Transportstaffel Condor

Transportstaffel Condor

(Unit Code: F8+)

Formation. (Sep 44)

Ordered formed September 1944 at Trondheim-Vaernes from assets belonging to 3. Staffel and 8. Staffel/KG 40 to help evacuate key personnel, wounded and vital equipment from northern Finland after Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union on 2 September 1944. Equipped with 4-engine Fw 200 Condors. The official OKL order confirming formation was delayed and not issued until 6 November 1944 and its Feldpostnummer was not assigned until 16 January 1945. The Staffel operated out of Banak/N Norway for most of the evacuation flights and on 20 November it reported 30(9) Fw 200 Condors on strength. Few missions were flown after November due to the critical shortage of fuel that plagued operations on all fronts. In December the Staffel moved to a dispersal field at Våler, located in a valley 103 km NNE of Oslo, where it remained under Fliegerführer 4 through at least March 1945. The Staffel may have moved back to Trondheim-Vaernes in April, but confirmation is lacking. In early May 1945 it was ordered to Libau (Liepaja) – Grobin I/NW Latvia to try and rescue as many German personnel as possible from the Kurland pocket before the surrender on 8 May. Most of the Condors were destroyed there by Russian fighters before they could carry out any of the evacuation flights.

FpN:(L 40977)

Staffelkapitän:

(not found)

© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress, 2022).

(1st Draft 2022)

References

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