Hannes Trautloft and Wanderzirkus Janke – Secret Training In Russia And a Legionnaire In Spain (Part 2)

Posted by Jan Bobek|on February 8 2012, 08:09 AM|in Blog, History|in 1/48, 48th scale, Bf 109E-1, bf109, Bf109E-1, Emil, Emil 1/48, Green Heart, Grünherz, Trautloft

Hannes Trautlof portrait

Hannes Trautloft gained a total of five aerial victories in Spain up to December, 1936. It was already becoming evident what his strong and weak points were. He was a capable leader with good organizational skills, commanded excellent understanding of the technical aspects of aircraft, and was a superb pilot. However, he suffered from a lack of something that was generally common to pilots that achieved a greater number of kills in the Second World War; good eyesight. In his memoirs from Spain, Trautloft wrote of his tendency to spot enemy aircraft later than his colleagues, his tendency to confuse enemy aircraft with Italian ones, and so on.

This is the second part of the article about Hannes Trautloft. Read the first part here.

His last kill was a Polikarpov I-16 Rata, which, for an He 51 would have been an annoying enemy. At this time, the Germans had decided to combat test their new fighter, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and one of the pilots to conduct the testing was to be Trautloft. Three prototypes were sent to Spain: V3, V4 and V5 (possibly V6). The situation was somewhat an improvisation, as there was no factory pilot available for any schooling or advice. Additionally, there were still teething troubles with the type, to say nothing of specific Bf 109 characteristics. So, it comes as no surprise that one of the prototypes crashed immediately during a failed takeoff. Hannes Trautloft concentrated on fine tuning the use of the other prototypes, which took about a month (from mid December, 1936 to the middle of January). By that time, even Trautloft had several forced landings behind him, and each flight with the new Messerschmitts brought new challenges. During the first combat flight on January 20th, 1937 out of Villa del Prado, with Hannes Trautloft at the controls, another problem was encountered when the tail wheel failed to lower, and the rudder was damaged on landing.

Hannes Trautloft, however, did a great service to Messerschmitt and the Luftwaffe. He helped to uncover provisional problems and other shortcomings of the type under combat conditions. The prototype with the call numbers ‘6-1’ carried Trautloft’s personal emblem, the green heart as a reminder of his ancestral Thuringia. Trautloft returned to Germany in March, 1937, and in the same month, the Legion Condor received its first series Messerschmitt Bf 109s.

Air Races In Zurich

After his return from Spain, Trautloft began to share his combat experiences. First, he served as CO of 1. Staffel u.l./JG 135 (later I./JG 51) in the Bavarian town of Bad Aibling, until the Luftwaffe decided to utilize him for more representative purposes.

The first task was to participate in the opening ceremonies for an airfield at Budapest. An aerobatic group of Messerschmitt Bf 109s went through their paces at this event in June, 1937. A more significant event for Trautloft came at the end of July, 1937, with his participation in the 4th International Air Meet in Zurich, Switzerland (IV. Internationales Flugmeeting Zürich). This included large air races that were organized every five years. Civil as well as military aircraft took part. The German team was composed of people like Ernst Udet, Major Seidemann (Note 1), and even General der Flieger Erhard Milch.

Much attention was garnered by the five Messerschmitt Bf 109s, four prototypes and one series production Bf 109 B. Three of the aircraft were powered by the Jumo 210 G (730 hp), and two with the significantly uprated Daimler-Benz DB 601 (1565 and 1658 hp).

The main opposition to the Germans at these races were the Czechoslovaks with four Avia B-534s and eight aerobatic Avia Ba-122. Unfortunately, the British did not attend with their Hurricanes and Spitfires.

Ernst Udet had remarkably bad luck, crashing twice with Bf 109 V-14 (with a DB 601). The Germans, except for one occasion, were pressured to continue racing with only the Messerschmitts powered by the lower rated Jumo 210G, and as such, during one event, the aircraft were outpaced by a Dornier 17M V-1.

Probably the most intense races were the Alp circuits with three member formations on July 27 (Alpenrundflug Kategorie C: Ein-oder Mehrsitzer in Dreierkette), which came to do a battle between the Germans and the Czechoslovaks. The course was in three sections: Dübendorf – Thun, Thun – Bellinzona, and Bellinzona – Dübendorf. The German effort was flown by Hptm. Restemeier, Oblt. Trautloft and Oblt. Schleif. The Czech B-534s were flown by Jaroslav Hlaďo, Frantisek Peřina and Jaroslav Šnobl (Note 2). Both sides endured technical problems, and the Germans prevailed with a time of 58:52.7 with an average speed of 374.8 km/h. The Czechoslovaks came in about 2 minutes later with an average speed of 361.2 km/h. In third place were the French, with Dewoitine 510s with an average speed of 336.0 km/h.

The same course was flown by individuals, where the best time was submitted by Major Seidemann (56:47.1), while Jaroslav Hlaďo was second at 63:32.8.

Note 1: Hans Seidemann also underwent aerial training in Lipetsk, Russia. After serving some time with Legion Condor, he gained the function of Staff Chief. At air races Challenge International de Tourisme 1934, he finished third of all with a Fieseler Fi-97 (D-IPUS). Over the Second World War, he led III./LG 1, led aerial operations in Africa, and later became head of VIII. Fliegerkorps. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leave.

Note 2: Jaroslav Hlaďo, during the war in Great Britain and after service with several British squadrons, took command of No.312 Squadron (Czechoslovak) RAF and later the Czechoslovak Fighter Wing. Frantisek Peřina gained eleven confirmed victories with the French Air Force. He later also served with No.312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, where gained one more victory. After the war, he emigrated out of Czechoslovakia to avoid imprisonment by the communists. He moved to the United States where he worked for Weber Aircraft Co. in San Fernando Valley where he was involved with the manufacture of components for the Gemini Program and the Boeing 747. After 1989, he and his wife Ann returned to the Czech Republic, where he was actively involved with the Veteran’s Organization of Czechoslovak Airmen RAF. He died in 2006.