I am planning doing a serious of kits portraying various aircraft flown by Hans Ulrich Rudels. One of them is Academys Ju-87 G-1. The markings include a set claiming to be those of Rudel, but i am not to convinced.
Does anyone know of any images of Rudels G-1. While i can find plenty of images of Rudels other aircraft, his G-1 seems a bit allusive.
can i just stress, its only his G-1 i need info on. I am happy with the markings for his G-2 and B-2.
Thanks in advance.
first off let me say I know nothing about the Ju87. I have several pics of a stuka that claim to be rudels G-1. Problem, he either flew 2 ot 3 G-1’s, the mechine in question got a paint job, or one of more of these pics are false. maybe you guys know. There is alot of debate on this.
several people have said this is infact rudels G-1?? What is that pipe??
If this is true where is the cowling stripe on the others? Work in progress. I have no idea if any of these are helpfull bish but that what I got.
The pipe is a flame dampener/hider for night ops.
I’m wondering, what with the special nature of these planes and the fact probably not many were made, if he flew many different planes due to maintainence scheduling?
If that is the case any one would be correct. Just a thought.
Not seen those G-1’s with the exhaust dampeners on, thought they were ony fitted to the D-7 and 8.
I’ve been buying books just to try to find pictures which say for certain what Rudel’s G-1 looked like. Its amazing that he was the most highly decorated German of the war, and he pionered the use of the 3.7cm guns, but it seem no pictures where taken of his aircraft at this time.
The markings with the kit just don’t make sense and i am just not happy to build it until i can confirm it or find pictures of another aircraft he flew.
This has been a side project of mine. I have not had the time to get real deep into it yet. From the info I gathered thus far his G-1 should have been cannon armed. The 3 lower pics to me seem to be 3 different 87’s. The top one is with out a doubt a eastern front stuka. Theater marking, gear fairing missing, and the general condition are all typical. The middle one the cannons are missing, marking are unknown gear cover are in place. The spinner seems to be painted a different color than the others possibly red. The last one is completely different from the other two. Aircraft and guns look new or VERY well maintained. Paint work, spinner, are different. Marking are not typical eastern front (tactical number on tail?). Finally it seems all the stenciling is intact (very uncommon). I think this is either a staged photo, or a very new airframe. sniff snifff, you smell something? yah I think photo 3 is BS.
It wasn’t uncommon for well known pilots to have 2 or more personal aircraft. So it very possible rudel had 2 or more G-1’s at his command.
The middle picture of those 3 is i believe Rudel’s D-5. I have seen this several times. I am guessing that as the Gruppe commander he switched from cannon armed G’s to bomb armed aircraft depending on the mission.
The problem with the Acedemy decals that come with the kit is that it carries the code T6 BB. This does not make sense seeing that Rudel is commader of the 3rd Gruppe. The only thing i can think of is that it is early on in the use of the G, and as Rudel was one of those who helped pioneered its use, he was useing what ever aircraft happened to be armed, and it could have been pre July 43 when he took command of the Gruppe.
If all else fails i will go with the kit decals, but my project involves 5 kits so i want to get it right if at all possible.
If I’m not mistaken (and I probably am) That third pic is the Ju-87G-0 pre-production machine? I have a friend thats really into the Ju-87 (his Grandfather flew them!!). I sent a copy of that pic to him and that was also his suggestion, although even he wasn’t 100% sure of it.
I have never heard mention of a G-0 before. The G’s were just modifications of the D, the G-1 being the D-3, the G-2 being the D-5. But there does seem to be a small number on the rudder which could indicate something other than a frontline aircraft.
What makes you think its a G-0.
The Germans didn’t do anything without testing it out first. It’s very possible that this is a pic of the first G. The Germans were very methodical in their numbering practices, and they nearly always started with O as the first group or pre-production series. In all likelyhood the aircraft probably was built as a D and converted into a G and kept at the factory for testing. I base this on the fact that the plane is really clean. Has all of its stencils and has the number on the tail.
Thanks for the info roadkill. I’d buy that. It could very well be a prototype or even a factory test subject. If your friend says it a G-0 that as good a guess as any. I don’t have enough knowledge to say. I’m still in the gather pics and info stage. Next I have to take the time to figure it all out. All I can say is all these pics were refered to in text as rudels G. I’m trying to build his G-2 myself so thats why I have these. I can tell you that while I have little knowledge of the stuka I have looked at enough pics to tell you that thing has never seen the eastern front. If rudel flew it, I can assure you it didn’t look like that. Sometimes i think I’d rather decipher hieroglyphics than go the piles of poor, incorrect or just plane wrong info around luftwaffe aircraft. There’s really not alot of info on the ju87. I thought there would be more.
In those first two pictures the planes are fitted with flame dampers, perhaps a late war Nachtschlacht unit? The yellow(?) band around the nose could indicate a Luftflotte 4(?) unit which we were required to paint a yellow band around the cowl in the last few months of the war for ID purposes. Pure specualtion on my part…[:D]
I am currently building a Ju 87G-2 in Rudels markings and while searching ARC for insperation and his airplane in a winter scheme I came across this
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Gal4/3201-3300/Gal3278_Ju-87_Boildieu/00.shtm
IT is Rudels G-1 with clear shots of what you need.
Hope this helps
Hi, and thanks. Those are the markings i have with my kits. And while i am not 100% convinced this is Rudels aircraft, i might just go with it. I have seen pics of this aircraft in a couple of books, and they both suggest that it MIGHT be Rudel’s, but nothing deffinate. My main concern is the BB code, which is not right for the III Gruppe of StG II. Rudels B-2 and D-5 both carry the code AD.
I might just go with these markings as there are enough suggestions that it could be Rudel’s.
Thanks again.