New Gold Train! 50 Focke-Wulfs under Turkish airport?

Happy New Year!

Ah, wouldn't it be pretty if one of these stories turned out to be true? This time, an amateur military history enthusiast believes he has tracked down the whereabouts of 50 German Focke-Wulf fighter aircraft that went missing at the end of the war. The story is 3 months old and I've found no updated information, so... (On the plus side, the article does have some nice photos of Focke-Wulf aircraft.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rapped-sheets-buried-old-Turkish-airport.html

It was discussed over on Flypast Forum, unless a lot of care was taken, then you are looking at crushed aluminium scrap. Dare I mention Burmese Spitfires ?

When I was stationed in Germany in the mid-1960s, there were lots of stories circulating about buried German war munitions. However, it is true that Germany supplied war materials to some of the allies, the best known being to Finland, which also received aid from the United States and Great Britain, ironically.

I heard similar stories about Werewolf bunkers that contained Panther tanks, ready to go, all they needed was fresh petrol to get them going. Never quite believed that one.

Some WWII German army equipment, including rifles, tanks and half-tracks continued in use well into the 1960s and in a few instances, even later. There was a great deal of surplus equipment everywhere after the war and much of it was handed out to smaller countries around the world who used it for a long time. In the same way that 1903 Springfield rifles are still used for ceremonial purposes by some units in Washington, D.C., Mauser rifles are still used for the same purpose in Germany. Virtually all of that equipment and weapons were manufactured before the end of the war but the little half-track motorcycle, the Kettenkrad (or Das Kattenkrad), was manufactured after the war as well but it was not an armored vehicle. France managed to capture enough working Panthers to equip an armored regiment after the war and supposedly they were used until sometime in the 1950s.

Love the Kettenkrad, part motorcycle, part half track. Looks like it could never work but it did and worked well.

I knew a militaria dealer in Springfield, Virginia, near where I live who had one. I don't know if it was in running order or not but I think he sold it to a museum. You might recall there was one in Saving Private Ryan, somewhere close to the end. All German half-tracks were quite complicated, or so I am led to believe. The steering was a combination of the front wheels and track steering, I think, and the interleaved road wheels had their disadvantages.

I always thought half-tracks were interesting vehicles and yet nobody uses them now. American half-tracks seem to have descended from French models in the 20s and 30s. They, the French half-tracks, were used in a few adventure journeys during the interwar period, like crossing the Sahara. US Army half-tracks were used well into the 1960s, only not by Americans. The Israelis still have them. My son, who was stationed in Germany for a while (until they went to Iraq) said they still had a half-track but I don't recall whether it was in running condition or not. There was a large Canadian-made snowmobile that might be considered a half-track, except that it had skis instead of wheels in front. There's one in the American Indian museum.

My favorite type is the small armored vehicle like Universal Carriers and the Renault UE. I was lucky to see one of them in the French army museum in Paris, which is where Napoleon's Tomb is located. That was the highlight of our trip to Paris.

BlueTrain said:

My favorite type is the small armored vehicle like Universal Carriers and the Renault UE. I was lucky to see one of them in the French army museum in Paris, which is where Napoleon's Tomb is located. That was the highlight of our trip to Paris.

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Don't forget the other little cutie, the Veloce CV.35 tankette. It certainly got the right designation, that perfectly describes it's size!

BlueTrain said:

Some WWII German army equipment, including rifles, tanks and half-tracks continued in use well into the 1960s and in a few instances, even later. There was a great deal of surplus equipment everywhere after the war and much of it was handed out to smaller countries around the world who used it for a long time. In the same way that 1903 Springfield rifles are still used for ceremonial purposes by some units in Washington, D.C., Mauser rifles are still used for the same purpose in Germany. Virtually all of that equipment and weapons were manufactured before the end of the war but the little half-track motorcycle, the Kettenkrad (or Das Kattenkrad), was manufactured after the war as well but it was not an armored vehicle. France managed to capture enough working Panthers to equip an armored regiment after the war and supposedly they were used until sometime in the 1950s.

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I have come across a few videos on YouTube of WWI and WWII small arms, and even art pieces being used in Syria today. Stockpiles of Sturmgewehr 44 and MG 42'S with British, Russian and American weapons mixed in.

Like I said, there was a lot of left-over equipment after WWII. The Germans and Austrians continued to use some wartime material and in particular, the East Germans did (Remember the two Germanys and the Berlin Wall?). The Soviet Bloc shipped a lot of that to the Middle East where I suppose it has been circulating ever since. All the same, much more contemporary weaponry is used than WWII stuff. The MG42 is still in production, though not in 8MM.

They did discovered a stash of WWI Renault Ft-17 tanks in Afghanistan, which got there, via Poland! Talk about truth being stranger then fiction. https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/wwii-gear-in-afghan-use-part-iii-tanks-and-artillery/

Stash? Meaning six or eight tanks, none of which run? The FT-17 was still in use in 1940, somewhat later in a few places. It amounts to like finding a crate full of steel breastplates in the back of a warehouse.

On the other hand, my son reported that there were storage lots full of Soviet material (tanks and other fighting vehicles) in Iraq, where he was stationed with an armored unit about ten years ago. But nothing was done with them because there was nothing in the US Army system for keeping them in running order. What becomes of them after that is anybody's guess. No doubt they were stripped of the co-ax gun and anything else that someone wanted but 20 or 30 years from now, there will be articles in Soldier of Fortune magazine about hidden tanks being found in Iraq. Practically the only small arms in use in Iraq and Afghanistan are either Soviet (or Russian) or American. There will be the odd WWII bolt action or other weapon but the large stocks of ammunition needed to feed those thirsty weapons are going to be either American or Russian. All of the pistol ammunition used in ten years in either of those places would fit in the back of a pickup truck. But it would take a carago ship for the other stuff.

I keep wondering where those fairly sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft missles being used in the Middle East come from and how they get there.

BlueTrain said:

There was a large Canadian-made snowmobile that might be considered a half-track, except that it had skis instead of wheels in front. There's one in the American Indian museum.

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The Bombardier Snow Bus:

That's it! Very stylish looking, isn't it.