Hi all,

I came across this pic:



It's a FLAK18 in Normandy '44. But I'm not sure about the crew. The smocks look somewhat like Fallschirmjäger but the helmets are normal German army helmets. I came to the following conclusion....

They are Luftwaffe soldiers with camouflage smocks (?)

Could someone confirm this....or tell me if I'm wrong and if so what they are?

Thanks,
Martin

i can make out that the helmets are netted if that helps,
or did you know that

I saw that yes but it doesn't help me to see what kind of unit this is

Martin

Could be a Luftwaffe ground divison there was at least one present during the battle you can read a bit about them in Hans Von Luck's book were he threatend to shoot a crew if they didn't lower thier guns and start aiming at the shermans during one of the attempts to break out totCaen

Yeah I know that story.

Are there any good luftwaffe figs available, next to the Dragon kit?

Martin

A set of figures that look very impressive are these by Hobby Fan:

http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/newkitnews/hobbyfan.htm

They are listed as set no. 3. Set no. two is 3 figures in normal LW fatigues manning the Flak gun.

I don't know what set no. 1 looks like.

Your photo looks like typical LW flak crews and not the more heavily laden FJ flak crews to me. I wouldn't assume that the gun is a Flak 18 either. More likely (given the date) that it's a Flak 36 or a Flak 37.

[quoteYour photo looks like typical LW flak crews and not the more heavily laden FJ flak crews to me. I wouldn't assume that the gun is a Flak 18 either. More likely (given the date) that it's a Flak 36 or a Flak 37][/quote]

I agree completely, it is VERY unlikely to be a Flak 18. The NEW set was covered here:

Hobby-Fan Future Releases

Here are images of the new crew:

Martin,

The soldiers in your photo are definitely Luftwaffe troops. They are wearing the Luftwaffe Ground Combat Jacket. They could be part of independent
Flak units of part of a Luftwaffe Field Division. arge weave helmet nets are also usually indicative of Luftwaffe issue.

Dragon will be releasing a set of Luftwaffecrewmen for the Flak38 and hopefully,they will see fit to provide conversion possibilities for crewing 88's.

HTH
Ron Volstad