Using the Australian War Memorial photo search

[Ben Evans]

The Memorial's photo database search engine is a little idiosyncratic.

The most important thing to remember is to put a + sign in front of and between search terms whenever a conflict field is specified. Basically, those who've typed in Messerschmitt and got 32,000 results have actually got up all the Second World War photos that are digitised, the first few of which will have Messerschmitts in them. The + sign simply narrows the search to the term only.

In terms of the available digitised photos, I've managed to get search hits on the following types:

Bf109
Me209
Me 110,210,410
Me163
Me262
Me323
Ju52
Ju86
Ju87
Ju88
Ju290
He100 series
He111
He177
He162
Do17
Do217
Do24
Bv138
Fw56
Fw190
Fw200
V1
and interior and exterior shots of wrecked Focke-Wulf factories.

Often there is only one or two photos of some of the less usual types and frequently there are photos you've seen before. But there are a couple of gems hidden in there.

Good luck!
Ben.

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'clock High!:


Colin Adams
Bf109 of SKG210 in the desert
Sun Sep 17 23:19:59 2024


I found a small photo in my late father's collection of a wrecked Bf109 "S9+BS", somewhere in the desert (El Daba?) He served in the 8th Army. I presume this is an
aircraft of 8/SKG210, but I don't know if it's a photo he took himself, or a copy of an official photo. There is the tail of a wrecked Ju88 in the foreground.

I would be grateful for any information on this aircraft, which is presumably a Bf109E. Alternatively, any suggestions for sources of further infomation would be appreciated.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOH!:

Kari Lumppio
Australian war memorial photograph?
Mon Sep 18 06:52:18 2024


Hi!

Try searching Australian war memorial photograph database at: http://www.awm.gov.au/database/photo.asp

They do have there for example photo of (III/ZG1?) BF-109E S9+DR shot down near Fuka there and many more IIRC. Many photos are there to see at the site in scanned
format.

HTH

Kari

[Richard T Eger]

From TOH!:

Steven:modeldad
How did..
Mon Sep 18 13:44:44 2024


you find the photo, my search did not turn up anything..what key word did you use?

[Richard T Eger]

From TOH!:

Kari Lumppio
Searching records & S9+DR
Mon Sep 18 14:07:06 2024


Hi!

My keyword was messerchmitt. If you get ungodly amount of hits try adding + sign in front of the keyword(s) without space. For example
+messerschmitt +daba
brings 5 records of which 4 have scanned clickable image.

S9+DR photo has negative number 014129

And while we are in the subject. What is the interpretation of the S9+DR camouflage? Wings 74/75 and fuselage 79 ? Or something totally different?

HTH

Kari

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Marko Jeras
Three Bf 109G-2s left at El Daba aerodrome in Nov, 1942...
Sun Apr 14 12:29:15 2024
195.29.55.144

Allies found three Bf 109G-2s on El Daba aerodrome in mid-November, 1942. I am interested can somebody tell me more on these planes. Is there any photos of them, their identity, unit, what happened with them later...

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon. Best regards,

Marko Jeras
Zagreb, Croatia

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Kari Lumppio
Australian War Memorial -Warning! hotlinked PICS attempt
Sun Apr 14 22:25:09 2024
193.229.6.165

Hi!

As usual if there has been Australian forces involved in or near the area (like North Africa) try searching the wonderful "Australian War Memorial" ( http://www.awm.gov.au ) and their databases. Direct URL to advanced search is as follows:

http://cas.awm.gov.au/pls/pictionPRD..._advanced_scr?

Type the search words with following syntax (this is an example):
+El +Daba
in the Enter Search Term(s) box. You can restrict the confilict to WW2 etc.

I found following three "El Daba" Bf 109 photos (if hotlinks do not work, then go to search and do it yourself:


ID Number: P00150.007
"EL DABA, EGYPT. "THE DEADLY MESSERSCHMITT BF109 AIRCRAFT AT DABA. IT HAS BEEN STRIPPED BY SOUVENIR HUNTERS.""


ID Number: MED0775:
"Western Desert, Egypt. 8 November 1942. Enemy landing grounds from El Alamein to Fuka are littered with aircraft. They were wrecked by the Allied Air Forces in their few weeks' onslaught of non-stop raids, and abandoned in the stampede on retreat. Sandbags and stone walls of the blast bays did not protect them from our bombs and cannon. This Messerschmitt Bf109 was destroyed as it stood in its blast bay on a landing ground in the Daba area."


ID Number: 025270
"DABA, EGYPT. 1942-11-13. CRASHED GERMAN MESSERSCHMITT BF109F FIGHTER PLANE WITH BRITISH HURRICANE AIRCRAFT FLYING OVERHEAD."

HTH,
Kari

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Russell Brown
captured 109s
Mon Apr 15 12:25:14 2024
203.87.15.121

Hi Marko,

One of them was the famous 'Black 6', which was restored by Russ Snadden's dedicated team in the UK. One other likely possibility is one from JG 77. I have a photo of the cockpit area of this,(thus the identification) taken by a 3 Squadron pilot. Unfortunately it can not be identified any further - ie. no visible numbers etc. Can't help you with the third one, but 3 Squadron also had a 109F at this time, which they prepared for flight - photo from the same 3 Squadron pilot. If you'd like contact me, I'll see if I can scan some of the shots I have, and send them on.

Cheers, Russell