In January 1940, the
Luftwaffe tested the prototype Ju 86P with a longer wingspan, pressurized
cabin, Jumo 207A1 turbocharged diesel engines, and a two-man crew. The Ju 86P
could fly at heights of 12,000 m (39,000 ft) and higher on occasion, where it
was felt to be safe from Allied fighters. The British Westland Welkin and
Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9PD were developed specifically to counter this threat.
The Luftwaffe ordered
that some 40 older-model bombers be converted to Ju 86P-1 high-altitude bombers
and Ju 86P-2 photo reconnaissance aircraft. Those operated successfully for
some years over Britain, the Soviet Union and North Africa. In August 1942, a
modified Spitfire V shot one down over Egypt at some 14,500 m (49,000 ft); when
two more were lost, Ju 86Ps were withdrawn from service in 1943.
Junkers developed the Ju 86R for the Luftwaffe, using larger
wings and new engines capable of even higher altitudes - up to 16,000 m (52,500
ft) - but production was limited to prototypes.
In 1933, in defiance of the terms of the Versailles Treaty,
the new Nazi government in Germany created a foreign intelligence agency, the
Abwehr, headed by Captain Conrad Patzig. He was replaced in January 1935 by
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, who developed an organization split into three
Abteilung devoted to secret intelligence, sabotage, and security. Each of the
three sections included air branches, designated as I Luft, II Luft, and III
Luft respectively. Although run from headquarters in Berlin, Abwehr operations
were dispersed to Abwehrstellen, regional centers corresponding to the German
military districts, and to Kriegsorganisationen established in neutral and
occupied territories, with internal structures mirroring the head office at 72
Tirpitzufer.
Abteilung I Luft was responsible for preparing a prewar
survey of airfields in England, and in 1935 dispatched a lawyer, Dr. Herman
Goertz, to tour the country accompanied by a girl he claimed as his niece, but
his indiscretion led to his arrest and imprisonment. As a result of this
episode, the Abwehr was banned from conducting further similar operations and
was obliged to rely on photographs taken from aircraft flown by Theodor Rowehl.
THEODOR ROWEHL.
Prior to the outbreak of World War II, the Luftwaffe
conducted a series of aerial photographic flights across Europe in an He-111
twin-engined bomber painted in Lufthansa livery and flown by Theodor Rowehl. A
reconnaissance pilot in World War I, Rowehl was renowned for having penetrated
British airspace in his Rhomberg C-7. After the war, he had continued to fly a
chartered aircraft until he began to supply the newly formed Abwehr with photos
he had taken over Poland and East Prussia. Having begun with a single Junkers
W-34 based in Kiel, Rowehl soon gathered a group of pilots around him to form
an experimental high-altitude flight of five aircraft based at Staaken, but
training at Lipetsk, the Luftwaffe’s secret airfield in Russia. His work
impressed Herman Göring and he was transferred to the command of Otto (“Beppo”)
Schmid, head of the Luftwaffe’s intelligence branch at Oranienburg, to fly
specially adapted Heinkel 111s equipped with cameras designed by Carl Zeiss.
Under Rowehl’s leadership, the Luftwaffe’s air
reconnaissance wing [Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L.] grew from three squadrons to 53
on the outbreak of war in September 1939, amounting to 602 aircraft, by which
time much of Germany’s neighboring territories had been mapped. The
organization was divided into 342 short-range aircraft, dedicated to tactical
support, and 260 longer-range planes, mainly Junker 88Ds and Dornier 17Fs,
undertaking strategic missions.
In December 1943, following the death of his wife in an
Allied air raid, Rowehl resigned his command. His efforts led to the creation
of a unit operating for the Luftwaffe's 5th Branch (air intelligence). The new
unit flew high-altitude photoreconnaissance missions over Europe, Africa,
Soviet Union and this in a variety of military and even civilian aircraft.
Later he would be replaced by Captain Karl Edmund
Gartenfeld. Replaced is not correct as he was to form his own new group in
1942. This would lead to the creation of the famous Kampfgeschwader 200.
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