Kettenkrad - the WW2 german ATV

The German "Kettenkrad" - or Sdkfz 2 or in short-german (lol!!!) " Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101" was a light half-track gun tractor originally designed for civil use but in 1939 the manufacturer NSU got a military order. It was used on all battlefields during the war, especially on the Eastern front. It could carry 3 crewmembers and a small trailer. Its big advantage was its capacity to go over difficult and soft terrain, like mud and sand, It could also fit into a Junker 52 transport plane.It main use was to transport small amount of ammo and fuel, as well as being used on airfields to tow airplanes to reduce use of planefuel which was in short demand. Many of them were used by airborne troops, but it was not dropped in parachute. Over 8000 was made during the war, and after the war the production for agricultural use continued until 1948/49. Its a fun little vehicle isnt it, and its easy to draw lines from this vehicle to more modern ATV`s and also to some degree the modern snowmobile.

Junker 88 some photos

I recently visitied the Technical Museum in Berlin and toke a couple of photos of the restored Junker 88 they have on display there.

The Junker 88-Ju 88- was a bomber and nightfigher used by Germany in WW2 and it was a very succesfull aircraft. As many as 15 0000 was manufactured, and it is along with the Heinkel 111 the most known german bomber from WW2. It was used in all battlefields where the germans fought, but it is especially as a nightfighter we remember it.  One version even had cannons pointing upwards so it could shot at bombers while hiding under them!

The photos show a nightfighter, take notice of its nose with the radar standing next to the plane.

Messerschmitt bf 110 some photos

The Messerschmitt bf 110 , usually just called ME 110 was one of the most known and used of the german fighters during WW2. It was produced from 1937 and when production stopped in 1945 over 6100 had been produced.  It was originally used as a fighter, but during the Battle og Britain it proved to hard to manouver against smaller fighters like the Hurricane and Spitfire so it was gradually used more for high-altitude escort and as a night-fighter, the last role being the most succesfull. The most notorious of all german night-fighters, Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer flew only ME 110 and claimed 121 victories in only 164 combat missions. It was also, with some success, used as a fighter-bomber, mainly on the Eastern Front.

These photos were taken by me in teh Technical Museum in Berlin that have a very nice restored ME 110 on display.

Interesting fact:
The famous and quite impressing "peace-flight" by Rudolf Hess from Germany and far into Britain in 1940 took place in a ME 110