Wettererkundungsstaffel 6
Wettererkundungsstaffel 6
Unit Code: (D7 + )
Formation
Formed 12 September 1943 at Banak/N Norway (ex-Wetterkette Banak/Westa 5). Equipped with Junkers Ju 88s.[1]
Norway
30.9.43: Banak with 6 Ju 88s on strength.[2]
13.10.43: (Lfl.5) - He 111H-6 crashed at Selenes, 100%, 2 killed and 1 injured.
10/43: from its formation to its disbandment, the Staffel flew a single weather recce flight every other day, most of these being out to the vicinity of Bear Is., Svalbard (Spitzbergen) and back. The Staffel also made frequent supply drops to manned weather stations on the various islands comprising Svalbard.[3]
10.2.44: Banak with 3 Ju 88s and 2 He 111s on strength.[4]
23.4.44: (Lfl.5) - Ju 88 (D7+YH) failed to return from a flight over the North Sea, 100%, 2 missing.
6/44: Wekusta 6 began flying occasional weather missions to the east over the Barents Sea, Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea.[5]
1.8.44: Ju 88 D-1 (D7+CP) crashed into a mountain near Breivik on Tana Fjord in NE Norway on return from a weather reconnaissance flight to Novaya Zemlya, 100%, 4 KIA.[6]
10.9.44: operations were ordered suspended due to the fuel shortage which affected the entire Luftwaffe regardless of location.[7]
14.9.44: Banak under Fliegerführer 3 with 6 Ju 88s and 2 He 111s on strength.[8]
10.10.44: weather flights resumed on a limited basis in support of the German retreat through N Finland and NE Norway.[9]
20.10.44: Staffel ordered disbanded o/a this date (FpN deleted 13 Jan 1945), with all remaining aircraft and personnel to be reassigned to Westa 5.[10]
3.11.44: Westa 6 flew its last operational mission from Banak this date - a weather flight to Bear Is. Personnel and aircraft were reassigned to other units in Norway, such as 1.(F)/124 (Bardufoss) and 3.(F)/SAGr. 130 (Tromsø).[11]
FpN: Westa 6 (L 51638).
Staffelkapitän
Hptm. Heinz-Georg Hattan (9/43 - 11/44)
Special Note:
The history of the Luftwaffe Weather Service, this Staffel, all of the other Staffeln, the Wetterflugstellen, the Wetterketten and all other components engaged in meteorological reconnaissance activities are covered in extensive detail in: Kington, John A. & Franz Selinger, WEKUSTA – Luftwaffe Meteorological Reconnaissance Units & Operations 1938-1945, Ottringham/East Yorkshire (U.K.), 2006. Accordingly, rather than repeat what has already been treated in considerable detail, the researcher/reader is encouraged to see this extraordinary study.
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress, 2022).
(1st Draft 2022)
References
- ↑ F.Selinger-Wetterflieger:183-92; Kannapin; Dierich.
- ↑ BA-MA documents via K.Maesel collection.
- ↑ F.Selinger-Wetterflieger:190; Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, pp.115-16.
- ↑ K.Maesel-op.cit.
- ↑ Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, p.118.
- ↑ Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, p.118.
- ↑ Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, pp.118-19.
- ↑ K.Maesel.
- ↑ Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, p.119.
- ↑ Dierich; K.Maesel-op.cit.
- ↑ F.Selinger-op.cit.; Kington/Selinger – WEKUSTA, p.119.