Text 16419, 93 rader
Skriven 2011-04-05 16:16:04 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
  Kommentar till text 16378 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Mortsel Ertl VII aircraft plant      was: Navigation
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04 Apr 11 23:39, Ward Dossche wrote to Roy Witt:


 RW>> The reason Mortsel was bombed was because of the aircraft factory
 RW>> that was producing ME-109s (over 4000) and parts. If y'all hadn't
 RW>> consorted with the enemy to build weapons of war, y'all would have
 RW>> been left alone.

 WD> You quietly ommit, because you know none of the facts, that most of
 WD> the skilled workers in that factory were German.

LOL! You're almost right. Most of the workers in that plant were locals
working under superior German supervision. BTW, why do Belgians insist on
building schools next to the airport?

/quote

I. A Case of Recycled Aircraft

"the goal of the Me-109 G-10 program was not a further development of the
G series, but an attempt to convert older, repairable aircraft such as the
G-6 and G-14 to a standard of performance roughly equal to the K-4 that
was still under development.

My best example of this practice is the Erla Machinenwerk GmbH of Leipzig
who had been building the Me-109 under license since 1937. Ingenieur Fritz
Bartsch, a long serving staff member was tasked to organize a
Reparturbetrieb (a large scale repair depot) in Belgium.

The site selected was the old Minerva automobile works at Mortsel, a
suburb south of Antwerp, located near the Deurne-Antwerp Airfield and
conveniently close to a railway siding.

[Civilian Workers]

Civilian workers and contractors willing to work for the Germans were
found, the necessary tools and machinery brought in and from 1941 until
the Allies were literally knocking on the front door with the Germans
quickly exiting out the rear, Frontrepartutbetrieb GL Erla VII was an
ongoing concern.

[The Erla VII factory work]

Trainloads of damaged Me-109s arrived at this depot and were quickly
stripped down and overhauled. The latest modifications were incorporated
during repairs along with the latest Umrust-Baustaze (factory conversion
sets) and then the refurbished aircraft were repainted, test flown and
delivered to front line units.

All of this activity didn't escape the notice of the Allies and Erla VII
did become a victim of a rather abortive bombing attempt by U.S. forces on
April 5, 1943. Little damage was done and Erla VII was used for series
repair of the Me-109 until September 1944, when they were forced to
retreat in the face of advancing Canadian forces. From there, they set up
shop in Munster until the end of the war.

/unquote

The above is an excerpt from: A Tale of Two Messerschmitts  By: Richard
Corey

 WD> hit the factory ... which actually never stopped producing.

At least you got that right.

 RW>> WD> Great navigation that day ... clear view ... open skies ...
 RW>> close to
 RW>> WD> a thousand casualties. 2 schools destroyed by direct hits.

 RW>> Colateral damage due to consorting with your occupiers.

 WD> When you fail to significantly hit the target but destroy a village
 WD> center more than a mile away while there was minimal wind, sun was
 WD> out and maximum visibility then it's not collateral damage but sheer
 WD> incompetence of the ones pressing the release button.

Most bombing raids left a path a mile wide due to the altitude (required
to be at or above the highest range of the 88mm anti-aircraft cannon) at
which the bombs were dropped. And of course, the anti-fighter protective
formation flown by the B17s allowed that spread. It wasn't like they were
all lined up in a row and each took their turn.

 WD> Tomorrow it's April 5th, the 68th anniversary of the massacre.

Colateral damage day. Make sure you say a prayor for all of those B17
personel who gave their all to stop the carnage by your uncle Adolph.

                R\%/itt

  Fox News was not used as a source for information in this message!

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