LUFTWAFFE RELICS in the fields of Rhodes

[jterny]

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 .

[big ned]

Great photo of the FW 200 Condor captured on Rhodes. The nose artwork show it was from KG 40 that was discussed on here yesterday. Here's another pic of it before it was 'reduced to parts' with a group of liberating South African troops. The 'Giraffe' style camo scheme is pretty cool!

Regards, Ned.

[ian_]

Amazing pictures, thanks again for posting. It looks like the panels were all saved for building repairs! I've also never seen that camouflage on an FW200, I always imagine them over the cold Atlantic Ocean.

[jterny]

Thank you Ned and Ian for your interest and the respond..
Yes, these relics survived because were in use for many years as shelter covers for storage places or relevant needs . For example, as you can see in the photo, the Ju52 fuselage tail section was placed verticaly in order to house tools and various agricaltural use equipments in a garden, the Ju88 panel was placed as ...door in an orange grove perimeter, the one of the Condor panels was side wall of a ....chickens housing place and the He111 fuselage side section was (as great luck for me) placed facing downwards as cover in a cottage facing, so kept at most it's KG26 codes letters and the Luftwaffe cross ( 1H + B..).
John

[Adrian Stevenson]

Superb items!

Thanks for showing them.

Cheers, Ade.

[DioMac]

Damn. I'd love a small piece of fuselage to hang up in my games room!

[hurricane]

Superb collection John, thank you for sharing!

I see the Ju-52 panel has the remains of it's RLM 70/71 scheme, and is that a 'wave' of RLM 65 or just scratches?

Best Regards

Chris

[Scout]

Fantastic that you find these relics let alone that you are ablet to pinpoint them to a specific aircraft from those bits, that are left.
Simply superb.

[don_kihotis7]

Great relics Giannis. You are a lucky man. Are you still searching for more?

[herrzark]

WOW!!!Great finds.well done