Night fighters of the Luftwaffe: Image #1…a Junkers Ju-88G on an airfield in Slovakia
A French Ministry of Defense poster “Imminent Danger ! Silhouettes of main German bomber planes”,1940.
Interesting to note that the Ju-88 misses out on a mention, whilst the He-111 is shown in its pre-WWII form (as flown by Lufthansa).
Arado Ar-232 transport taking off, demonstrating its Tausendfussler undercarriage: Transport Thursday Image #2
What an interesting cockpit, pretty open and surrounded with glass… I have a feeling this wasn’t a favorite among pilots when that glass got shot out.
The He-111 cockpit area was reflecting common German bomber design philosophy of the World War 2 period. The Ju-88 and it’s later variants, the Do-17, Do-215 and Do-217, and the He-177 all concentrated their crew in glazed nose/cockpits with mostly manual defensive gunner positions. This could be said to be a result of German resistance to using turrets (as seen in Allied bombers like the Lancaster and Liberator), as well as the fallacious idea that crew morale and control would be better if all were grouped closer.
Trainer Thursday Pic #2
An Arado Ar.96 with Luftwaffe Group Leader Oberleutnant Willi Bottländer at the controls
Flight and ground crew with a Heinkel He-177 Greif (Griffin) bomber
The He-177 is currently leading the Wings of War most interesting failed warplane of WW2 poll…vote here for it or the other nominees
