Messerschmitt Me 309 Development & Politics by Dan Sharp and Calum E. Douglas

[Calum Douglas]

Hi Calum,



That's quite an interesting admission! Would these "tinkerer communities" be the clubs etc. that had their origin in the Weimar republic, and Göring is implying they were all broken up as a result of the "Gleichschaltung"?

I just saw that there was a "communications" branch of the Hitlerjugend, which I hadn't been aware of: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachrichten-HJ

The Wikipedia article confirms that they had nowhere enough members to provide the personnel the Wehrmacht needed, despite membership in the HJ being mandatory, with all other youth organisations being banned.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

I cannot say with certainly, I can only add that the context of Görings comment was specifically in terms of radio science (he was getting really annoyed that Martini was not able to reliably get radar returns on mosquitos, and that the British had gadgets which were interfering with their radar). German radar and EM warfare seems to have been considerably superior to that of the British until approximately 1943 after which they fell behind.

 

[NMaude]

I can only add that the context of Görings comment was specifically in terms of radio science (he was getting really annoyed that Martini was not able to reliably get radar returns on mosquitos, and that the British had gadgets which were interfering with their radar).

Goering was technologically illiterate, from what I've read he had a poor understanding of how radios worked for example.

 

[Calum Douglas]

Butcher it, even.

I would only gently add that Dan &/or myself will write what the files say, and not begin with any premise.

If they contain surprises these will be reported with total bluntness, if they confirm the accepted story, this will be reported
with complete acceptance.

 

[Calum Douglas]

Goering was technologically illiterate, from what I've read he had a poor understanding of how radios worked for example.

If you have spent years interviewing the head of radar development, and they suddenly report they cannot detect a particular enemy aircraft, and consistently fail for months to do anything about it, it does not require a degree in physics to understand that there is a problem, and that your opponent is suceeding.

 

[MrTopaz]

I would only gently add that Dan &/or myself will write what the files say, and not begin with any premise.

If they contain surprises these will be reported with total bluntness, if they confirm the accepted story, this will be reported
with complete acceptance.

Apologies if I'm joking the joke, but just for clarity I want to make it understood I was riffing on the 190 Wurger/Shrike/Butcher connection. If the time comes when I, less than gently, try to steer someone towards a literary hit-piece, I'll be aiming them at Terry Goodkind, and not German aircraft production politics of ww2.

 

[Nicknick]

Well, at least my Grandpa (who had no background in electronics) managed to manipulate the "Volksempfänger so, that forbidden programs from the Allies could be heard. This must have been not so uncommon, despite it was punished by death penalty when it came out. So quite a lot of people were still working on radios during as kind of a hobby...