Hitler visit to Immola AFB

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Topspeed
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Hitler visit to Immola AFB

#1

Post by Topspeed » 27 Jun 2004, 11:54

There is a lotsa speculation around Hitlers visit in Finland in 1942.

One says Hans Bauer almost hit the furnaces of a big woodmill of Kaukopää on the approach to Immola air base.

One peculiar thing is that lotsa tall blond men were hauled from many divisions to built the guard to greet AH. This was to make finns look like a "masterrace" in the eyes of AH and get more ammos and planes.

Any comments on these ? :o
Last edited by Topspeed on 27 Jun 2004, 21:53, edited 1 time in total.

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#2

Post by Hanski » 27 Jun 2004, 12:46

This link http://www.network54.com/Forum/message? ... 1029063548 gives you a further link to a 1988 video interview (in Finnish) of the fighter ace Hans Wind, who escorted Hitler's Focke-Wulf Condor to the Immola base, and a translation into English of that interview. In the FAF in WWII forum, there is also debate whether or not there really was a risk of collision with the chimney.


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#3

Post by Topspeed » 27 Jun 2004, 22:40

Hanski,

It is really a funny conversation...Wind says nothing of that cloudy weather in the speech...then they say FW 200 Condor landed on the opposite direction than where the chimneys were. Everybody ever been to an airfield know aeroplanes do 360 around an airfield before landing.

JT / Oulu

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#4

Post by Harri » 01 Jul 2004, 22:37

About ten years ago I talked about a Finnish veteran whose position during the war was the heavy AA battery located at Tuulikallio in Imatra (about 0.5 to 1 km north-west from the current Imatra railway station and a bridge over River Vuoksi). According to him they didn't know anything about the Hitler's arrival. During his evening off on 3.6.1942 his brother who worked on the Immola air base told that it was ordered that all men should immediately return back to their units. He did so but no-one in his unit knew anything. There was already a rumour that Mannerheim would perhaps arrive in Imatra when battery received an order not to shoot any planes seen.

During the morning several German planes arrived to Immola and men started already thingking what what going on. Straight after noon they saw a very large plane flying low at the cloud level following the coastline of Lake Saimaa. According to him weather was rather bad and clouds were at low level.

There were initially eight escorting Brewsters but six of them (including "Hasse" Wind) lost Hitler's plane because they couldn't fly in tight enough formation due to bad visibility and danger in crashing with Hitler's FW Condor.

You can see more from my "homepage":
http://www.geocities.com/finnmilpge/fmp_4_6_1942.html

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#5

Post by Topspeed » 01 Jul 2004, 22:43

Splendid Harri,

I wonder if there was this famous recorder at the hatshelf of the traincar ?
So it really could have hit the chimneys at Kaukopää factories.
AH sorta trashed in to Marskis 75 years party or what ?

JT

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#6

Post by Harri » 01 Jul 2004, 22:47

Topspeed wrote:Wind says nothing of that cloudy weather in the speech...then they say FW 200 Condor landed on the opposite direction than where the chimneys were. Everybody ever been to an airfield know aeroplanes do 360 around an airfield before landing.
I think Hitler's plane didn't do. It landed straight to the field because it was already at low level. I'm not sure about that but I have that kind of impression.

It has been stated that Wind is the source for this false "chimney crash story" which has lived tens of years although it has been proved that Wind didn't even wittness Hitler's landing because he had lost the plane. My theory in this is that it looked like the plane would have flown straight through the chimney if someone was looking from the right angle. In Finnish Aviation History Magazine Hitler's pilot Baur has also told about the flight to Immola and he don't mention anything on chimney. I think he would have remembered that if there would be any chance to hit it?

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#7

Post by Topspeed » 01 Jul 2004, 22:56

Harri,

I hear you, maybe he wanted to add little drama to the boring uptight visit or something ?

JT

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#8

Post by Mek » 22 Jul 2004, 04:27

Hi,

Wasn't Hitler's FW Condors landing gear tyre on fire when it
landed in Immola? Was that fire caused by the breaks?

Regards,
-Pete

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#9

Post by Juha Hujanen » 26 Jul 2004, 16:00

Yep,the Condor tyre caught fire while the pilot made an heavy braking.I guess it was quite common with that plane type.Finnish mechanic Sergeant Bruno Nyberg ran to plane and put the fire down with a fire extinguisher.

Later he was awarded with Verdienstorden vom Deutschen Adler.

The burning tyre can be seen in news reel footage taken in event.

Cheers/Juha

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#10

Post by Harri » 26 Jul 2004, 19:14

Actually there was a some sort of planning or assembling mistake in all FW Condors' brakes (wrong, too soft materiel). A valve which should release brakes automatically after braking jammed easily and brake shoes could caught fire when overheated. Brakes of the Hitlers plane had partly jammed already earlier when plane was rolled at Rastenburg airfield. Additional landing and take-off for example in Tallinn (like was originally planned) could have been fatal because in FW Condor retracted wheels were next to fuel tanks. During the war several FW Condors "disappeared" without any sensible reason. This could be one explanation: sudden explosion and total destruction mid-air due to brake shoe fire.

Immola runway is rather short and Baur had to brake harder than usually to get the plane stop. I think FW Condor is the biggest plane ever landed to Immola airfield. The base was originally intended for medium bombers.

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#11

Post by Juha Hujanen » 28 Jul 2004, 01:15

Thank's Harri for interisting info :)

What if AH would have dissapeared over Gulf of Finland in 42...

Cheers/Juha

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#12

Post by Harri » 30 Jul 2004, 00:00

Juha Hujanen wrote:What if AH would have dissapeared over Gulf of Finland in 42...
:D

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#13

Post by Beau sabreur » 27 Sep 2004, 17:51

Harri wrote:About ten years ago I talked about a Finnish veteran whose position during the war was the heavy AA battery located at Tuulikallio in Imatra (about 0.5 to 1 km north-west from the current Imatra railway station and a bridge over River Vuoksi). According to him they didn't know anything about the Hitler's arrival. During his evening off on 3.6.1942 his brother who worked on the Immola air base told that it was ordered that all men should immediately return back to their units. He did so but no-one in his unit knew anything. There was already a rumour that Mannerheim would perhaps arrive in Imatra when battery received an order not to shoot any planes seen.

During the morning several German planes arrived to Immola and men started already thingking what what going on. Straight after noon they saw a very large plane flying low at the cloud level following the coastline of Lake Saimaa. According to him weather was rather bad and clouds were at low level.

There were initially eight escorting Brewsters but six of them (including "Hasse" Wind) lost Hitler's plane because they couldn't fly in tight enough formation due to bad visibility and danger in crashing with Hitler's FW Condor.

You can see more from my "homepage":
http://www.geocities.com/finnmilpge/fmp_4_6_1942.html
Hi !

I have been trying for some time now, to get a copy of the secret video taping of Hitler's visit to Mannerheim at Immola. I have written an email to the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yleisradio), but they didn't answer. I have tried other sources, to no avail. I cannot imagine that this tape is treated with some sort of restriction...or? Do you or anybody else have any suggestion as to where can I buy a copy of the secret taping?
Cheers!

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#14

Post by Topspeed » 27 Sep 2004, 19:38

No but you can hear part of it in Movies&Games section under Der Untergang. OTOH it would possibly be a best seller after movie has been released world wide.

rgds,

Juke

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#15

Post by Hanski » 28 Sep 2004, 07:30

Beau sabreur wrote: I have been trying for some time now, to get a copy of the secret video taping of Hitler's visit to Mannerheim at Immola.
It is actually an audio recording. I think it is rude of the YLE not to reply to you. I am not aware of how many copies exist or who could distribute them, but I suspect anything related to Hitler is regarded as so emotionally sensitive material that all requests of copies are treated very strictly.

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