Posted on 06/11/2012 1:43:47 PM PDT by greatdefender
BERLIN (AP) — German military divers are working to hoist the wreck of a Stuka dive bomber from the floor of the Baltic Sea, a rare example of the plane that once wreaked havoc over Europe as part of the Nazis' war machine.
The single-engine monoplane carried sirens that produced a distinctive and terrifying screaming sound as it dove vertically to release its bombs or strafe targets with its machine guns. There are only two complete Stukas still around.
The Stuka wreck, first discovered in the 1990s when a fisherman's nets snagged on it, lies about 10 kilometers (6 miles) off the coast of the German Baltic island of Ruegen, in about 18 meters (60 feet) of water.
The divers have been working over the past week to prepare the bomber to be hoisted to the surface, using fire hoses to carefully free it from the sand. They have already brought up smaller pieces and also hauled up its motor over the weekend.
They are now working to free the main 9-meter (30-foot) fuselage piece and expect to bring it up on Tuesday, depending on the weather, said Capt. Sebastian Bangert, a spokesman from the German Military Historical Museum in Dresden, which is running the recovery operation.
Initial reports are that it is in good condition despite having spent the last seven decades at the bottom of the sea, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
GGG Ping!
Hope they all get restored.
Should have left it there, I’m not sure that the residents of Rotterdam and Warsaw want to see anymore Stukas in their lifetime.
I wonder if the man that was flying it is still there. A Stuka is extremely rare, but it’s also a mans coffin, and tomb. They should leave it there.
I always thought the Stuka was a beautiful plane.
I have read that, although an effective dive bomber, it was basically a sitting duck for enemy fighters.
Actually two men if they are still there.
I remember when I lived in Norfolk, a local school found remains of a British Hospital near Yorktown. Also a burial ground.
They started excavating it then got a letter from the British Embassy asking them to leave the graveyard alone as it contained the remains of British soldiers. I think they agreed to leave it undisturbed.
My father shot one down back in the 40’s. Somewhere in France I think.
Hans Ulrich Rudel thought it was the best ground attack aircraft ever, and ran up a record to prove it. However the Germans replaced it with a fighter-bomber version of the FW-190.
In any case, there are are only two surviving intact Ju-87s. I hope it is intact enough to restore it.
Just like the Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Titanic, Lusitania, Battleship Bismarck, etc..
One thing is interesting is that many US troops called the Sherman tank "Purple Heart Boxes" due to the fact they were weak compare to the Germans 88 Tiger Panzers.
No matter which side they fought for, they fought for the defense of their country; and that is something we cannot take away from them.
“it was basically a sitting duck for enemy fighters.”
It had fixed landing gear which didn’t make it much of a match for modern fighters.
Speak for yourself.
How the heck is bombing civilians in Warsaw "defending their country"?
All they were doing is following orders. Even though Bombing Warsaw was wrong,they had only carry out orders- or face harsh punishment.
The Stuka JU-87 dive bomber is without a doubt the most sinister, evil-looking combat aircraft ever made. With it’s gull-wing design and fixed landing-gear looking like talons it so much resembles some nightmarish mechanical bird of prey. It looks like it wants to kill you.
So were the guards at Auschwitz.
Boy, irony is sure lost on you, ain’t it Reb?
If you want to compare Lincoln to Hitler I can go there. Just trying to be nice.
The Sherman crews called them "Ronsons" (popular WWII cigarette lighter) because they always lit up the first time (from a hit by the 88s). The Germans called them "Tommy Cookers" for the same reason.
Note a vain attempt to up-armor it by welding extra plates on the side - which the Germans used for aiming points. 
There was always an eleventh Sherman to finish off the Tiger. Too bad for Shermans 1-10.
Why did we make Shermans if they were so inferior? Because they were easy to produce and operate (for an army of civilians you didn’t need a long training time), as well as they were probably the fastest tank in WW II. When the US Army broke out of the Hedgerows, they could’ve ended the war before Christmas if they had gotten the fuel.
——All they were doing is following orders. Even though Bombing Warsaw was wrong,they had only carry out orders- or face harsh punishment. ——
Same kind of fear upon our troops when they order National Guard and the Regular Army to help TSA-SS skunks kill us if a riot or insurrection is provoked to keep the Communist-Islamist regime in power.
Hitler decided to build two tanks that were better than the Mark4, hence the Panther(arguably the best tank in WWII)and the Tiger deadly but slow and vulnerable to artillery. Once we got to Europe we were out classed but by the end of the War we had the M26, sporting a 90MM gun and better armor and other improvements. Not many of them saw action, we built the M4 Sherman in such numbers that we overcame the Panthers and the Tigers by sheer numbers, it usually took 4 Shermans to knock out either a Panther or a Tiger. Even though we could well afford to lose the Shermans we couldn't afford to lose the tank crews that died with them.
Perhaps by the same reasoning as bombing civilians Baghdad is "defending our country".
War is hell and never without civilian casualties inflicted by those who are only following orders.
Not to pick nits...but when they were in vogue, the stupas were offensive...being used to conquer.
I got to meet Robert L. Scott during the 1990’s. This was at a historical society meeting in SE Georgia. Someone asked him what he thought of the Japanese pilots.
He simply said “they were fighting for their country just like I was fighting for mine”.
That is all he said. Probably nothing more needed saying.
Had the Stukas not rained fire on civilians, or the Japs stayed in their own sea, our men would not have had to kick their asses. Our guys would have been just as happy sitting at home.
Something to remember when we go to war with China. They have factories now.
It was essentially the A-10 of WWII. If you had air superiority on the western front it was good, and on the eastern front it was unreal. Rudel was an ace in it in air to air combat, and, IIRC, had a higher number of AtoA kills than most if not all western theater pilots in addition to sinking a battle ship, destroying about 570 tanks confirmed on ground and securing the German withdrawal from Romania by telling them his unit would pay a visit if they molested the retreat...
The Hs 129 started picking up some of the ground attack slack late in the war, but Stuka’s were up on the east front until the end.
I did not know of Rudel’s air-to-air kills. Didn’t he fly the version with the two underwing anti-tank 40mm cannons? I guess they could be used on planes. Did any version of the Stuka have a forward firing machine gun for the pilot?
indeed ... they sowed the wind ... and reaped a deadly whirl wind ...
Nice? Why I’m the soul of civility Reb. Tell me, how many Rebels did Lincoln gas?
I think the Russian Stormovik was closer to the A-10 in performance.
I remember the first time, Erich Hartmann (352 confirmed kills) tried to shoot down one of them, he was amazed that his bullets just bounced off.
The older pilots told him you had to get close and shoot from underneath them. Otherwise they had so much armor that it was very difficult to shoot one down.
We should never forget the Wilhelm Gustav either. 8000 men,woman and children killed trying to escape Koenigsburg. Not being sympathetic to the nazis its just a travesty that they sunk a refugee ship. The Russians that is. FLAME AWAY.
The A-10 is up there to. With that 30mm gun in the front. Beautiful to some and scary ugly to others.
Rotterdam 1940....Holland had already surrendered....how was bombing Rotterdam defending Germany?
Yeah you’re right, they don’t call it the “Warthog’’ for nothing. Still, the Germans built weapon systems that were nightmarish to look at, like the Stuka and the Tiger tank. And their uniforms. Clearly they were an army that dressed like they meant business. Good thing they lost.
Rudel also flew FW-190’s for awhile where he racked up his air-to-air kills.
Those sirens on the Stuka were called the “Trumpets of Jericho”... The later versions of the Stuka that fought the Russians, didn’t have the sirens. They were for psychological warfare only.
Rudel claimed that either his rear gunner got the Russian or the Stuka's prop wash in their tight turns caused the Russian to lose control at their low altitude and spin into the ground.
I tend to believe Rudel, but whatever the case, he was a helluva pilot and warrior.
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks greatdefender. I'm catching up a little. :') |
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