Off Topic Unique WW1 Photo - Pyramid of captured German helmets, New York, 1918

[Mark in Rochester]

That "WOW" was in reference to the captured helmets. Even at a giveaway price today of $1000 ea CDN, there's enough to buy several houses worth sitting there. From the ones I could count in the bottom row, there were 37.

One caption states 12,000 helmets

[limpetmine]

I read that they went so far as to recover the fuel in downed aircraft for re-use. Same book as referenced above, IIRC.
They had an aluminum recycling effort that turned downed US aircraft into Nazi aircraft.

[browningautorifle]

One caption states 12,000 helmets

I believe you...

They had an aluminum recycling effort that turned downed US aircraft into Nazi aircraft.

I think the same thing was happening in UK...salvage...

[Mark in Rochester]

There were over 10,000 helmets on the pyramid, sent from warehouses in Germany at the end of the war for Liberty Loan Drives. When you bought a certain denomination, you were given a helmet. Collectors call these virtually unissued helmets...Liberty Loan Helmets

[Flying10uk]

I do have this interesting book by Hans-Werner Lerche in which he describes his experiences of flying a multitude of captured allied aircraft. It is a hardback book and contains a significant number of black and white pictures. I haven't got round to reading the book cover to cover yet but the parts which I have read seem very interesting. I sourced my copy, second hand, a few years ago from a charity shop and so I don't know how easy it would be to obtain a copy now.

My English translation copy was published by Jane's polishing 1980.

[browningautorifle]

Here's the book I spoke of, this copy is paperback, mine is hardcover. Cheap and available, well worth the looksee.

[Mark in Rochester]

https://www.amazon.com/Luftwaffe-tes.../dp/0531037118

Hardcover
from $11.65




10 Used from $11.65

2 New from $113.69

1 Collectible from $35.00

[CINDERS]

They probably flew allot I have read a story about a captured P-38 that was in its USAF guise coming in on straggling B-17's they the crews thinking it was friendly they relaxed happy for fighter cover as the pilot feigned a U/S radio until he dropped behind and let drive with the 4 x 50's and the 1 x 20mm in the P-38's nose to the doom of the B-17.
Word got out and the P-38 pilots were reluctant to saddle up to a B-17 for a while lest they were shot out of the sky, the story concluded the P-38 wolf was shot down by a heavily armed B-17 they had in the streams it carried extra ammo and guns I think twin side 50's and no bombs they were slower than a bombed up 17.
Anyway the wolf came in and the Captain was aware of this plane because the pilot had his girlfriends name on it the pilot being a person of some renown and was known to the captain and the girl friend so he twigged it was the wolf preparing to shoot them down and advised the crew to play dumb and friendly to the fake P-38 which they did.
As he sidled up they played the game for a few moments then opened up on the P-38 with all guns that could bear the last it was seen smoking heavily going down, I think it is in Cadins book The Fork Tailed Devil.
Couple of pics of other captured planes...

[Flying10uk]

In the book which I mentioned in post 15, the author does describe how the Germans "obtained" flying examples of some of the allied aircraft in his book. My interpretation is that the author was just a flying enthusiast rather than an ardent Nazi who just happened to be caught up in the events of Germany during WW2 because of when he was born. One problem that he faced was that British and American aircraft were all made with Imperial measurements for things like gauges but he was use to working in metric measurements.

[CINDERS]

Same for the German planes in allied hands usually the pilots had sticky noted on the conversion rates for speeds and identifying controls.
Infact going on about books I have had a soft cover in my collection for @12 years never paid it much thought we went away so took some books to finish reading about Geofrey Quill and Alex Henshaw with the development & testing of the Spitfire if you read books along this vein you will know who they are as a snippet Alex Henshaw tested and flew 3,000 individual Spitfires over a 3 year period now that is a heavy work load.

But back to this gem I had the book is called "The Great Coup" By Robert Hill and what a wealth of information it has in it about the German radar, allied counters, the use of Window, how a new JU 88 with the latest Lichtenstein radar was handed to the allies by an Austrian born German night fighter pilot whom was heavily decorated and how this helped the bombers from 617 squadron carry out the Mohne and Eder dams raid.
I suggest you get a copy as it really is jam packed with stuff I never knew about the night air war.