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About 30 years ago, Richard Smith and Eddie Creek gave me photocopied extracts from Arnold's Flugbuch (logbook), covering his flights on the Ar 234. They had serious doubts about the document's authenticity. At first glance it does not look wrong, all the details are filled in, including cumulative hours and distances flown. Many of Arnold’s Bemerkungen (remarks) and other entries are too small or too faint to read (at least on the photocopy I have) but some of what can be made out gives cause for concern. Speed Where distances flown on operations are legible, the average speeds calculated from flight times fall (with one exception) in the range 699–700. km/h, exactly the paper cruising speed of an Ar 234 B-2. This remarkably consistent performance extends to a flight aborted after 30 minutes because the starboard engine gave “no output”. Since flying conditions can hardly have been so consistent, it seems altogether more likely that the distances were derived through simply multiplying the textbook cruising speed by the hours spent in the air. Oranienburg, Rheine and Biblis According to the Flugbuch, Arnold's Ar 234 conversion course took place in Oranienburg (the base of the Versuchsverband OKL) from 5–8 December 1944. These and flights took place on T9+AH. All of his subsequent ones were on T9+FH (the code incidentally of a Ju 88 T-1 he had flown a number of times in Setpember that year). His supposed flights with Kdo. Sperling cannot be corroborated from other sources:
Bavaria – Italy – Bavaria We know from ULTRA that on 22 February 1945 a message was sent to Sommer that Arnold had landed in München-Riem. According to Arnold’s Flugbuch however he was in Oranienburg until 2 March. He flew to Riem that day, then moved to Lechfeld on the 6th and to Udine on the 13th. Arnold logged no fewer than 27 operational flights in Italy between 15 March and 28 April, more than Sommer’s estimate (about 20 ops) of his own contribution.
Distances flown Distances quoted for transfer flights are appear quite accurate as the crow flies. Distances for operations cannot be verified without knowing the route taken: my guess is that an Ar 234 flew fast and high enough not to need a deceptive flightplan but I could be wrong. Measured on satellite imagery and assuming each leg was a straight line there do seem to be some gross erors in the Flugbuch. For example: Udine–Ravenna–Firenze–Bologna–Udine given as 1342 km, measures approx. 600 km Udine–Ancona–S. Benedetto–Udine given as 1516 km, measures approx. 700 km Udine–Elba–Pisa–Udine, also given as 1516 km, measures approx. 865 km More questions The Flugbuch does seem to bear some relationship to the established facts, in outline if not in specifics. Many of the places listed as covered during operations are known to have been destinations for the Arados; the Italian bases used were operational airfields at the time, even if not all are known to have hosted jets. Yet so far not one flight logged can be corroborated from my other sources. Did Arnold compile the log later from memory, invent flights to pad out his actual record, incorporate operations by the other members of the Kommando or even make up the whole thing? Which flights if any are genuine? Since it is impossible to be sure I did rely on Arnold's Flugbuch as a source for this article. |
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QUESTION How credible a source is Walter Arnold's Flugbuch? |
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