Hello everyone, Here are some of the promised photos of Luftwaffe aircrafts relics findings, after several years of searches in the island of Rhodes Greece, around the ex Italian airfields bases of Maritsa and Gadurras. The Luftwaffe squadrons used frequently the airfields of the island since 1941, as and during the battle of Leros (1943) . During October 1944 the German occupation troops were evacuated from Greek mainland to the Balkans, but a few isolated garrisons remained behind on some fortified islands , such as Rhodes, Crete, Kos etc. So a few Luftwaffe aircrafts (at least one He 111 and one Ju 52) used for airmail ferrying, remained in Rhodes until the German capitulation of 8th of May 1945. The last “mail” flight from Vienna performed by a FW200 Condor , which arrived in Rhodes on 3rd of May 1945 and had to stay there , as in the meantime the Soviets had occupied the city (Vienna).
The Luftwaffe aircrafts which remained in this island, were victims and scrapped by the precious metals collectors after the end of ww2, (due to their aluminum structures). So I believe I was lucky to discover during my searches in the fields a few relics of these aircrafts, even from the unique FW200 , which chopped in pieces during the post war period in Gadurras base area.
John .
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