Did the Nazi's fly over New York in 1943?

Answer 1

There is ample skepticism that any such flights took place at all, and with the exception of the US prisoner interrogation of Unterofficer Wolfgang Baumgart in August 1944 who claimed to have participated in the February 1944 flight, the only sources of information are undocumented or anecdotal.

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Not in 1945. The original claim from interrogation of a German POW was for a Ju-390 flight to New York in early February 1944.

Since then, someone in US calling himself Jim Newsom (who declines to identify himself or establish his credentials) has been responsible for generating many claims about a woman by the name Anna Kreisling. The Kreisling claim has become a lightning rod for many nutcase claims both for and against such a flight. This Kreisling person, whether she really exists, or not, has since attracted a worldwide online following.

The person claiming to be Kreisling claims to be an elderly former Nazi era female test pilot. She claims to have co-piloted the aircraft from Norway to Wisconsin and then to have flown back to a military airfield in France near Paris, via the New York area.

This differs with the Baumgart interrogation which implies an outbound flight from Mont de Marsan near Bordeaux in Feb 1944.

Kreisling, or perhaps Newsom writing as the Kreisling persona, originally made a claim at the Aviastar website in 2007 insisting that Kreisling flew a Ju-390 over Michigan and New York in August 1943.

Critics claim this claim was implausible. In October 1943 however the Japanese embassy in Berlin sent an encrypted signal to tokyo giving Ju-390 performance details furnished by the Germans. In that signal which was intercepted by the Allies the maximum fuel range of the Ju-390 (without extra fuel tanks) was given as 29 hours worth at 186 knots plus a two hour reserve. The average fuel consumption of a BMW 801D engine at 1700 rpm and altitudes of 6,000-12,000 feet was 50 US gals per hour. The main impediment for the Ju-390 was excessive fule consumption over 21,000 feet. Typically Ju-290 aircraft operating maratime patrols over the atlantic operated at 6,000 feet. Given such statistics a long range flight would not be impossible.

German wartime records identify the Ju-390 prototype first flew on 20 October 1943, which if correct make the Kreisling claim impossible. It is fair to say the New York flight was hotly debated before Newsom introduced a claim about Kreisling. Now it attracts nothing but ridicule to an issue of genuine historical interest. It is not unlikely that the whole Newsom/Kreisling claim has been invented to discredit genuine debate over the Ju-390.

Quite independent of this debate, in 1998 a man from Burlington VT, Ruben P. Whittemore (then 44) made some enquiries online if anyone knew much about the wreckage of a six engined German aircraft in the sea 2.5 miles SW of Owl's Head, Maine, USA. Another person "PLouise" responded that she had dived the wreck and recovered artifacts including an RMZ constructors plate with the word "Junkers" on it, suggesting possibly a Junkers Ju-390 attempted the flight and failed. Whittemore, who appears not have had any agenda said in 1998 that he had relatives who witnessed the bodies of three German aviators recovered from the sea on 28 September 1944 following the crash of this aircraft on or about 18 September 1944.

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John Newsom published his interview with former German test pilot and wartime Luftwaffe transport pilot Anna Kreisling, known as the White Wolf of the Luftwaffe. It is claimed that she flew supply missions into the beleaguered German garrison at Stalingrad.

Unfortunately Newsom has not provided any contact details with himself or Kreisling therefore it is extremely hard to verify the claim to the standards demanded by most historians. This is such a vital part of WW2 history that it is almost criminal if her information goes to the grave when she dies. We can only hope she will leave us something for posterity which can be verified independently.

According to Newsom, Anna Kreisling claims she was the co-Pilot of a six engined Junkers JU-390 reconnaissance bomber that took off from Norway on 27 August 1943 and flew first to Lake Michigan and then passed close by New York heading out to the Atlantic for a military airfield near Paris (Le Bourget?)

This aircraft certainly had the endurance for such a flight. It could operate up to 12,000 ft with fuel consumptions between 250 liters/hr (230kts)- 275 litres/hr (270kts). Fuels capacity is thought to have been 52,800 lb, though this was increased in April 1944 when it's weights were re-certified.

Newson claims the Ju-390 overflew Canada and then photographed defence plants in Michigan which were vital to the United States. At noon on August 28 the Junkers passed right over New York above the Empire State Building at an altitude of 14,000 feet. Many important pictures of New York were taken.

The difficulty Historians would have with this claim is that officially the Ju-390's maiden flight was 20 October 1943 flown by Capt Hans Joachim Pancherz. There are claims however that an even earlier flight was made by Hans Werner Lerche of another prototype on an unspecified date in August 1943 at Bernberg. The claim of this earlier flight arises from Russian historical sources.

Still this suggests a flight to USA before the aircraft could not have been properly tested if we are to accept the maiden flight occured in October 1944.

Some evidence however suggests the Ju-390 aircraft flew as early as November 1942 from a photo taken of the JU-390 with registration markings RC+DA. This aircraft had a white band around it's fuselage ahead of the tail. This marking was known as the Afrika band, only used by Axis aircraft during the north Africa campaign. In the case of the Ju-390 if it was in use in north Africa it would likely have been attached to LTS.290 operating to Tunisia.

The photo of "RC+DA" was taken from a ship attacked during Operation Torch landings and the original is from an album owned by a veteran living near Sydney Australia. Ju-390 test pilot Hans Werner Lerche refers to the same photo from the collection of the Deutsches Museum, Munich in his autobiography.

If the JU-390 aircraft attacking the Operation Torch convoy in 1942 was "RC+DA" then this implies that RC+DA was in fact the V1 prototype and not the V2 as often claimed. On 29 July 1944 Junkers was paid by RLM for completing seven Ju-290 aircraft. There is no detailed Quartermaster record of these seven aircraft being taken on Luftwaffe strength, however 80 percent of Luftwaffe records were destroyed or lost at the end of the War (most likely confiscated by US forces at Linz and their existence denied ever since) and no records remain of RLM which may not have had aircraft listed by the Quartermaster General at all.

It would be useful if Newsom, or Ana Kreisling who should know might shed further light on this point?

In 1955 correspondence began between William Green, then editor of the RAF Review and an unnamed person writing from New York who claimed personal knowledge of wartime Ju-390 flights to New York. It is interesting to speculate whether this was correspondence with Kriesling herself?

In November 1955 an article by Dr Kenneth P Werrell appeared in the RAF Review on the subject. Werrell however referred to a Luftwaffe photographer Unteroffizer Wolf Baumgart who was attached to the long range reconnaissance unit FAGr.5 at Mont de Marsan.

As a prisoner of war, Baumgart was interrogated in August 1944 by the US Ninth Air Force, cited in A.P.W.I.U. Report 44/1945. Baumgart's interrogation was one of two POW interrogation reports cited in British Intelligence reports dated from August 1945 entitled "General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment."

Green later published details of the in his two books Warplanes of the Second World War (1968) and Warplanes of the Third Reich (1970). Green asserted the Allies learned of the mission in June 1944, whilst Werrell claimed they originated with interrogations of two German POWs in August 1944.

Baumgart's claim appears to differ from Ana Kreislings'. According to Kenneth Werrell Baumgart talked of a New York flight about early February 1944. Ju-390 pilot Hans Pancherz himself claimed to have performed an astonishing Ju-390 flight to Cape Town, South Africa in January 1944

Baumgart asserts In February 1944 another Junkers Ju-390 checked out the air defenses of New York by flying within 12 miles of the city. Photographs were taken of the New York skyline, but these have never come to light.

The third Ju-390 prototype was a bomber intended to deploy tiny Me 328 parasite fighters against New York, but tests revealed the wings were not strong enough to support the laden weight of a New York mission and these miniature aircraft. The Mission was intended to deploy nuclear weapons.

When the Ju-390 proved inadequate for this bombing mission focus shifted to developing the Heinkel He-274 at Tolouse in France to become the trans Atlantic nuclear bomber. The prototype He-274 was captured intact in 1944 and later used by the French Air Force. This aircraft was mentioned by a captured Luftwaffe general as the intended New York bomber.

Answer 2

Yes in December, 1942 the German Luftwaffe was developing the Junkers Long Range Bomber the JU-390. It first flew in Bodo, Norway in January 1943. At the same time Adolf Hitler put Heinrich Himmler in charge of the Nazi Nuclear Bomb Program. Both Michigan and New York were important targets. All of this was kept Top Secret and under the leadership of KG-200, The Most Secret Luftwaffe Squadron of the War. By June the Recon JU-390 was ready to be flown. Both Hans Joachim Pancherz and Anna Kreisling flew Air to air refueling missions in the Ju-390. On August 27th a JU-390 left its base in Norway and flew out across the Atlantic Ocean. Over Iceland it conducted air to air refueling with a JU-290. Anna Kreisling who was the Co-Pilot then penetrated Canadian Airspace. Within nine hours they were heading South for Michigan where they photographed many important industrial sites. By Noon they were over the Empire State Building at 8,000 feet taking important pictures of New York. All of this was kept Top Secret both in World War II and the Cold War.

Answer 3

Yes! On August 27th a Junkers JU-390 PHOTO RECON Bomber took off from its base in Norway and flew out across the Atlantic Ocean. Hans Joachim Pancherz was the Pilot in command, SS Flugakapitan Anna Kreisling was the Co-Pilot!! Both Hans and Anna had trained for over one month in Air to Air Refueling, very common today but in 1943 the Luftwaffe was just starting this. Over Iceland they refueled with a Junkers Ju-290 Tanker Aircraft at 8,000 feet. Then over the next 5 hours they were over Canada. At dawn the Junkers JU-390 was over Michigan taking pictures of the industrial plants that were vital for America.

At 12:00 Noon on Aug. 28th the JU-390 was over the Empire State Building of New York City at 8,000 feet. They were spotted by the U.S. Army Air Corp but it was to late, the Junkers disappeared into the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, but not before a reporter Todd Wainsworth on top of the Empire State Building took 8 pictures of the huge SIX-Engined German Aircraft, these pictures were confiscated and labeled TOP SECRET by the OSS. 14 hours later Anna would bring the huge bomber into land at a Luftwaffe base outside of Paris.

This is still disputed: it's unlikely that, even if the flight occurred, an overflight of New York actually happened. The first claims were that a Ju 390 got to within 12 miles of the US East Coast. There is no actual evidence that it happened.

As for "refuelling" this is highly unlikely: Germany was still (as were most combatants) in the experimental stages of air-air refueling.

Also the aircraft had sufficient range without the need for Air to Air refueling, with a 32 hour endurance at 186 knots at 6000 feet altitude. These details were signaled to Tokyo in October 1944, when the Germans provided a precise technical description of the Ju-390's performance. The ULTRA decrypt of Ju-390 performance was disclosed in a June 1945 report of German Technical co-operation with Japan.

The wreck of a Ju-390 lies in shallow waters just 2.5 miles SW of Owls Point Maine USA. It crashed there during a hurricane on 18 September 1943, with three drowned German aviators being recovered by the US Coastguard ten days later.

Also unconfirmed.

Answer 4

Yes! On August 27th 1944 a Junkers JU-390 took off from Norway and flew out across the Atlantic Ocean. Over Iceland it went through Air to Air refueling and then proceeded towards Canada. Once over Canada it swung south and within 5 hours was taking pictures of Defence Plants in Michigan. At Noon, August 28th it was over New York City and flew over the Empire State Building at an altitiude of 6,000 feet. A New York Times photographer Ed Simpson took more that 22 pictures of the aircraft. The Film was confiscated and ruled TOP SECRET by the FBI and the OSS. 14 Hours later the aircraft was landed by Anna Kreisling the Co-pilot at a Luftwaffe base outside of Paris. In the year 2012 many articles about Anna Kreisling and KG-200 have been censored. Records kept by KG-200 are still classified TOP SECRET by the U.S. Government.

Answer 5

Yes! In January 1943 the Junkers aircraft company modified a Ju-290 for super long range. It became a six engines aircraft capable of flying 18,000 kilometers with a four man crew.

A contraversial person claiming to be the test pilot Anna kreisling makes the following claims:

Hans Joachim Pancherz and Flugakapitan Anna Kreisling practiced AIR TO AIR refueling so that it could be done over Iceland. On Aug. 27th 1943 this long range Photo recon Junkers Ju-390 took off from Norway and met a Junkers JU-290 Tanker aircraft over Iceland. Then they flew into Canada and swung south. Over Michigan of the morning of the 28th of August they took many pictures of the Defense plants there. By Noon the huge massive plane was over the Empire State Building. The New York Times took over 12 pictures of the JU-390 as it passed over. These pictures were confiscated by the OSS and ruled Top Secret! Over 14 hours later Anna Kreisling would bring this Junkers Ju-390 in to land at a Luftwaffe base outside of Paris.

Unfortunately Kreisling refuses to publicly verify her identity so it is not possible to confirm the claim. However based upon an ULTRA decrypt of Ju-390 performance figures sent to Tokyo in October 1943, the Ju-390 would not require air to air refuelling for the mission. Performance figures sent to tokyo indicate fuel capacity for 29 hours aloft at 186 knots plus two hours of fuel reserve.

The Ultra decrypt referred to makes no mention of a flight to New York, however the US 9th Tactical air force interrogated a prisoner named Werner Baumgart in August 1944 who said the flight actually took place in early February 1944. This interrogation was the original source for the claim.

In 1997 claims were made online at a website forum called TOCH (acronym for Twelve O'clock High) in which a man from vermont revealed details from his relatives who grew up at rockport about a six engined junkers aircraft which came down in the sea 2.5 miles sw of Owl's Point Maine, USA on or about 18 September. Some days later the drowned bodies of three luftwaffe aviators were recovered nearby. A diver using the name Plouise responded online how she had dived the aircraft's wreck and removed the junkers constructor's plate. Plouise also happens to be the nickname of a California lady name Patricia Louise Grey, who does not respond to email querries on the matter.

Although the claims by Ana Kreisling are of dubious credibility, there is a basis of fact behind the claim, however the truth may never be verified.