Airborne Ambulances

Narvik · Post by **Narvik** » 13 May 2002 02:02

Does anyone know what these airplanes were called? Were they found to be effective?

TonyG · Post by **TonyG** » 13 May 2002 02:18

I don't see any pics

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 13 May 2002 04:19

What country ? Germany would be a Ju 52 if I understand your question correctly

E

Narvik · Post by **Narvik** » 13 May 2002 04:49

Yeah, I meant the German ones. Did other countries have them as well? Were they found to be effective?

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 13 May 2002 04:56

Can't say for a fact if the other countries had a specific a/c but it would be most likely a transport-type such as Germany's Ju 52, which of course had a myriad of roles. Towards the final retreat from Ost Preussia and estern part of the Reich, anything was used that could house 5 or more people. have interviewed German pilots flying their Ju 88G-6 night fighters toward the inner Reich with their 4 man crews plus another 5/6 or whomever they could stuff into the cockpit or into the fuselage........ tight fit !

E

Logan Hartke · Post by **Logan Hartke** » 13 May 2002 05:21

Narvik wrote:Yeah, I meant the German ones. Did other countries have them as well? Were they found to be effective?

Certainly. I think that the US had the most, using mainly C-47s, but also using C-46s and C-54s at the end of the war. A few B-17s and B-24s were also converted for that purpose.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/modern_flight/c47hsp.htm

Logan Hartke

Gwynn Compton · Post by **Gwynn Compton** » 13 May 2002 09:51

If I recall correctly several Ju-52s were converted into Air Ambulances and saw service on the Ostfront. They were nicknamed St Ju's, and were crucial in getting wounded soldiers from the blitzkrieg advances to field hospitals that lagged behind the lead formations.

I'll try to find you the exact reference out of Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, but unfortunately there's no reference in the index to them, so it may take a little while.

Mistel1 · Post by **Mistel1** » 13 May 2002 12:56

Polish and Barbarossa campaigns are OK, but are there any ambulance Ju-52's in the African front too? If so, which geschwadern and/or gruppen used these?

I'v always thought a model of Ju-52 ambulance in green spots over dark sand would be cool.

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 13 May 2002 15:42

Germany also used the Heinkel-59 seaplane in their "Seenotdienst"
They were white with red cross markings.

EE

Erich · Post by **Erich** » 13 May 2002 17:06

Yes, they used Ju's in Afrika and they were flown by transport personell which was independent of any bomber or fighter geschwaderen. See Barry Rosch's Luftwaffe codes book.......I do not own it but you will find every German Luftwaffe code present to your liking. I'll check further.

E

Antonio Pena · Post by **Antonio Pena** » 13 May 2002 22:53

In the german side there is another plane used specifically as airborne ambulance, the Fieseler Fi-156 D-1, many times the other variants of the Fi-156 were used as ambulances but in the book Fi-156 in Zweiten Weltkrieg of Piekalkiewicz we can see many photos of the Fi-156 D-1 used as ambulance.
And sure the Ju-52 and He-59 are the task of "sanitär flugzeuge" with the Red Cross emblem on his sides.

Mistel1 · Post by **Mistel1** » 14 May 2002 07:04

Erich,

Thanks for the confirmation info. But the independent transport personnel
concept raised another question in my head: Didn't these ambulance Ju-52's have particular TG or KG zbV markings? If not, did they have four-letter (LL + LL) codes? Do you have any info on that?

Thanks in advance...

Ovidius · Post by **Ovidius** » 20 Jun 2002 10:55

Antonio Pena wrote:In the german side there is another plane used specifically as airborne ambulance, the Fieseler Fi-156 D-1, many times the other variants of the Fi-156 were used as ambulances but in the book Fi-156 in Zweiten Weltkrieg of Piekalkiewicz we can see many photos of the Fi-156 D-1 used as ambulance.
And sure the Ju-52 and He-59 are the task of "sanitär flugzeuge" with the Red Cross emblem on his sides.

The Royal Romanian Army had also used as flying ambulances the Fieseler Fi-156, but mostly the Polish RWD-13.

The Romanian Government had established on June 26, 1940 the Medical Squadron("White Squadron"), with exclusively female flying personnel, equipped with 4 planes type RWD-13 and 3 planes type RWD-13S, later receiving more 2 RWD-13, 2 "Monospar" and 1 Potez 65.

More to come later.

~Ovidius

Robert Hurst · Post by **Robert Hurst** » 26 Nov 2002 16:38

Hi Narvik

Just thought you'd be interested in the following pics taken from 'The Warplanes of the Third Reich', by William Green.

Regards

Bob

Marcus · Post by **Marcus** » 26 Nov 2002 17:07

Robert,

Thanks for sharing those interesting images.

/Marcus

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