Ju52 Staffelskinpack of 6./KGzbV 1,  Norway - Netherlands - Belgium - France 1940
by cheruskerarmin

This is a semihistorical Ju52 squadronskinpack in the paintschemes of 6. Staffel KGzbV 1
('Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung' 1, meaning about 'Combat/Battle Wing for
special duties' 1) as they appeared in spring and summer 1940 during the Denmark/Norway invasion and the western campaign in the Netherlands and France 1940.
12 different fully marked skins plus blanks/generics.  

The Ju52 (mainly the 3mg4e variant) were going through a process of altering paintscheme and markings in this period.
Inspite of the 1938 introduced official rlm 70/71/65 splinter camo scheme most original photographs are displaying dark undersurfaces.
The reason for this isn't clear. Some sources are assuming a camo for night missions but it is more likely it was a recognition for a/c
serving with flying schools or training units. Due to heavy losses in norway, netherlands, crete, tunisia and stalingrad the frontline transport units were constantly
refreshed with replacement a/c of school units.
Some a/c of the period still flew with remains of prewar/spanish civil war colours like rlm 61/62/63. Especially KGzbV1 had several such a/c in service. Markings were different in size and position.
All skins are based on thouroughly researched photographs and descriptions but complete aircraft views and well quality photographs 
are very rare. Therefore it is a 'most likely' skinpack. 
There were a lot of variants in paintscheme details. I tried
to include the most of them.      
 
KGzbV 1 was the oldest (and largest) luftwaffe transport unit and consisted of four groups. Each of these were made of four Staffeln (squadrons) of 12 a/c each and a stab (staff) flight of four or five a/c.
The unit code letters were 1Z. 
II./KGzbV 1 had the staffelletters (fourth digit in code) N-P-R-S for staffel 5 - 9, staffelcolours were white-red-yellow-blue (these
were the colours of the individual a/c letter, usually the third digit in the code). The staff letter was C and the staff flight colour
green. I. e. the Ju52 '1Z+ES' was the fifth a/c of 6.Staffel belonging to II./KGzbV 1, 1Z+BC belonged to the the staff flight.
The emblem used by 6. Staffel in 1940 displayed a red shield with a white sun in it's upper edge with a man's head ('adamson') and the motto 'The sun won't go down for us!'   
The badge wasn't used by all planes of the staffel.  

'Operation Weserbung', the invasion of Denmark and Norway from april 9th 1940 onwards, saw all four groups of KGzbV1 in action. On april 9th II./KGzbV1 (5. and 6.Staffel only) was tasked with dropping paratroopers of 1stBn/FJR1 at Oslo-Fornebu for securing
the airfield. The unit aborted the mission (except 8 planes) due to very bad weather and landed at Aalborg. Over the target nowegian gladiators shot down one of those 8 planes. In the early afternoon the planes from Aalborg completed their mission. 
7. and 8. Staffel were ordered to operate seperately in different missions. 

'Fall Gelb' (case yellow) - the invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France started in the early morning of friday, 10th of may 1940. The Dutch weren't surprised but prepared. 
II./KGzbV1 was tasked (reference: 'II.KGzbV1 1939 - 1943 by the Comradeship of transport units veterans) with dropping paratroopers of 3./FJR1 to secure the Dordrecht and Moerdijk bridges (refering to Peter Cornwell the complete group dropped 700 paratroopers of III./FJR1 at Waalhaven airfield - sources are differing here). The mission was successfully carried out and all a/c made their way back to Dortmund.
The second and third mission on the same day saw II./KGzbV1 carrying infantry troops (22.ID) to Waalhaven airfield near the Rotterdam docks. When arriving at the airfield in the afternoon II./KGzbV1 received heavy artillery and infantry
fire. Obviously the paratroopers of III./FJR1 had failed to secure the airfield in time before the planned arrival/landings of reinforcement troops.
The a/c landed under heavy fire and (Peter Cornwell) II./KGzbV1 lost eight planes during the day to dutch artillery shelling the airfield.


The german transport units lost nearly 200 (varying numbers in differing sources) of about 430 transport planes on may 10th 1940.       

From about may 15th to mid august of 1940 II./KGzbV1 carried out countless support missions between Germany, Holland, Belgium and France. Weapons, troops, fuel, spare parts,
ammunition and wounded were transported. These missions were oftenly flewn in small numbers or by single a/c.     


THX a very lot to foo'bar, Imme and millekmh, whose excellent templates were the base to work from.
As well as to FBS, whoose weathering brushes i used for making these skins. The skins were made to look best in perfect mode.  

These skins are free for non-commercial use. Reupload only with my
permission. 
Enjoy  - and i would be very pleased to get a feedback from you!

cheruskerarmin@freenet.de

Sources:

Die II.KGzbV1 1939 - 1943 by
the Kameradschaft ehemaliger Transportflieger
Jet & Prop aviation magazine Rudolf Hecke
Luftwaffe im Focus series
Luftarchiv.de forums
Luftwaffe-experten.org forums - especially F19Gladiator
Various Web sources about war in holland
The Battle of France - now and then (Peter D. Cornwell)
German airborne divisions - blitzkrieg (osprey)
Squadron Signal publications Ju52 in action
Transporter- wer kennt sie schon (Karl Kssler)
Transport units Volumes I and II (classic publications) 
Flugzeug Profile 24 (Alfred Krger)
Ju52 an allen Fronten im Einsatz (Manfred Griehl)       
Ju52 weltweit im Einsatz (Manfred Griehl)
Die Ju52 im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Motorbuch Jan P.)
Waffen Arsenal - Ju52
Luftwaffe at War-the Junkers Ju52 (Morten Jessen)
AirDoc - The Junkers Ju52
Junkers Ju52 (Heinz J. Nowarra)
and more... 


