Atomic Stuka: The suicide Ju-87 night dive bombers
Nazi Germany’s aspirations for atomic weapons development remain a subject of historical inquiry. Documentary evidence regarding the design, evaluation, and manufacturing of such armaments and their delivery mechanisms continues to be examined.
Research repeatedly reveals connections between Germany’s nuclear armament initiative and the so-called Todesflieger i.e., SO-men, SO standing for Selbstopfer, i.e., suicide. As documented by Friedrich Georg in his book Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and Their Carrier Systems: Volume 1—The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, it was a circumstance that potentially transpired during early May 1945 in Austria.
It was during this period that 8 Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers, painted black, made an unexpected touchdown on a large field in Seitenstätten, situated in the forest area near Loosdorf. Upon landing, however, the aviators discovered an absence of ground support crew or aircraft maintenance facilities, having been erroneously directed to this location. Throughout the concluding days of the conflict, they resided among the local inhabitants of the village.
They waited for orders that never came.
During their stay, they said that their instructions, following touchdown, involved collecting ‘atomic bombs‘ for flying one final decisive strike, though it was to be a flight from which there would be no return, i.e., an SO mission. To which NSG [Nachtschlachtgruppe, Night Assault Wing] unit the eight Ju 87s belonged, or what became of the pilots and the aircraft after the end of the war, is unknown. Perhaps it was all hearsay.
Misdirected
Little can be made of an apparently ‘senseless’ landing in some field of an entire Ju 87 night bomber squadron, close to a small, out-of-the-way Austrian village. It is in the declassified Allied documentation where no verification of these occurrences exists. What potentially illuminates this incident is a thorough examination of the Stukas’ landing location.
The aviators of these purported ‘atomic Stukas’ claimed they had been ‘misdirected’.
What emerges as noteworthy upon looking at Austria’s map is the existence of another Loosdorf, close to another Seitenstätten. Even more interesting, those places too can be linked with secret weapons. It was near the second Loosdorf where the classified installation ‘Quarz’ was located, while the second Seitenstätten was less than 20 kilometers southwest of Amstetten. It was at the Amstetten railway station where 30 truckloads of ‘explosives with exceptional explosive power’ remained uncollected.
Could these Ju 87s that erroneously touched down in Seitenstätten, mirroring earlier incidents with Bf 109s, have been destined for armament with the Amstetten ‘bombs with exceptional explosive power’? Nevertheless, a question is raised, presuming the account’s authenticity, regarding the squadron’s misplaced landing. It may have been amid the turmoil of the last days of the war that a straightforward confusion of toponyms occurred. It may have been, once again, a case of sabotage. Whatever circumstances prevailed, it was a potential atomic night assault that was thwarted.
The night bomber groups were specialized units that flew attacks in darkness, or twilight.
Exactly determined targets
Their targets had previously been precisely determined and were at a relatively short distance from the front. The aircraft they flew in the war’s final phase consisted primarily of the Fw 190 and Ju 87. What proved remarkable was how the Ju 87, though outdated for daytime operations, demonstrated exceptional capability in these challenging missions. What occurred during these missions was that other night bomber aircraft would mark the precisely identified targets with flares.
Some of the attacks were guided by radar, i.e., the Egon procedure. Thus, it remains conceivable that several of the Seitenstätten Ju 87s were designated for pathfinder duties in the planned atomic night attack. Perhaps it was only some of the squadron’s aircraft that were meant to deploy the bombs. Such an operation may have been practiced elsewhere.
Regrettably, we lack documentation regarding whether the eight Ju 87s underwent modifications for their intended special mission or were standard production D-8 variants. Nevertheless, the relevant documentation and photographic evidence could likely be found in various Allied archives.
Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: Secret Nuclear Weapons of the Third Reich and their Carrier Systems: Volume 1 – The Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Photo by PK-Kriegsberichter Karnerth and Richard Opitz Deutsches Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive) via Wikipedia
