Any historians out there? Help identify these WWII photos.

tkjaer21 · Post by **tkjaer21** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:59 am

I am trying to help identify for a fellow Sooner Fan on another message board the people in the pics that his German grandfather had taken while in WWII. He flew in a Heinkel He 111. Here is his postings;

My grandmother passed away in august and she gave me my grandfather's (he died in 1986) old photo album. They were german and he flew bombers in WWII. This photo album has pictures of Goering, Hitler and 90% sure amelia earhart in them.
He was shot down and taken P.O.W. in 1941 England. I'm mainly trying to figure out who are in these pictures with Goering.....These are the best pictures that I have of the lot.

Anybody know of a good website that might have a list of commanders, aids, etc for all commands of German forces? I've searched wikipedia.org with some results but not enough. Thanks.
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tkjaer21 · Post by **tkjaer21** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 10:11 am

The year for these photos (going in chronological order of the album) would place it between 1936-1938. The ones prior are dated and the ones after are from the German Annexation of Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia which he has dated october 1938. As a matter of fact, the photo of the troops marching is at Sudetenland when this happened.

chunks · Post by **chunks** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:16 am

Great photos. The lady might be Hanna Reitsch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna_Reitsch

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:49 am

The lady (in flight gear) is most certainly Hannah Reitsch - sort of the German Amelia Earhart. Goering is easily identifiable in a number of them as well. I keep wanting to think that one of the officers in the 2nd, 8th and 9th photos is Kesselring (as he was involved with the Luftwaffe), but I'm not sure...

chunks · Post by **chunks** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 11:54 am

tkjaer21, what else did your grandfather do? I get the impression from these photos that he was more then a bomber pilot.

ostketten · Post by **ostketten** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 2:14 pm

The lady (in flight gear) is most certainly Hannah Reitsch

Agreed. HR was a fanatical follower of the Fuhrer and it has been said she pleaded with Hitler to leave Berlin, offering to fly the Fuhrer out of the beleaguered capital in a Storch aircraft, but Hitler was resigned to his fate and would have none of it. The first group of photos is pretty blurry, but the best places I can think of to pose your questions would be...

http://forum.axishistory.com/ Or.. http://www.feldgrau.com/

Someone at one (or both) of these sites will almost certainly be able to help you out in some way. Good luck.

chunks · Post by **chunks** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 5:49 pm

The more I look at these photos, the more I realize the historical importance. Over 60 years now, and such photos still show up. Thanks very much for sharing them.

STUKA · Post by **STUKA** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:13 pm

incredible photos - thank you for posting them -