Another view, this time without none people around, of the Rommel’s Heinkel He 111H VG+ES of the previous photo. In foreground the staff car of the “Desert’s Fox” with the Rommel’s rank insignia. In North Africa Rommel made use also of other aircrafts as a Focke-Wulf FW 58 and a Fieseler Storch. Victor Sierra

Rommel’s aircraft and staff car

The General Erwin Rommel, not yet Feldmarschall, arranging his life jacket in front to his personal aircraft, somewhere in Libya. Notice also two men with life jacket, surely a Rommel’s staff officer at the center of the photo, and on the right a plane’s crewmember speaking with other German servicemen. The aircraft is a Heinkel He 111 bomber adjusted as Rommel’s transport aircraft, exactly the He 111H-6 KS (Kurierstaffel), WNr.4085 (serial number 4085), Stammkennzeichen VG+ES. The LEMB Stammkennzeichen Database Project appoint the VG+ES WNr.4085 to Stab/StG.3, Kurierstaffel, the Stab (Staff Flight) of the Stukageschwader 3. In effect the Fliegerführer Afrika’s order of battle 27 December 1941 specify a single He 111 in the strength of this Stab. Another single He 111, likely a Kurierstaffel plane, according the Fliegerführer Afrika’s order of battle April 1941, is in the strength of the Stab/StG 1, another Ju 87 equipped Geschwader. But a source affirm the WNr. 4085 destroyed by an accident during a local flight at Ain-el-Gazala on 9 August 1941, causing the death of Hptm. Josef Mies (pilot), Oblt. Karl Pfefferer (observer) and Fw. Willi Birr (engineer), and this not coincide with the previous information. According my opinion likely the He 111 destroyed at Ain-el-Gazala isn’t the WNr.4085, but rather is another He 111 (Stab/StG 1’s aircraft?). Victor Sierra

Rommel’s plane

The rival armed forces in North Africa made large use of vehicles (and also weapons) captured to enemy. In this photo, taken in Libya, a British forces truck (CMP Ford?) seized by the Germans and employed by the Luftwaffe. Notice, aside the German serviceman on the left and the rearview mirror is employed as grapple for the helmet, the original British Army’s tablet and also, I suppose, the original unit’s emblem, while over the left door the sign WL (Wehrmacht Luftwaffe), painted in manner very crude, specify the new “ownership”. Many canister are behind the vehicle. Victor Sierra