Figure 1.--There is no doubnt that this Hitler Youth (HJ) boy wants to be a pilot. And he has an opportunity to do just that. The Fliger HJ program helped aquaint boys with flying and then funnel qualified boys into the Luftwaffe. We are not sure about the plane he is examining here. We think it may be a variant of the FW-190. This was the premier German fighter in the air war over northern Europe. Most 190s had a radial engine but this one had some major changes. In February 1945 the D-12 variant went into production, using a Jumo 213F-1 in line engine with a radial radiator built in front of the engine . Best climb rate was up to 3,642 ft./min.), and speed up to 458.5 mph (at 38,080 ft!). The D-12 was armed with a 30mm Mk. 108 cannon firing through the propeller boss and two wing mounted 20mm cannons. Altogether just short of 700 FW 190D models were produced before the end of the war. But most of those 190Ds had the usual radial engine. Most of the FW-190s did not have a cannon firing through the nose like the Me-109. There were versions that had two machine guns and two 20mm cannon on the nose and others with two machine guns on the nose and a 20mm in each wing. There were very few of this variant with the cannon in the center hub. A reader writes, "This is a very powerful picture of a boy very well motivated into flying and becoming a pilot. Its the intence look he gives to the plane and actually touching the propeller well it just adds to the excitement. The German boy is just like lots of other boys the world over who want to be a pilot. In his case was a desire to defend his country from the Allied bombing."

There is no doubnt that this Hitler Youth (HJ) boy wants to be a pilot. And he has an opportunity to do just that. The Fliger HJ program helped aquaint boys with flying and then funnel qualified boys into the Luftwaffe. We are not sure about the plane he is examining here. We think it may be a variant of the FW-190. This was the premier German fighter in the air war over northern Europe. Most 190s had a radial engine but this one had some major changes. In February 1945 the D-12 variant went into production, using a Jumo 213F-1 in line engine with a radial radiator built in front of the engine . Best climb rate was up to 3,642 ft./min.), and speed up to 458.5 mph (at 38,080 ft!). The D-12 was armed with a 30mm Mk. 108 cannon firing through the propeller boss and two wing mounted 20mm cannons. Altogether just short of 700 FW 190D models were produced before the end of the war. But most of those 190Ds had the usual radial engine. Most of the FW-190s did not have a cannon firing through the nose like the Me-109. There were versions that had two machine guns and two 20mm cannon on the nose and others with two machine guns on the nose and a 20mm in each wing. There were very few of this variant with the cannon in the center hub. Areader writes, "his is a very powerful picture of a boy very well motivated into flying and becoming a pilot. Its the intence look he gives to the plane and actually touching the propeller well it just adds to the excitement. The German boy is just like lots of other boys the world over who want to be a pilot. In his case was a desire to defend his country from the Allied bombing."

Flieger HJ Boy

There is no doubnt that this Hitler Youth (HJ) boy wants to be a pilot. And he has an opportunity to do just that. The Fliger HJ program helped aquaint boys with flying and then funnel qualified boys into the Luftwaffe. A reader writes, "This is a very powerful picture of a boy very well motivated into flying and becoming a pilot. Its the intence look he gives to the plane and actually touching the propeller well it just adds to the excitement. The German boy is just like lots of other boys the world over who want to be a pilot. In his case was a desire to defend his country from the Allied bombing." We are not entirely sure what was on his mind. We believe the photograph was taken after the Allied strategic bombing campaign began, probanly 1943. We note many Germns believd that bombing their cities was a war crime,even something Germany woukd not do. We are not sure how to interpret this. We know that knowkledge of killing civilians was wide soread in the Wehrmacht, but boys this age probably did not know about it. We are not sure to what extent the German public was aware of German terror bombings or ither bombing of enemy cities. The Germans had a weekly news rel shiwn in movie theaters. We are not show to what extent these news reels showed German bombing operations. The Luftwaffe began bombing Polish cities the first day of the War. We believe few boys at thus time understood that the Allied bombing followed German air attacks on cities from Warsaw to Rotterdam and London. Goebbels Propaganda labeled the attacks on German citues a war crime. He was silent about the Grman attackshikle the Luftwaffe still held battlef

Focke-Wulf 190

We are not sure about the plane he is examining here. We think it may be a variant of the FW-190. This was the premier German fighter in the air war over northern Europe. Most 190s had a radial engine but this one had some major changes. In February 1945 the D-12 variant went into production, using a Jumo 213F-1 in line engine with a radial radiator built in front of the engine . Best climb rate was up to 3,642 ft./min.), and speed up to 458.5 mph (at 38,080 ft!). The D-12 was armed with a 30mm Mk. 108 cannon firing through the propeller boss and two wing mounted 20mm cannons. Altogether just short of 700 FW 190D models were produced before the end of the war. But most of those 190Ds had the usual radial engine. Most of the FW-190s did not have a cannon firing through the nose like the Me-109. There were versions that had two machine guns and two 20mm cannon on the nose and others with two machine guns on the nose and a 20mm in each wing. There were very few of this variant with the cannon in the center hub. A reader writes, "This is a very powerful picture of a boy very well motivated into flying and becoming a pilot. Its the intence look he gives to the plane and actually touching the propeller well it just adds to the excitement. The German boy is just like lots of other boys the world over who want to be a pilot. In his case was a desire to defend his country from the Allied bombing."

Created: 11:23 PM 6/12/2013
Last updated: 11:23 PM 6/12/2013