ROA Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-3/R11-U4

[comrade harps]

Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-3/R11-U4
White 11, person mount of Major Anton Smolov
1st Eastern Squadron, 1st Aircraft Regiment of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), Luftwaffe
Fels am Wagram, Austria, February 1946



Major Anton Smolov was born in eastern Poland in 1919, the son of Russian emigres who had fled the Russian Revolution of 1918. By the time of the September 1939 Polish invasions by Germany and the Socialist Union he was heavily involved with the White Russian Army and had a private aircraft pilot licence. Interned by the Germans, he was subsequently released to fly with Deutsche Luft Hansa on routes within Nazi-occupied Europe and to neighbouring neutral nations. Following Operation Valkyrie, the 20 August 1944 assassination of Hitler and anti-Nazi coup, Smolov joined the Luftwaffe and subsequently transferred to the ROA. In December 1944 the ROA established the 1st Aircraft Regiment of the Russian Liberation Army, an "independent" fighter unit within the Luftwaffe, with Smolov assigned to the rank of Oberleutnant.






After training on old Bf 109 G-6 fighters, Smolov and his colleagues of the 1st Eastern Squadron (ROA) were issued with Bf 109 K-4s for combat from March 1945, upgrading to the Ta 152 H-1 in August. Although most of his flying experience came from the sedate flying of airliners, Smolov proved to be a valuable fighter pilot and scored his first air kill (a Red Yak-9) on 21 April 1945. By the time he was promoted to Major on 17 November, his tally stood at 12 kills.







The 1st Eastern Squadron (ROA) was issued with their first Ta 152 H-3/R11s in mid-November, 1945. Powered by the Jumo 213J, the H-3/R11 was armed with two 20mm MG151/20s in the wing roots and a single engine-mounted Motorkanone 30 mm MK108 cannon. However, combat experience proved the Mk 108 installation to be problematic, as it was prone to frequent jamming and the occasional early detonation of shells within the blast tube. To overcome these issues Focke-Wulf replaced the R11 on production lines with the R13 (four wing-mounted MG151/20s) and R14 (two MG 151/20s and two Mk 108s in underwing gondolas). For R11s already in operation, the company issued the U4 Umrüst-Bausätze kit, which enabled the removal of the Mk 108 and the installation of a replacement propeller hub (with a solid nose replacing the cannon aperture). Smolov personally picked-up this H-3/R11, marked as White 11, on 16 December 1945 and had it modified to U4 standard in early January. The R11's Mk 108 problems were ultimately identified as being related to faulty brackets that formed part of the blast tube assembly, vibration from the Jumo 213J causing this installation to become misaligned under combat conditions. The Ta 153 H-3/R11 re-entered production with brackets from a different supplier in March 1946.




Major Smolov remained with the 1st Eastern Squadron (ROA) until the end of the European war in May 1946. His 25th and last kill occurred on the 27 April. Rather than surrender to the Reds, Smolov flew White 11 to Aviano in Italy to surrender to the Allies. Following another period of internment, he immigrated to South Africa, where he flew as a commercial airline and bush pilot. The name Mathilde on the fuselage side refers to Mathilde Reus, his German wife whom he married in February 1945.

[NARSES2]

 

[Old Wombat]

  Neat back story, too.

[PR19_Kit]

Cor, lovely long wings there. 

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Looks good - and I like the backstory.

[comrade harps]

Cor, lovely long wings there. 

I knew you would appreciate the long lovelies.