Wehrpass Glider pilot

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Well as it seems that tehse Glider pilot Wehrpasses are actaully hard to find I tought mayby by sharing my piece otehrs will follow

From the front, etc ... there is not so much special about it => Luftwaffe is handfilled , etc ... + more pictures to follow

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here is the picture from our young man , the pic. itself nicely stamped by the " Wehrbezirkskommando - Dresden I " .

Karlheinz - Gerstmann was born on 04.05.1921 in Dresden, he was one of the numerous prewar HJ enthousiasts and joined the Flieger HJ , while with this organisation he earned himself the A, B & C glider profiency badges .

On 06.06.1940 he entered serice in the RAD untill he was drafted towards the Luftwaffe .


More to follow.

[Stijn David]

Hello,


from 23.09.1941 he was drafted into the Luftwaffe => more specific in the " Segelfliegerschule der LW , Neuhausen - Konigsberg "

From that day untill 05.05.1945 he was continue with several Glider units => see the attached scan

He earned his Glider pilots badge on 30.09.1941 ( number : 88198 /41 ) and he was allowed to fly glider planes klasse A & B .
( this means : klasse A : DFS 230 , KLasse B : Go 242 and larger )

More to follow

[Stijn David]

Hello ,


He was trained on the following weapons => Kar 98K ( better known as the Mauser rifle ) , Pistole 08 ( better known as the Luger ) & l.M.G. 34 ( leichte MG 34 )

On this scan you can see his entry for the glider pilots badge ( Segelflugzeugfuhrerabzeichen ) .

Note also the entry for the " Segelflugzeugfuhrerschein ( L ) " kl. A, B ( it is only after receiving this booklet a glider pilot was entitled to receive and wear his glider pilots badge !!!!!!

=> the rubber stamped entry " Flugzeugfuhrer ( L ) ( 674 ) " is a mystery towards me and mayby someone can explain it ?

This persons promotions where :

01.10.1942 : Gefreiter
01.02.1943 : Obergfreiter
15.08.1943 : K.O.A. ( = KriegsOffizierAnwarter )
01.10.1943 : Unteroffizier
( gemass L.V.Bl. 45/43 Ziffer 1891 : umbennenung in Fahnenjuncker Unteroffizier )

01.04.1944 : Fahnrich
01.11.1944 : Oberfahnrich

More to follow

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Here is the scan of his battle page => nothing quite spectaular ?

the entry's are :

14.06.1942 => 06.03.1943 : Einsatz im Mittelmeergebiet
07.03.1943 => 25.06.1943 : Einsatz im Mittelmeergebiet
26.06.1943 => 01.11.1943 : Einsatz im besetzten Westgebiet

when one takes this persons Flugbuch also with it we can form a better picture of his actions => he was transported with a Ju 52 towards Italy ( period 14.06.43 - 25.06.43 )

From that day of he did fly transporting missions over the meditiranian sea from Italy towards Afrika ( Bengasi , Tobruck , Derna , etc ... ) and backwards towards Crete & Italy .

These transportingflights where with a Go 242 towed by a He 111 and where flewn very lowly above sea level ( to make the risk lesser of being shot out of the sky !!!!! ) .

This person managed to gather 45 recognized so called " Frontfluge " and was awarded the Frontflugspange fur Transporter in Bronze ( operational flying clasp transporter, bronze grade ) , it is very spectacular for a glider pilot to earn such a award and this flights must have caused serious havoc towards these crews ( on one day this person did fly for example 1880 km under constant pressure off being shot down out of the sky !!!!!!!!! ) , he also survived a serious crash landing on African soil ( his Go 242 was damaged for 75 % !!!!!! )

More to follow

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Here is the entry from the " Frontflugspange fur TRansporter im Bronze " , awarded on 01.09.1942 => at tha time he had already 32 days counting for the clasp ( for a bronze grade you needed => 20 , see also appropriate section on the main site )

His last flight towards Afrika was on 01.11.1942 ( Lecce => Tobruk ) and the day afterwards ( 02.11.1942 ) he flew back ( Tobruk => Iraklion ) , after this flight he never did see afrika again during the war .

He did gett Hepatitis and went towards several weeks in Hospital. , after recovery he was involved in further advanced training, etc .. he was one of the few Glide rpilots who managed to stay with a Glide runit untell the very last end of the war , he was releaved from the Luftwaffe on 05.05.1945 and became a US POW .

he was a free man shortly afterwards again => discharge on 08.06.1945 ( so he spent a little more then 1 month as a POW , this should be seing as the exeption !!!!!!! ) and was able to return towards his hometown Dresden .

After the war he was a succesfull bussinesman and died in dresden on 08.11.1993 from a severe hartattack .

I hope you guys enjoy the read and on this way I wisch to bring this mostly forgotten trasnporting troops alittle more in the spotlights

Cordial Greetings,

[STUPA216]

Very interesting read. Thank you again. Wish I could read these books myself, I have to depend on translators. Show us another one anytime.

Kurt

[Ian Tannahill]

Giday Stijn,

Thanks for sharing the Wehrpass with us.

Best wishes,

Ian

[Dirk]

Stijn- Another great item thanks for sharing...Did someone say flugbuch?

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Thanks for your kind reply's , as many of you know I have 2 addictions when it comes towards the collecting issue ( Cholm & everything that has to do with the LW glider pilots ) , here are the scanned Flugbuch pages from his actual missions.

I prefer only to scan tehse for several reasons => otherwise we would have a thread from about 50 pages + many of you would be bored to death while looking at the training entry's.

Due to the format of the Flugbuch I wil have to scan each page seperatly and comment after the whole page is shown

Part 1

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Here is the second part of the missionpage from our Glider pilot.


explaining text wil be in a next reply ;

[Stijn David]

Hello,


Here we see the entry's from a " Segelflugbuch " , note that the preprinted Flugbuch is also different then its motorized counterparts .

flight : 224 : Transport from Venedig ( Venice / Italy ) towards Foggia ( also Italy ) with A Ju 52 .

flight : 225 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Bengasi ( Afrika ) on 25.06.1942 with a Go 242 ( glider plane ) , towed by a He 111

flight : 226 : flight from Bengasi ( Afrika ) towards Lecce ( Italy )on 25.06.1942 , same Go 242 and towing plane

note : both flights are 920 km = about 4 hours flying and one the same day

flight :227 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Ael Gazala ( Afrika ( in the area from Tobruk ) on 05.07.1942 with Go 242 , km : 1070 and more then 5 hours flight !!!

flight : 228 : flight from Ael Gazala ( Afrika ) towards Bengasi ( Afrika ) on 08.07.1942 with Go 242

flight :229 : flight from Bengasi ( Afrika ) towards Lecce ( Italy ) on 08.07.1942 with his Go 242 , towed by a He 111

flight :230 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Iraklion ( Greece / Crete ) on 13.07.1942 with Go 242

flight :231 : flight from Iraklion towards Iraklion on 14.07.1942 with Go 242 , towing plane He 111

note : the remark written in pencil : Ruckkehr wegens Motorschaden He 111 => this is the explantion why the flight was not carried out untill the end

flight :232 : flight from Iraklion ( Greece / Crete ) towards Lecce ( Italy ) on 16.07.1942 with Go 242

flight :233 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Kalamaci ( Greece ) on 03.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 234 : flight from Kalamaci ( Greece ) towards Derna ( Afrika ) on 04.08.1942 with Go 242

flight :235 : flight from Derna ( Afrika ) towards Kalamaci ( GReece ) on 04.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 236 : flight from Kalamaci ( GReece ) towards Lecce ( Italy ) on 05.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 237 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Kalamaci ( GReece ) on 15.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 238 : flight from Kalamaci ( GReece ) towards Tobruk ( Afrika ) on 16.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 239 : flight from Tobruk ( Afrika ) towards Iraklion ( Greece / Crete ) on 16.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 240 : flight from Iraklion ( Greece / Crete ) towards Kalamaci ( Greece ) on 17.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 241 : flight from Kalamaci ( Greece ) towards Lecce ( Italy ) on 18.08.1942 with Go 242

flight : 242 : flight from Lecce ( Italy ) towards Iraklion ( Greece / Crete ) on 18.08.1942

I wil stop here as you guys would probably think this thread wil never end => this Flugbuch is a very nice example of a German LW transporting chapter where Glider planes ( Go 242 in this case ) where used to bring supply's towards the famous Afrikakorps and on teh way back they where mostly bringing wounded back.

note also in the so called " Bemerkungen " the entered points for the Frontflights counting towards the award of the operational clasp for transporters , Bronze grade

I hope some of you huys can learn something from it

[Dirk]

Stijn- A big thanks for posting those two flugbuch pages. I've made copies for reference! A question, how many flight certification stamps are in the book. Did this pilot get this flights certified throughout the book or only at the front or end? Also what color are the stamps. Again thanks. Dirk

[Stijn David]

Hello Dirk,


THe stamps are troughout the book, now towards your question =>

the first stamp is in blue ink , and is from " Fliegerschule der LW ( S ) " , date medio half 09.1941 ( flights 1 - 183

second stamp also in blue ink , Dienstelle - Feldpostnummer L 00725 L.G.P. , date medio 20.12.1941 ( flights 184 - 193 )

third stamp in blue ink, " Fliegerschule der LW ( S ), date medio 23.01.1942 , ( flights : 194 - 202 )

fourth stamp in blue ink , " Dienstelle Feldpostnummer L 49139 " , medio 12.1942

last stamp in blue ink , unreadable Fieldpostnumber .

I wil try and scan the stamps for you in the future and post them here also

Hopefully it can be off some interest for you

[JYN]

Hi David,*


You were writing that Glider WP were hard to find. You did'nt mentioned "Segelflugbuch".
I just received in the Mail a soft cover logbook from a glider pilot. His name was Richard Bernhard. He was Gefreiter by 1941 (Uffz. by 1942) when he first flew with a DFS 230 on the 21.08.41.
The most incredible thing is that he did same missions as K.-H. Gertsmann.
Please find the first transport entry dated 25.06.42 on the Go242 (BD + XE) Lecce - Bengasi. He was the pilot and the name of his companion was Gefr. Unglaub.
Have a nice day



Jean-Yves