staffel disbanded at the end of September/beginning of October and all assets incorporated into III./TG 1, which then converted to an all-SM 82 Gruppe. One very authoritative source (Kössler) states that it was renamed Transportfliegerstaffel 4 between 1 and 15 May 1943, but there is no evidence of this in the surviving documents. It continued to be referred to as the “Savoia-Staffel” to the end of September and no mention of a Transportfliegerstaffel 4 can be found in the records prior to March 1944. According to entries in the Feldpostübersicht, Savoia-Staffel 1 became Transportfliegerstaffel 4 in March 1944 (change made in the FpÜ on 25.3.44), and then that Staffel was officially disbanded around 1 December 1944 (FpÜ change dated 13.12.44). The history of the Staffel from October 1943 to the end of 1944 requires further research.[14]
FpN:(L 52208)
Staffelkapitän:
Oblt. Helmut Schwarz (Feb 42 - ? ) 8/42
Also see:
GROSSE, ? , Hptm. Pilot.
HINKES, Heinz, Oblt.(Kr.O.).
MELTZER, Walter, Oblt. (R, DKG).
STUDEMUND, Karl-Friedrich, Lt.
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress, 2022).
(1st Draft 2022)
References
- ↑ H.Bukowski/F.Müller-Junkers Ju 90: Ein Dessauer Riese – Erprobung und Einsatz der Junkers Ju 90 bis Ju 290:50; K.Kössler article in Luftwaffe Verband Journal No. 14, p. 7.
- ↑ H.Bukowski/F.Müller-op cit;
- ↑ Jet & Prop magazine, Heft (issue) 5/1992, p.58.
- ↑ H.Bukowski/F.Müller-op cit:59.
- ↑ K.Kössler/G.Ott-Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, Ju 90, Ju 290, Ju 390 – Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie:147-49.
- ↑ H.Bukowski/F.Müller-op cit:62.
- ↑ PRO London: AIR 40 Air Ministry intelligence documents based on ULTRA and “Y” Service intercepts; NARA WashDC: RG 242/T-971 roll 33, frame 347; AIR 40/1996.
- ↑ Air Ministry intelligence documents-op cit.
- ↑ PRO London: DEFE 3 ULTRA signal ML1044.
- ↑ Air Ministry intelligence documents-op cit.
- ↑ Air Ministry intelligence documents-op cit.
- ↑ BNA HW 5/353.
- ↑ K.Gundelach-Med:691.
- ↑ BNA HW 5/371.
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