Germany, early October 1945,
With the constant bombing raids on the synthetic oil refineries the Germans had left and with air raids on airfields around Germany the end was in sight. However the Ta-152H-6's that had been constructed found themselves as factory defenders, despite the request of Von Greim to equip the factories with Me-163 and Ba-349 Natter fighters for defence they chose the Ta-152H-6. The reasons for this is unknown but it did seal the Luftwaffe's fate as the end of October was fast approaching.
With the scarcity of materials and low amount of fuel required to keep the production Ta-152's going was decreasing at a substantial rate, as in October two more Ta-152H-6's had been built but this time hurried out of the factories to fly and protect the aircraft manufacturers deep underground. However like the Messerschmitt Bf-109K-14 which production would cease in early December, the Ta-152H-6 was on the dying ropes as well. In light of this the head of the Third Reich Karl Donitz demanded why no more H-6's would be produced, this in turn left Lord Von Greim in disgrace as he'd chosen a fighter which was more or less better than most if not all piston engined fighters that had been built in previous months as well as years.
However with airfields surrounding the factories under constant attack by the USAAF and RAF and without supplies coming in via Me-323's the decision in late October 1945 was to cease production of the H-6. It came as a bit of a shock to the allies as they feared from intelligence that the Luftwaffe had dozens of these new planes except in reality they'd only built 6 of them in total, 4 of which were JG.11's jet protection flight and the other 2 were used as defenders flying alongside Bf-109K-4's, Fw-190D-13's and so forth.
The last two production aircraft however would have very little to do with the war, and that was due to the Allies getting their hands on one for evaluation. Then on December 5th 1945 the two fighters went supposedly on patrol, and that consisted of flying at high altitudes over the mountains looking for attackers. However this was not the case as the two fighters went off together to perform this task, yet instead of doing the circuit they proceeded Northwest towards the allied frontlines. The pilots of these aircraft no question had in fact, had enough of their country being annihilated, so they chose to defect instead.
The two fighters broke away from each other and headed for separate airfields after refueling at what was left of the Berlin stronghold to prevent being shot down if they were a pair, one H-6 landed at the captured airstrips in the Ardennes. The second landed just south of Ursel, both aircraft had droptanks on hence their ability to fly at long range. This was what the allies had been anticipating as more aircraft were defecting from what many realised to be a failed cause and were fed up with the war in general.
The allies took both Ta-152H-6's back to Britain where they were extensively examined by the aircraft evaulation teams. Sadly one was lost in a crash due to the poor quality material used to construct the fuselage, which resulted in fuel leaking out of the aft fuel tank, igniting on contact with sparks from the engine causing an explosion. That Ta-152H-6 was identified as Werk 00007, she was the penultimate H-6 to be made and it was clear she was rushed into service due to the use of primers and stock Ta-152H-1 parts. The second H-6 performed well and was clearly constructed better due to 18 successful test flights by RAF and USAAF pilots, they praised the high speed as well as the forbidding armament she carried. Werk 000-4 was considered a prototype which was due to be pushed into service to increase the Luftwaffe's dying numbers.
With the Second World War in Europe ending on December 17th 1945, most paperwork and flight manuals were destroyed by surrendering troops. The factories themselves were destroyed and buried along with the jigs, tools and essential equipment within them.
As for Werk 00007 her remains are at the RAF Museum at Cosford, and Werk 000-4 was retired in 1946 and as she was a unique and rare example of this fighter which much promise in it originally for flying was kept and put in storage at Farnborough. In 1967 the aircraft was bought out of storage and transported to RAF Hendon and placed on public show in a static condition. Hendon looked after the aircraft until 1990 where her final destination was the airfield at Duxford. She was taken apart and restored to a complete condition and she stands in the Aerospace Hangar at the airstrip and she remains testament to a fighter... that COULD have changed the course... of WWII...
Get these ladies here --->
https://www.mediafire.com/file/uhdfjvshxy1kx1k/Ta-152H-6+Prototypes.rar/file
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Topic: The last Ta-152H-6's (Read 1173 times)
