An Erprobungskommando (EKdo) ("Testing-command") was a variety of Luftwaffe special-purpose unit tasked with the testing of new aircraft and weaponry under operational conditions. Similarly-named Erprobungs- prefixed squadron (staffel) and group (gruppe) sized units also existed at various times in the Luftwaffe during 1939-1944 to service-test new designs, usually numbered with the RLM aircraft designation system airframe number matching the aircraft they were meant to test, with the three digit number following the "8-xxx" RLM airframe number designating the unit, as with Erprobungsstaffel 177 (contracted to E-Staffel 177), charged with testing the A-0 production prototypes of the Heinkel He 177 A heavy bomber. The similarly-prefixed Erprobungsgruppe 210 was meant to have service-tested the Messerschmitt Me 210 twin-engined "destroyer" and light bomber, but that design's early aerodynamic problems caused the unit's transformation and expansion into SKG 210 , a dedicated "fast bomber" unit using Bf 110s instead.
16-522: A Kommando ( German: [kɔˈmando] , lit. "unit" or "command") is a general term for special police and military forces in German, Dutch, and Afrikaans speaking nations. It was also the term in the World War II era Luftwaffe for special units used to test new aircraft for combat readiness (as Erprobungskommando units) and examples existed that only used the "Kommando" name, such as
32-664: The Wanderzirkus Rosarius ) was an Erprobungskommando -style special test unit of the Luftwaffe , specifically of the Luftwaffe High Command , tasked with testing captured British and American aircraft, all of which were repainted in German markings. Nachtjagdgeschwader 11 Nachtjagdgeschwader 11 (NJG 11) was a Luftwaffe night fighter - wing of World War II . NJG 11 was formed on 20 August 1944 with one Gruppe (group) consisting of 2 Staffeln . 1 staffel
48-450: The "tooth-pulling kommando". These teams of eight, all "fine stomatologists and dental surgeons" equipped "in one hand with a lever, and in the other a pair of pliers for extracting teeth", worked in the crematoria . Stationed in front of the ovens, their job was to pry open the mouths of prisoners who had been gassed and extract, or break off, "all gold teeth , as well as any gold bridgework and fillings ". Other kommandos depended on
64-614: The Luftwaffe Gruppe -sized Kommando Nowotny . In the winter/spring 1945 period, single-plane Kommando -designated units that used the Arado Ar 234 Blitz jet powered reconnaissance-bomber operated from hidden, forest-lined runways in eastern Germany. Before and during World War II , the basic unit of organization of forced labourers in Nazi concentration camps , equivalent to a detail or detachment were referred to as Kommandos . Among
80-615: The RAF's Mosquito fighters, target markers and light bombers. Concentrating efforts over the Ruhr and Berlin, tactics were to create lighter conditions by setting up searchlight boxes, forming 'light horizons' to enable pilots to make visible contact with the enemy aircraft. Results were poor however, with only two Mosquitoes claimed over Berlin. In December 1944 the piston-engined elements of NJG 11 gave up sustained anti-Mosquito operations and confined itself to illuminated target defence night fighting against
96-468: The end of the war the Me 262's of 10./NJG 11 claimed some 43 Mosquitoes by night and 5 P-38 and Mosquito photo-reconnaissance aircraft by day, although these figures do not tally with known Allied aircraft losses. Among them six Mosquitos by Feldwebel Karl-Heinz Becker and his radio operator in two weeks, two within three minutes of each other on the night of 23 March 1945. The last kill by III./NJG 11 came on
112-481: The heavy bombers of the RAF. 10./NJG 11 under Hauptmann Kurt Welter , an experienced Wilde Sau ace, commenced operations using a handful of single-seat Me 262 jets in December 1944. Seven two-seat conversion night fighter variants, designated Me 262B-1a/U1, were available by April 1945. To make room for the radar operator fuselage fuel capacity was sacrificed, and a pair of undernose hardpoints , one either side of
128-596: The job they were assigned to, such as woodcutting kommandos, factory kommandos or kitchen kommandos. Erprobungskommando Erprobungskommando 16 was formed March 1943 in Peenemünde -West, as a test unit for the new Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter, and later based at the Luftwaffe airfield in Bad Zwischenahn for a considerable period of time. The unit was disbanded on 14 February 1945. Erprobungskommando 154
144-673: The most notable of such units were the Sonderkommandos ( lit. ' Special Kommandos ' ), carrying out the Final Solution by guarding the newly arrived inmates, escorting them to gas chambers , searching the bodies and burning them. Außenkommandos were external work details that were set up, either leaving from the concentration camp or from outside the camp boundary. In Auschwitz : A Doctor's Eyewitness Account , concentration camp survivor Dr. Miklós Nyiszli (who served on Dr. Josef Mengele 's medical kommando ) describes
160-418: The nosewheel well, for fitment of a pair of standard Luftwaffe 300 litre (79 US gallon) drop tanks were fitted. Following trials with radar fitted to a single-seater the two-seaters were equipped with the mid-VHF band FuG 218 Neptun V radar, with prominent Hirschgeweih (stag's antlers) eight-dipole aerials on the nose reducing the top speed by about 30 mph. According to some sources from January 1945 to
176-422: The specialised units of JG 300 and NJGr 10 were tasked with countering the growing threat of the RAF de Havilland Mosquito units. The radar equipped fighter versions equipping No. 100 Group , Bomber Command were taking an increasing toll of the Luftwaffe's night fighters, and the ' Oboe '-equipped Pathfinder and light bomber versions were also proving difficult to intercept and shoot down. NJG 11 brought together
SECTION 10
#1732855202857192-445: The various single-seat high speed units into one Nachtjagdgeschwader to unify these efforts. The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-8 and A-9 equipped with the FuG 217 or FuG 218 Neptun V radars were utilised by the unit, though several Bf 109 G-6, G-10 and G-14 models were also used. Thus November saw the fighters of NJG 11 take up specialised high-speed high altitude interception operations against
208-645: Was formed from elements of 6./ JG 300 and in January 1945 redesignated 7./NJG 11. 2 staffel and 3 staffel formed from 1./ NJGr 10 and in January 1945 redesignated 1./NJG 11 and 8./NJG 11 respectively. II./NJG 11 was formed in November 1944 from 10./JG 300. III./NJG 11 was formed in January 1945 and in March 1945 redesignated 2. NJG 11. 10. Staffel was formed on 28 January 1945 at Burg- Magdeburg from Sonderkommando Welter flying Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters. NJG 11
224-595: Was formed in April 1944 at Lechfeld Air Base to test the new Messerschmitt Me 262 . The unit was disbanded on 26 September 1944 and used to form Kommando Nowotny . Kommando Welter was initially formed in November 1944 in Burg bei Magdeburg as Kommando Stamp , flying the Me 262A-1a, as an experimental nightfighter unit, but was soon renamed Kommando Welter . The unit was redesignated 10. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 11 on 25 January 1945. Zirkus Rosarius (also known as
240-693: Was formed in November 1943 in Langenhagen , to test the new Focke-Wulf Ta 154 night fighter. Erprobungskommando 162 was formed in January 1945 in Rechlin-Roggenthin , to test the new Heinkel He 162 jet fighter. Erprobungsgruppe 210 was formed on 1 July 1940 in Köln-Ostheim , to test the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 in a ground attack role. On 24 April 1941 the unit was redesignated I./ Schnellkampfgeschwader 210 . Erprobungskommando 262
256-553: Was the Luftwaffe's only Nachtjagdgeschwader to exclusively fly single-engine, single-seat fighter aircraft in the Wilde Sau role. (excepting 10 staffel ). During its existence the gruppen operated independently of each other NJG 11 was reorganized on 30 March 1945. The Stab was disbanded and the Gruppen reduced to Staffeln which were assigned to Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3) and Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 (NJG 5). Earlier in 1944
#856143