Back in the 1980’s I worked with a guy at a company in Manchester who was ex Army and had done many tours in Germany in the 60’s and 70’s.I know I can almost hear the words already HERE WE GO AGAIN.
He had some very interesting stories to tell of stuff they did in our part of Germany.He related to a time they where stationed in one of the main Panzer barracks etc from WW2 and that there was a lot of modernisation and excavations going on he also mentioned a lot of Stuff around Templehoff.
he related some stories of underground and semi underground workshops and hangers still in existance with significant aircraft remains in them.Some very difficult to access and some in terrible state.
I was never able to research anything at the time and I wondered how accurate what he was saying was and if there had been anything of significance recovered.I know that at about the same time doing some work on the Autobahn a complete bunker had been uncovered basicaly as it had been left with equipments,uniform stuff and weapons that the German soldiers had abandoned with the approach of the Allies.
No I dont think its another Australian mines as i worked with the guy for a long time and other stuff he told us about was 100% accurate.I know the Germans had a thing towards the end of the war about burying factories in mines and all sorts of things so it sounded logical.
Was there any evidence of underground hangars at Templehoff ?.
By: CeBro - 31st January 2011 at 17:31
And what about the very complete airframe of an early Messerschmit 109 that was found in a bombcrater and the collection of over a dozen engines on Frankfurt airport(IIRC)?
There must be more.
Cees
By: Firebex - 31st January 2011 at 10:53
As usual guys very informative and helpfull its a shame the German authorities decided to buldoze a lot of it.My Friend Ralph did tell me stories about access to underground tunnels and a hangaer area with full aircraft in it near Templehoff and that it went for miles but was part flooded and very unstable but we treated it a bit with a pinch of salt but after reading the links etc kindly posted it seems he was spot on. Its a shame that access to some of this stuff is still not possible as has been said there must be absolute tons of it out there still and I suspect that the old Eastern block is even more still full of it.But with what shall we call them the more business type individuals out there wanting “Fees” I think it sadly unlikely.Look what they wanted for that ex cold war “TU95”
By: austernj673 - 30th January 2011 at 20:53
When the Army Air Corps built a new hanger at the Detmold base in the 1970s/80s loads of aircraft parts were found and an MG121 aircraft machine gun from the build is still mounted on the wall of 659 Sqn AAC.
RAF Gutersloh also has a small museum in the Officers mess in Goerings old bedroom which is also full of German aircraft parts found on the airfield.
In the early 1980’s a small underground storeroom was found next to one of the hangers at RAF Gatow (Berlin) which was cramped full of old motor bikes, i had one in my shed for many years, a 1927 Tornax. Most of them were painted a redish/ purple colour which i later found out was the standard German army colour for requesitioned civilian bikes.
Who knows what else is out there…..:) During an orienteering competion in the 1990’s i found a German MG34 machine gun in the woods near the Havel river in Berlin, i stashed it in the undergrowth, marked it on my map so that i could return to it and guess what, it’s still out there somewhere as i couldn’t find it again.:mad:
By: JägerMarty - 30th January 2011 at 15:39
Oh and quite large chunks of Lancaster in Peenemunde Kolpensee (I think it’s called that)
Those northeast German and polish lakes must have loads of all sorts of airframes!
Ffs surely Someones going to drag em up soon?
Certainly more promising than buried spitfires in QLD lol
By: Good Vibs - 30th January 2011 at 10:24
buried a/c and environment
Many years ago (middle 70’s) I spoke to people who were looking into recovering the 262’s, 190’s, etc that were buried at Furth, in southern Germany.
There have been photos published of this pile!
They told me how the almost complete a/c were first destroyed by caterpillar tractors, pushed into a large bomb crater, covered with dirt and than the whole thing was flattened again with the caterpillar tractor. Not much usable after that treatment.
And they also said that if they did dig up something there would be the danger of finding unexploded munitions and also be responsible for the entire exchange of spoiled & oiled earth for an environmently clean replacement. Therefore they decided against it.
The cost would be too great for any small usable pieces that might be recovered from the dig.
They continued with their restoration work and other hunts for more sucessful
discoveries.
By: Maple 01 - 30th January 2011 at 03:29
When the German EOD team swept RAF Gatow (Berlin) in 1992/3 vast amounts of unexploded ordnance were recovered. I noted in the scrap compound the undercart from a Ju-88 and the wing of what looked like an Fw-190. The old golf course was an aircraft dump in 1945 so there’s probably a fair amount under there even today.
Oh and quite large chunks of Lancaster in Peenemunde Kolpensee (I think it’s called that)
By: shepsair - 30th January 2011 at 00:29
Aircraft in Germany
Forget buried, just look in the lakes.
No scuba from 1945 until 1990. Even then, the visibility is poor in some of them. There is thought to be Yak, Bf109, Fw190A and D and even later 1950’s Russian types 9at least one in the Schwerinersee.
No interest in recovering. All belong to German State and do not seem to do sales/deals/swaps etc.
Would be good to find out what is out there though.
regards
MS
By: Al - 29th January 2011 at 22:55
Stranger things have been found – 3 WW2 U-boats were rediscovered in 1985 in a demolished sub bunker on the Elbe at Hamburg. It’s not as if they were easily lost either, at 250 feet long!
U-2505, U-3004, and U-3506 were all the advanced revolutionary type XXI electro boats on which the allies base most of their post-WW2 sub technology on.
They are still there, but the bunker has since been filled in with gravel for safety, and a car park built on top of them…
Souvenir hunters at work on the partially submerged conning towers…
photo from www.uboat.net
By: PaulR - 29th January 2011 at 15:18
Couple of links…
A forum discussion with links; http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=162839
German UrbEx site; http://berliner-unterwelten.de/tempelhof-airport.319.1.html
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January 29, 2011 at 2:48 pm