[Full title: Der Feldflugplatz Brunnthal. Ausweich- und Schattenplatz der Luftwaffe 1944-1945] Norbert Loy, Verlag Veit Scherzer, Bayreuth, Germany, 2016, ISBN 978-3-938845-64-6. Illustrated, hardcover, published in German and English.
Cover image © by Norbert Loy/Verlag Veit Scherzer, 2016.
Many years ago, in what now seems like another life, I was romantically involved with a German woman who lived outside of Munich, in a village south of the Hofoldinger forest. I therefore made numerous return trips between Munich and her home on what is now the southbound Bundesautobahn 8 [German federal motorway 8] and once was the Reichsautobahn [Reich motorway] Munich to Salzburg.
None of these trips was ever ordinary to me, for a reason. In spite of the fact that the modern Bundesautobahn has been massively expanded with regard to infrastructure and width when compared to the original configuration of the 1930s and 40s, it still passes the hamlet of Brunnthal in a perfectly straight routeing and, north and south of the hamlet, is still flanked by woods. It is thus easy even today to imagine Luftwaffe aircraft hidden between the trees just beyond the shoulder of the Autobahn and using this very motorway for take-offs and landings. For the fields and the Reichsautobahn around Brunnthal served as an improvised auxiliary airfield during the last, desperate months of the war.
Numerous photos have been printed here and there throughout the years of Luftwaffe bombers, destroyers, nightfighters, and jets either concealed in the forest next to the motorway or on the immediate post-war aircraft scrapyard that Brunnthal airfield became after the cessation of hostilities. Some of these pictures were properly identified. But many weren't, and the story behind them, more often than not, was either told in mere fragments or left to misinformation or even obscurity. It is far easier to bemoan this situation, however, than to actually research the history of the Brunnthal airfield and collect the vast and widely scattered photographic evidence in order to compile a chronicle and properly integrate and connect all these pieces of the puzzle. Thankfully, local historian Norbert Loy has undertaken the effort, and the result is magnificent.
We had to wait for years for this beautiful book to appear. There were glimpses at photos and information in various publications, for decades. David E. Brown had written about some of the aircraft found at Brunnthal on an online specialist discussion forum in 2008, for example. And Norbert Loy himself published a comprehensive article on Brunnthal airfield and its few months of operations in German magazine Jet & Prop 4/2010. The information and photos provided therein were extraordinarily interesting. A footnote at the end of Loy's article announced the forthcoming publication of a full book of the author's findings. Given the article's content, it was clear that this had the potential to become an important and deeply intriguing work.
But years passed, and nothing happened. In fact, an initial announcement of the book subsequently disappeared again, indicating, perhaps, that it actually might never see publication. But in 2016, Loy finally released the results of his comprehensive research, under the title of Der Feldflugplatz Brunnthal. Ausweich- und Schattenplatz der Luftwaffe 1944-1945 [Brunnthal Airfield. Auxiliary And Shadow Field Of The Luftwaffe 1944-1945]. It is quite a massive book, at 392 pages and a format of 23 x 28 x 5 (!) cm, with 40 colour photos, 178 black & white photos, plus uncounted facsimile documents, colour profiles, listings/charts, and maps. Moreover, the book is thankfully published with both German and English text, a decision that should be applauded.
Loy's publication is indispensable for anybody seriously interested in late-war Luftwaffe aircraft and activities. Although new information regarding the Brunnthal airfield occasionally continues to surface (and the book's existence actually serves as one of the catalysts in this regard), Der Feldflugplatz Brunnthal is without question a requisite benchmark publication. Loy has structured the book very methodically. He commences with the establishment of the airfield in may/June 1944 and then details various components of the airfield's operations, such as anti aircraft installations, local aircraft maintenance, or the use of the Autobahn as one of the airstrips. All of this is expanded upon by means of recollections by period eyewitnesses, interspersed throughout the book.
Loy also makes extensive use of US sources regarding the discovery of the airfield and the resulting attacks on it. These operations form a significant and essential part of the narrative and serve to complete the understanding of the airfield's day to day subsistence. Allied wartime aerial reconnaissance photos of Brunnthal are analyzed and captioned in detail, which helps the reader to further visualise the relevant contents of the very detailed text.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the book, at least from the vantage point of this blog's author, is the collection and examination of all available photographic material in order to provide an exhaustive overview of all Luftwaffe aircraft that were located at Brunnthal airfield at the end of the war. This is the book's most substantial and most fascinating section. The mixture of aircraft types assembled at this rather makeshift auxiliary airfield is astounding, regardless of whether these aircraft had still flown active missions or arrived there by way of retreat from Allied troops advancing on other airfields. Quite a number of these aircraft were subsequently intentionally destroyed as Germany surrendered.
Loy identifies 57 different aircraft and attempts to put them into proper context, if possible, using markings, Werknummern, wreckage, and other evidence. There is the enormous Junkers Ju 290 A-7 9V+AB, for example, photos of which have appeared in a variety of past publications. There are various Junkers Ju 88 G-6 and Messerschmitt Bf 110 G-4 nightfighters, due to their equipment among the most modern aircraft in existence at the time. There are large and small transports, such as Siebel Si 204s and Ju 52s, there are Heinkel He 111 and Junkers Ju 88 A bombers, as well as Messerschmitt Me 410s, Junkers Ju 188s, and Junkers Ju 87s. And, perhaps most intriguing, there are numerous Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters and individual Jumo 004 jet engines.
Many of these aircraft are documented with as many photos as Loy could find, and these photos are fortunately often reproduced across full pages or even double-page spreads. Photo reproduction, on matte paper, is quite good. It must be repeated here, this book's photographic content is spectacular for any student of this topic. The final part of Loy's work provides a glossary of aircraft unit codes, a number of very nice colour profiles, further facsimile documents, flight logs, and colour photos of surviving artefacts recovered on site.
This is truly a book that cannot be recommended highly enough. It is a near inexhaustible source of diligently and internationally researched and appealingly presented material. The author must be commended for the immense effort he put into this publication. Upon seeing the scope of this book, it is easy to understand the delay in its publication. The waiting time was undoubtedly worth it.
Post script: Loy followed the publication of his book with a further article in Jet & Prop 2/2017, this time focusing solely on the Me 262 jet fighters found at Brunnthal at war's end.