Bv 222 V-4 X4+DH Tobruk/Tripoli resupply flights September 1942

Bv 222 V-4 X4+DH Tobruk/Tripoli resupply flights September 1942:

currently on offer on ebay.de courtesy mybutterfly1964

Bv 222 V-4 X4+DH somewhere in the Med, possibly off Tobruk - note the HD 151 gun turret above the cockpit and the Viking ship badge of the LTS (See) 222 below the cockpit. Between September and October 1942 X4+DH made some 25 landings off Tobruk flying from southern Italy -regular pilot during this period was Oblt Walter Blume a former DLH Flugkapitän with some 53 crossings of the Atlantic in his logbook. During October 1942 X4+DH flew back to Travemünde for maintenance and overhaul just prior to the British El Alamein offensive. On 24 November 1942 Bv 222 V-6 X4+FH was shot down by Beaufighters north of the island of Linosa while on 10 December a Kette of three Bv 222's including the V-4 X4+DH en route to Tripoli from Pantelleria was also set upon by Beaufighters of 227 Sqn who sent the V-8 X4+HH into the sea in flames with the loss of all nine crew. Pilot Blume who survived this encounter wrote a report two days later that was very critical of the enormous seaplanes's defensive capabilities; " the B-stand has not the slightest value when attacked from the rear since, as was the case two days ago, attacking aircraft are able to fly some two metres lower than the Bv 222.."