Luftwaffe Crash Archives
Vols. 1 and 2

by Stefaan Bouwer

Red Kite

Reviewed by William Marshall

Background: Stefaan Bouwer has been collecting and scanning many WW2 veteran’s photo albums who happen to cross his path as a doctor who specialises in ear, nose and throat ailments. This has given him the unique opportunity to obtain previously un documented pictures and information from sources who may never have shared their photos with us. He has compiled into two volumes of aircraft pictures mainly of Axis origin, these being the wrecks that South African soldiers happened to stumble upon during the East African and deserts campaigns of WW2.

He has been able to group photos of the same aircraft taken from different angles taken by different photographers into one group to give us a more complete picture of what it looked like. Profiles have been added to indicate the possible colour information for modellers. The profiles have been done by expert profiler Sam Pearson of Sam Pearson Aviation Art fame.

Readers could possibly think that this is just a rehash of existing material. How wrong they would be as both volumes have hundreds of photos previously not publish anywhere.

Volume 1:  Consists of a collection of Luftwaffe Aircraft other than Bf 109s. This volume shows a variety of aircraft from the Do 24, Fw 200, Fi 156 Storch, Fw 190, Me 262, Fw 190 Mistel, He 111, Ju 52s, Ju 87s.

This volume also covers some of the Johannesburg War Museums aircraft which are no longer in existence and can only be seen in photos such as the Ju 88.

A gem is the SAAF 40 Squadron Me 108 which also provides some colour profiles. Of interest to the readers would be the two different Me-110’s wrecks documented which have the same codes but were different airframes.

Volume 2:  Consists of the Luftwaffe Messerschmidt Bf 109, Italian and Vichy French relics found during WW2.

The first part of Volume 2 is dedicated exclusively to Luftwaffe Bf 109’s found in the Western Desert during WW2, with many previously unpublished photos and many discussions by leading experts which lead to the identification of the correct colours. Stefaan has been able to correct many previously wrongly publicised colour information of these wrecks.

Of special interest to me was the Croatian Bf109, the 4 SAAF Squadron hack KJ - ?, the 2 SAAF Squadron hack with codes DB-? And 1 SAAF Squadron hack with AX-? code. There is a progressive representation of the colour scheme of 1 SAAF Squadron hack with codes AX-Jack. 5 SAAF Squadron also had a hack with codes GL-?. All these Bf109s have very attractive colour schemes and could make super models when completed.

The second part of Volume 2 covers some captured Italian aircraft. Caproni Ca-111, a number of Ca-133’s, and some C1-164, Ca-311 and Ca-314’s are covered. The Fiat Cr-42 and 42 are also documented in photos and profiles. Further types covered are the Fiat G-50, Macchi 200, Macchi 202.

A full series of Savoia-Marchetti SM-79, SM-81 and SM-82’s is covered with super period photos and colour profiles. A single Fokker F-VIIA-3m/M ambulance aircraft is also covered.

The third part of the books is dedicated to a couple of pages of French aircraft from the Madagascar campaign. Types covered are the Bloch-95, Caudron Renault C-455M, MS-406, Potez 25 and Potez 63.

These two books form the first two volumes of the new Crash Archive Series.

They will fit nicely into any historian’s collection of Luftwaffe and Italian WW2 books. Well worth the money spent with plenty of new material, photo’s and profiles for the modeller and historian alike.

We now have a collection of photographs in one book with easy references and colour profiles, Well done to the gentleman involved in their production.

Highly recommended.

Books available from www.wingleader.co.uk

Review Copyright © 2023 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 8 February, 2023
Last updated 8 February, 2023

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