Luftwaffe expert needed.

[Farwell Kirk]

Can anyone give me some info on three Luftwaffe aces -

Hermann Forster of JG27
Paul Forster of NJG 1
Josef Forster of NJG 2,3

I can't seem to find much about them online. Were any of them related? Any help would be appreciated.

[Farwell Kirk]

Anyone ???

[Ray Allan]

Sorry, all I could find was Hermann Foerster of JG 27 listed in Wikipedia, which you've probably seen. No other details about him there, and the other two were not listed. The German Bundesarchiv site might have additional information, but it would probably require extensive digging and researching. Where did you see Paul Foerster and Josef Foerster originally listed?

[Farwell Kirk]

I know a little about all three, but not much. Paul Forster supposedly scored the Luftwaffe's first night victory, although I have seen another pilot also given credit.

[Major Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Farwell Kirk

Can anyone give me some info on three Luftwaffe aces -

Hermann Forster of JG27
Paul Forster of NJG 1
Josef Forster of NJG 2,3

I can't seem to find much about them online. Were any of them related? Any help would be appreciated.

Hermann Förster's Messerschmitt sitting in Libya in 1941

Förster´s career is interesting as he started as a nightfighter pilot (11.(N)/JG2), participated in the invasions against Norway and Netherlands and ended up in North Africa. AFAIK, the Hampden (confirmed as a loss of 49 Squadron of RAF) he shot down 26.4.1940 was the second night air victory of Luftwaffe (the very first one was a Fairey Battle shot down by Ofw. Wilhelm Schale on 21.4.1940).

About the two Fokker G-1 claimed on 10.5.1940 (in daylight) there is some controversy as Germans claimed on that day three Fokker G-1 (AFAIK) but according to Dutch sources they lost only two G-1 on that day and the other G-1 should perhaps be credited to Oblt. Richard Leppla of 3./JG 51. When it comes to the rest of Förster´s claim as a pilot of 11.(N)/JG 2 and NJG 1 they should be accurate and possible to confirm from the recorded RAF losses (as it is often with the claims of German nightfigter units). According to what I have read these claims are confirmed by enemy records:
21.2.1940 Wellington - matches with the recorded loss of 38 Squadron of Bomber Command
26.4.1940 Hampden - see the notes above (49 Squadron)
10.5.1940 at least one Fokker G 1 of two claimed seems confirmed by Dutch records (see notes above)
24.5.1940 Blenheim - matches with the recorded loss of 235 Squadron of Coastal Command
9.7.1940 Whitley - matches with the recorded loss of 10 Squadron of Bomber Command (Whitley N1496) - by the way this was the first air victory of the first German nightfighter-wing NJG 1.

I have not found any details about Förster´s wherabouts and career between July 1940 and June 1941: how and when Förster was transferred to dayfighters and JG 27? I guess it was his own request to be transferred to serve in dayfighters?

The Brewster Buffalo shot down on 17.6.1941 is first sign of him at the service of JG 27. The claim seems to be very accurate claim as stated above and to my knowledge it was the only Brewster Buffalo shot down by a Luftwaffe pilot. Förster´s air victory on 17.6.1941 is a unique detail in the history of Brewster Buffalo. Interesting little twist is that after Förster´s air victory it was just few days later (25.6.1941) when Brewster Buffalos were succesfully employed against the Allied (Soviet) by a German ally (Finns).

It seems that Förster´s claims were fairly accurate and can be confirmed by the loss records of the enemy although I do not know if all of his claims while serving JG 27 have been studied and compared with the Allied losses.

During his combat career Förster flew three different versions of Bf 109: the D(ora), E(mil) and F(riedrich). His combat career reflects well the intial succesfull development of Bf 109 from early Jumo-engined model to the F-4 which has been considered as the most competitive and best version of Bf 109 by many. There was certainly some difference between flying a D-version (as a nightfighter) from the German/Norwegian airbases during the wintertime and flying tropicalized E/F-models in desert conditions of North Africa.

I guess that I can put together something about Hermann Förster with these little notes. However it would have been interesting to know if there are any details about Förster´s family background, his entering time to Luftwaffe´s service and if anyone has wrote down any memories or anecdotes of those who knew him. And are there any photos of Hermann Förster available? Without such data he will remain rather faceless and unknown soldier like so many others who lost their life in combat during WW2.

[ZEK S 854]

As stated by the German Military Archives in Freiburg, almost all archives of the Luftwaffe of the Second World War were destroyed during Allied bombing operations; however, there is a private group addressing the issue of Luftwaffe archives from the Second World War and it goes by the acronym LWAG. They have a website at lwag.org and may be your best bet for information on your search. I hope it works out for you.

[Farwell Kirk]

You can find a little about Paul and Hermann in various places. I just recently found a website called "The Kracker Luftwaffe Archive". It has a little info on all these guys,plus a couple other aces named Forster that I didn't even know about. This is probably all that can be found on most of them.

Are you sure that is Hermann's 109? Where did you get that picture?

[Major Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Farwell Kirk

Are you sure that is Hermann's 109? Where did you get that picture?

On this website. Just click on the banner.

Or click to access the specific thread HERE



And the photo itself HERE