Many, years ago whilst still at school, my brother found a metal, alloy? rectangular plate in an old oyster bed, (very near the ramp over the sea wall if anyone knows the area), at Point Clear harbour, it had four rusted, domed screw heads, one at each corner, the actual screws had long gone, in the centre of the plate was a small plaque, plastic ? upon which were the words—- ‘F.T.A. stab kdo schiffe u Boote. Luftwaffe. Hamburg . Type Fk 96c Nr 9.’ my brother was going to throw it back in the mud so I beat him up and kept it!:D I was told it poss was from a Luftwaffe high speed launch but was never able to positively identify it, any body any ideas?
In the same area of the oyster bed, there were two chunks of what looked very much like ‘alloy’ aircraft structure, one chunk being curved with holes punched into it as seen in aircraft manufacture, dunno whether there was a link to plaque or not. this area has now been ‘reclaimed’ by pushing sand/gravel over it so whether these pieces are still there, who knows..this was back in 1970’s. cannot post pictures cos I cannot locate it, details coming from letter I wrote to IWM along time ago. I KNOW I STILL GOT IT!:apologetic:
By: wieesso - 30th May 2014 at 15:14
Dem Kommando der Schiffe und Boote der Luftwaffe unterstanden von 1940 bis 1945 alle seegehenden Fahrzeuge der Luftwaffe.
roughly translated
All vehicles able for duty at high sea of the air force were subordinate to the command of the ships and boats of the air force from 1940 to 1945.
You can find a list of all ships and boats of the air force here: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_von_Schiffen_und_Booten_der_Luftwaffe_von_1935_bis_1945
Martin
By: l.garey - 30th May 2014 at 07:27
Exactly!
By: Radpoe Meteor - 30th May 2014 at 07:12
Quote: A rough attempt at translation would be:
‘F. (Radio?) T.A. stab (staff) kdo (command) schiffe (ship) u Boote (U-boat)’Not “U-boats”: “Schiffe u. Boote” simply means “Ships and Boats”
Ah, the penny has dropped- for me anyway- rather than the “u” meaning Untersee, it’s “und” abbreiviated.
By: l.garey - 30th May 2014 at 05:56
Quote: A rough attempt at translation would be:
‘F. (Radio?) T.A. stab (staff) kdo (command) schiffe (ship) u Boote (U-boat)’
Not “U-boats”: “Schiffe u. Boote” simply means “Ships and Boats”
By: Scramble Bill - 29th May 2014 at 20:59
FOUND IT!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]228777[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]228778[/ATTACH] Main, metal bit been shot blasted, varnished ( probably shouldn’t have been but, still at school etc…and absolutely no paint-finish remained whatsoever) looking at the reverse the ‘screws appear to have been sawn off? clearly see marks, lines in the metal, not sure if threaded, or just held in plate by corrosion. Plate badly corroded, not actually sure what its made of. Rear has slightly raised, rectangular section so fitted into something.
By: Foray - 11th August 2013 at 23:51
If it’s the same ‘ramp over the seawall’ near the martello tower at Point Clear, the following may be relevant. Brightlingsea, just over the water, was an active naval base during the war, and the Point Clear martello tower was HMS Helder where amphibious training was carried out. The tower is now the home of the East Essex Aviation Museum.
By: Halcyon days - 11th August 2013 at 21:16
I grew up in the area too (St Osyth) and used to regularly find bullet heads/canon type shell heads (.50?) and even old musket balls in the mud when bait digging!!
I recall being told there was some kind of rifle range there during the war-shooting from the low cliffs out on to the mud?
By: Scramble Bill - 11th August 2013 at 20:04
Thanks for replies..interesting, I will post a pic if, WHEN I find the thing!! I did wonder whether some ‘craft’ was perhaps broken up there after the ww11.
By: Creaking Door - 11th August 2013 at 12:13
But ‘Luftwaffe’ would make it Second World War wouldn’t it?
Although the German prefix for radio equipment was ‘FuG’ short for ‘Funkgerät’ (radio device).
Maybe it refers to some sort of communication device between aircraft and ships (U-boats); signal-lamp, recognition-flares, something of that nature?
By: Creaking Door - 11th August 2013 at 11:29
Interesting. The 77mm was a German field / anti-aircraft gun of First World War vintage; it isn’t something that I’ve associated with U-boats before (but I could be wrong).
By: Eddie - 11th August 2013 at 03:35
The FK96 was a 77mm gun.
By: Creaking Door - 11th August 2013 at 02:31
A rough attempt at translation would be:
‘F. (Radio?) T.A. stab (staff) kdo (command) schiffe (ship) u Boote (U-boat)’
‘Type Fk (Radio?) 96c Nr (number) 9’
Anyway, that’s my guess!
By: Creaking Door - 11th August 2013 at 02:20
Interesting that the plate seems to concern U-Boats and the Luftwaffe.
My guess is that it refers to radio equipment; the German for radio being ‘funk’ I think (Fk 96c Nr 9)?
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August 11, 2013 at 1:28 am