LB-80 (Heinkel He-177A-5) (What If?)
Comments
Daniel KřivánekDěkuji.
Však už mé stavby znáš z MF a víš, že se tím bavím, ale jsem rád, že se líbí 😉
Robert PodkońskiI love your "hidden" story of Czechoslovak Air Force, Daniel! Fantastic model!
Ludvík KružíkA fun and believable story and a well put together model. Congratulations! 👍
Daniel KřivánekThank you very much. I must admit that I enjoy these projects very much.
Album info
LB-80 (Heinkel He-177 A-5), LP 25, Havlickuv Brod Airport, spring 1947. Revell model in 1/72 scale, masks and decals by U ptáka a kocoura Design Studio.
One of the great surprises that awaited our aviation experts at the Cheb airfield was, besides the discovery of He-219 and Ar-234 aircraft, also the discovery of a four-engine He-117 bomber, which was produced there together with Fritz X glide bombs. It was decided that the entire facility would be tested at VLU. The tests were excellent and it was decided that the aircraft would be moved to LP 25 at Havlickuv Brod, which was subordinate to the 6th Air Division. The machine retained its original livery. The upper surfaces of the sharply cut field RLM70/RLM71 and the lower surfaces and fuselage sides RLM76. After the transfer of LP 25, it was assigned to a second squadron with the designation MU-17, which was also on the nose. The aircraft distinguished itself in the spring of 1947.
It was March, the spring thaw was expected, and river levels were rising. On March 11, seventy-five years ago, an ice barrier formed on the Danube River near Heinburg, Austria, and then another in Bratislava where the Lido swimming pool used to be. Part of Petržalka and the village of Ovsiště had already been flooded. According to the plan, the barrier on the Austrian side was to be released by the Red Army by bombing, but only after the accumulated bushes under Bratislava had been removed to prevent the city from being flooded. But the agreement was not kept, the barrier at Heinburg was released by bombing and on 13 March the level of the Danube in Bratislava reached 7 metres above normal. And more masses continued to pour in from the upper reaches.
A moment of quick decision-making began. According to the Bulletin of the Union of Airmen of the Czech Republic, Colonel Josef Šnajdr, commander of the 6th Air Division in Havlíčkův Brod, was given command of the action, which was carried out by C-3B aircraft from the base of the Nový Dvor airfield near Maláčky. The scouts found that 40 to 50 kilometres below Bratislava, towards Komárno, there was a continuous ice barrier whose thickness ranged from 70 to 8 centimetres.
The first two Bombers piloted by Sgt. Rudolf Haering and probably Staff Sergeant Flek took off on 12 March and completed eight sorties, dropping 24 bombs weighing 70kg and 14 bombs weighing a quarter of a ton. The following day the aircraft flew six more times over the Danube, but the situation did not improve. Therefore, it was decided to call from the airfield in Havlickuv Brod an LB-80 aircraft, piloted by Maj. Jiří Maňák and armed with twin Fritz X glide bombs. The LB-80 carried out a total of four raids during the day, dropping 4 bombs. Shortly after 4 pm that day, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; the barrier began to loosen and the ice moved. Yet on 15 March, all four aircraft flew 13 sorties to prevent the ice barrier from forming again anywhere along the Danube. But by then the water in Bratislava had already begun to recede noticeably. And at 2 p.m. on 15 March, the end of the danger was announced, and the next day the Danube was free along the entire length of its course in the Czechoslovakia.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
