The grandfather of today’s cruise missiles, the Mistel was the
piggyback aircraft of the Luftwaffe during WW II. This combination
aircraft arose out of research conducted to find a better means for
towing gliders into combat. About two hundred of these combinations
were ultimately built. The British had experimented with a piggyback
combination of a commercial transport on the back of a flying boat
in the late 1930s. The Mistel project in Germany had its share of
skeptics. As the program evolved and Germany’s strategic position in
the War eroded, the Mistel project became focused on using unmanned
obsolete Ju-88 bombers loaded to the gills with explosives as a very
large guided bomb. The top aircraft in the combination, either a
Bf-109 or Fw-190, would be piloted into the proximity of the target.
A rudimentary guidance system would then be locked on the target,
and the unmanned Ju-88 would fly itself into the target. Some Mistel
combinations utilized normal looking Ju-88s, whereas others were
fitted with a sinister-looking warhead in place of the cockpit. In
the fall of 1944 the Luftwaffe laid plans for utilizing Mistels for
attacks on Soviet targets like power plants and armament factories.
Because the Ju-88 component only went “one-way” on these missions,
the Mistels would have superior range and bomb capacity when
compared to manned bombers. With Germany’s forces in retreat at this
point, the distances from the strategic Russian targets became even
too great for the Mistel. Instead Mistels were targeted at key
bridges, the destruction of which was designed to slow the advancing
Red Army. The Last Mistel attack of the War took place in April of
1945. Four Mistel aircraft, with a hollow charge warhead instead of
the normal Ju-88 cockpit, coupled to a top-mounted Fw-190 fighter
were prepared at the Pennemunde airbase. The target for the
operation would be the bridge over the river Oder at Tantow. One of
the four aircraft encountered technical problems and had to jettison
the Ju-88. The remaining three piloted by Lt. Dittman OFw Braun and
Uffz Seitz proceeded to the target. They acquired an unexpected
escort in the form of eight Bf-109s, but the fighters engaged
Russian fighters along the route and the Mistels proceeded to their
target alone. The Mistel piloted by Ofw Braun was hit by
anti-aircraft fire and the Ju-88 was jettisoned prematurely. The
Mistel piloted by Uffz Seitz was apparently shot down. Lt. Dittman,
however, was able to lock the guidance system of his Ju-88 on the
target, and flew his 190 safely to an alternate base.
Overall Print Size: 16" x 11 1/2"
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Collector Sized Lithograph:
$40
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Signature Series
Lithograph: $125
Co-signed by THREE
surviving
Luftwaffe mistel pilots.
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