Kampfgeschwader 55 collection

[jim murray]

Bordfunkerschein (Radio operator/Air gunner lience) to Uffz Karl Zischler of 8th staffel III gruppe KG55. He joined KG55 on the 1st of June 1940 and served with III gruppe up till 1st of June 1941. He would have flown with KG55 in the latter stages of the French campaign and the whole of the Battle of Britain. His Gruppenkommandeur in III gruppe for that period was Hauptmann Heinrich Wittmer who went on to win the Knightscross on the 12th of November 1941.

Interestingly Karl Zischiler would have served with for some time in 8th staffel with Fw Friedrich Linge whose awards and soldbuch were shown by Necker.

[jim murray]

Pic 1. The front cover
Pic 2. The inside cover, the first signature is Heinrich Wittmer's

[PANZERPIONIERE]

Wonderful collection.
I really enjoy themed collections, for me it is the hunt for items to a specific unit or branch.
Steve

[Bob Lyons]

I always your postings Jim, quality Luftwaffe items from a top collection with the knowledgee and experience to back up every posting !

Superb stuff


Bob

[The Dragon]

I enjoy the updates on this thread and check in to view on a regular basis. Fair play to Jim for starting it and to everyone else who has contributed to the thread. Its great to see a focused theme like this as well as team work from other collectors.

Keep up the good work everyone.

[jotuntroll]

Superb collection. I really like that you have spesific collected this KG and not just random. Great work

[jim murray]

When your collection is to one specific unit, a lot of it tends to be paperwork, but some collectors do not rate paperwork that much, but I must say I think the real history is to be found in flugbuch's, soldbuch's, wehrpass's and documents etc. and if you take the time and do a little research you can build a history of that person. I've a number of good document groups to KG55 members and have started to do a little research on them. I've just completed the first one, it's to a Lt. Martin Imm of 1st staffel. It's easy to do, all you need is a unit history and be able to identify signatures.
The group consists of his Flugzeugfuhrer, Frontflug-Spange in Bronze, EKII and EKI documents, his NSFK card, his Flugzeugfuhrerschein (Pilots Licence) and some pages of his diary. Interestingly he attached the page form his soldbuch which contained his awards and also has staffel commander's signatures (a great help in doing the research)

<O</O
Lieutenant Martin Imm was born on the 26<SUP>th</SUP> September 1915 in the town of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on">Tabora</st1:City> in German East Africa (now<ST1<st1:country-region w:st="on">Tanzania</st1:country-region></ST1) At some stage after the 1919 treaty of <st1:City w:st="on">Versailles</st1:City>, the family returned to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1Germany</ST1</st1:country-region>. Martin had a keen interest in aviation and joined the national sozialsticfliegenkorps (NSFK) and received his glider pilots licence on the 24<SUP>th</SUP> October 1941. Enlisting in the Luftwaffe, he began pilot training in “Flugzeugfuhrerschle” (flying school) C17 in the town of <st1:City w:st="on">Putnitz</st1:City> in northern <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region> near<ST1 <st1:City w:st="on">Rostock</st1:City></ST1. On March 31<SUP>st</SUP> 1943 he received his pilots licence and one month later on April 30<SUP>th</SUP>, he gained the coveted Luftwaffe pilots badge. He than transferred to the Blindflugschule 7” (blind flying school) and on August 16<SUP>th</SUP> 1943 he qualified for his blind flying b/II licence.
<O</O
Now as a fully qualified bomber pilot Martin was posted to I gruppe Kampfgeschwader 55 (KG55). He served in 1<SUP>st</SUP> Staffel under the command of Hupt Kurt Micklei. At this time I gruppe were flying the Heinkel III-H16 and were based at Deblin-Irena, south west of Warsaw in Poland, for rest and refitting.
But by 1944 they were back in action again, between January and the end of March. Martin took part with his staffel in the dropping of supplied to the 1<SUP>st</SUP> panzer army in the “kinel pocket” in eastern Poland. April saw them engaged in attacking rail targets south west of Kiev in the Ukraine and in May I gruppe were temporarily transformed to “Focsani” in Romania to aid in the resupply of the Crimea. It was at this time Martin was awarded the Luftwaffe bomber clasp in bronze for having completed twenty plus combat missions. He received it on May 24<SUP>th</SUP> 1944 and only eight days later on June 1<SUP>st</SUP> he was awarded they Iron Cross 2<SUP>nd</SUP> class for bravery in the face of the enemy.
<O</O
June 1<SUP>st</SUP> was also the day when the Luftwaffe launched one of their most spectacular raids on the eastern front. The US 8<SUP>th</SUP> army airforce had acquired from the Russians the use of the air field at Poitava. Their intention was to use it as a shuttle base. The B17s and B24s would fly out from England, bomb Germany and instead of returning to England would fly on to Poitava, refuel and rearm and on the return trip a day or two later would bomb Germany again. This was first tried on 1<SUP>st</SUP> of June, but unfortunately for the Americans the B17s were tailed by a Me. 109 to Poitava. That same night a bombing raid was quickly organised to attack the airfield. Forty seven B17s and other aircraft were destroyed on the ground. The attack was carried out by I gruppe KG55. The shuttle idea was shelved, never to be tried again.
<O</O
The end of June saw Martin and 1<SUP>st</SUP> staffel flying in the “Bobrursk-Minsk” and “Slobosa” area to oppose the Russian summer offensive (operation Bagration). At the beginning of July I gruppe moved to central <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region> where they were engaged mainly in night operations over <st1:country-region w:st="on">Lithuania</st1:country-region> and eastern <st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1Poland</ST1</st1:country-region>. By the end of the month they has withdrawn to North West Poland and from there flew missions against the Vistula bridges at Warsaw. By late August I gruppe has left Poland for good. They reassembled with the rest of the geschwader in <st1:State w:st="on">Bavaria</st1:State> in southern<st1:country-region w:st="on"><ST1Germany</ST1</st1:country-region>. On August 31<SUP>st</SUP>, Martin was awarded the Iron Cross 1<SUP>st</SUP> class for continued bravery in action. In early September I gruppe moved again, this time to the town of Straubing in Austria, where it was renamed I gruppe KG(J)55 and began conversion to a fighter unit, flying the Me109.<O</O
Lt. Martin Imm was awarded the bomber clasp in Bronze. The Iron Cross 2<SUP>nd</SUP> and 1<SUP>st</SUP> class in a period of just ten weeks. They achieved this in such a short time he would have had to have been in action constantly and have flown at least sixty combat missions. Interestingly both the RAF and USAAF bomber crews went home after they had completed twenty-five missions (by late in the war the USAAF had increased that number to thirty five

Martin survived the war and moved to Uruguay in South America and was still liveing there in 1976 he was also a member of the KG55 veterans assocation.

[jim murray]

His Flugzeugfuhrer document signed by Generaloberst Bruno Loerzer, and his Frontflug-Spange in Bronze signed by Major Willy Antrup.

[jim murray]

His EKII and EKI documents, the EKI is signed by Generaloberst Ritter Von Greim

[jim murray]

NSFK card.

[jim murray]

His Flugzeugfuhrerschein.

[jim murray]

The page from his soldbuch which is attached to his flugzeugfuhrerschein and a page from his diary.

[jim murray]

Two more diary pages.

[jim murray]

Not exactly an original KG55 item, but a nice gift from a very good friend of mine. It depicts a KG55 pilot standing next a geschwader souvenir, the tail of a Russian aircraft with the geschwader name painted on it.

[jim murray]

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