And now we come to our last six photos from this collection; this one leaves just few new questions, so thorough was the aircraft's destruction. 

Before the aircraft is considered, note that some glass is out of the large building in the far left background.  I have yet to see any evidence of strafing and this is intriguing.

This was a war of dumb bombs, lots of ammunition, and many target opportunities. Allied fighter escorts, at this stage of the war, were being released at some point from protecting the bombers and were "let loose on the countryside." ("If it is moving; stop it. If it is stopped; move it." -- USAAF fighter pilot motto.)

This base would have been visible for miles, been on every map, and almost every fighter pilot knew where it was; yet, it is now late in the war and there is little evidence of allied-inflicted damage. Anywhere the ground forces were, the air war had been there long before -- but again, we see no evidence of the Allied air war at this base.

Why was it not bombed?

For strategic reasons?

The war was winding down and this was pretty obvious to everyone.

Were we saving it for our post-war use?

Until the location of this base is known, there is no way of knowing.  (When these images were originally posted, I had no idea of the actual location but now, more adept historians have agreed that the location must be Köthen, 80 miles SW of Berlin.)

I think I can find out with some serious research but it still doesn't matter. What is seen in these photos was occurring a lot of places; therefore, these photos gain significance in that this one unknown base represents many.

I was told by the photographer, Fred Stockum,  that some GI's with tank support reached the periphery of the base on one evening, saw Germans setting things ablaze, and then the Germans moved out just before the GIs came in early the next morning.

But now there are only a few photos, and this one shows at the far left some ground-support equipment; first a wheeled generator, then a long trailer, a few boxes on small wheels, and a large generator with high-current cabling in a big loop on top of it -- which looks to be an auxiliary supply to provide electrical power for engine start-up.   There is more scaffolding in front of the port engine so mechanics can get access to the engines.

There are a few U.S. vehicles, and center background behind scaffolding is a fighter, sans wings and empennage, on its landing gear and nose -- engine must still be on it.

The aircraft in this images was once a beautiful aircraft and easily identified as far as the type goes: it is a Ju-188.  Initially, it was a Ju-88 and a popular twin-engine, light-bomber, but the airframe was not quite right and it was an old design.

In 1939, the Junkers company developed a more powerful engine than was on the original Ju-88 and they decided to update the Ju-88 airframe for this engine. This produced the very attractive Ju-188 which we have in our photo.

Both the -88 and -188 went through several modifications as did most German aircraft.

The early test Ju-188A had the new Jumo 1,776 hp liquid-cooled, inverted V-12 engines. A modified -188 (D) used the same engine, but when full production was ready to start, the engines were not available so it got BMW 1,700 hp 18-cylinder, two-roll radials, making it the Ju-188E. The first Ju-188E flight was in March 1942.

Subsequent models could take either engine, depending on availability and application. This makes it a little confusing when "airplane spotting" in that the Ju-188A didn't appear until June 1943, -- four months after the Ju-188E had entered production. And I have seen photos of a "Ju-188 E-1" with V-12s yet I have drawings of a "Ju-188 E-1" with BMW radials. There could have been an error in identity, which would be understandable, or there might have been "E-1s" with either engine.

The A model had the Jumo V-12 and there were subsequently an A-2 with flame dampened exhaust for night fighting and an A-3 for torpedo bombing. It is easy to tell the Jumo from the BMW if the engine front cowling can be seen.

For the five-man crew, the 188 had a larger, though more streamlined compartment than did the 88. This truly looked like a dragon-fly.

Compared to the Ju-88 (or most other aircraft) the Ju-188 had very pointed wings which had been extended 7' to a 72' maximum.

The horizontal tail was extended slightly and the tip sharpened, yet the vertical tail did not have the graceful curve of the 88 but was squared off.  This squared tip was not done by cutting it off but by changing the lines of the leading and trailing edges to increase area of both fin and rudder.

There were 120 E-1s and a few E-2s (having radar and no gun turret), and several F versions for reconnaissance, as was a few H model. 

Then there was the Ju-188D but it was a "D" series following the A-Jumo model rather than the BMW, E-derivative series.  The C-series had V-12s.  (Yes, this is confusing but I have it here to show the many variations they would go to in an effort to maximize the application of any weapon system.)

Eventually there was the S series -- a group of high-speed aircraft with a sustained speed of 435 mph. Some had a remotely controlled turret and this led to even faster, higher-flying aircraft (36,000').

The Ju-188G (bomber) was the one produced in the largest numbers and was definitely a formidable weapon. I know that it "came" with the BMW radial engine.

But the war was going poorly so some of the fast, high-flying S models, being so light, were brought all the way down to the ground with the installation of a cannon for low-level, close support work.

All of these successful modifications demonstrated how good the Ju-188 design really was; however, these mods took time and resources, and these change-overs interrupted production lines. The result was that this good weapon was never used effectively (to the Allies' good fortune). The Luftwaffe received but 1,076 of them.

And what of the particular aircraft in the photo?

The canopy framework is evident, again, because the glazing would burn so quickly, it would not set light to the framework. There is no evidence of a turret where one would have been. Judging from the large exhaust on port engine and the circular cooling vents near-wing leading edge, I would think it had the BMW radial engines.

So it could have been an E, F, G, or H with those engines, but the E and G would certainly have had the turret, which the F and H reconnaissance models did not have. Since more F models were built than H models, I will take the statistician's way out and say it is a Ju-188F. I am content with my Ju-188F guess.  I say "guess" because it appears to have four-bladed props, yet, I have never seen such a prop on a Ju-88 or Ju-188.

And one last wonderment, the tail wheel was retractable but is down in the photo. The undercarriage was mounted to a "T" structure at the leading edge of the wing. Both wings are flat on the ground and the engines appear almost in their proper position to the fuselage.

What am I getting at?

The prop blades were bent. But they were bent on the starboard engine only.

There are several scenarios we could develop to explain this but it involves more speculation than warrants any serious consideration. However, since ALL other aircraft outside the hangar were on their extended landing gear before the Germans departed, I will assume that this one was, as well.

The Ju-188 was so good and so adaptable, it seems the Luftwaffe Technical Office could never commit to full production on any one model, or those who funded these projects couldn't make up their collective mind, but in many cases, a singular mind.

Ken Cashion