Shortly after the Germans invaded Poland a JU87 landed near Krakow due to an engine malfunction. The crew were shot by the Polish but the plane remained intact and the engine problems were rectified. Soon a plan was hatched by the Poles to use the Stuka that would change the war forever.
On the afternoon of 2nd of September the Stuka was taken to the 24th Reconnaissance Unit near Krakow for evaluation by Cipher Bureau expert Karol Langer and two pilots from the Polish 111th Fighter Escadrille who had experience albeit it very brief in attacking Ju 87s. Their names were Captain Jakub Krasnodębski and Sgt. Krystian Fokczyński. Their job was to learn the basic flying characteristics of the Stuka in a very short space of time as the Germans were approaching very quickly. The morning of the 5th they would take to the air on their mission. The plane was hurriedly painted in Polish colours on the evening of the 2nd and the national colours were used for the spinner and the prop. The painting was fairly crude as it had to be in the air fairly quickly.
On the morning of September 5th 1939 the Germans were edging closer to Krakow and it was decided to use the JU87 to fly over the advancing troops with the hope inflicting damage on some of the higher ranking personal who were accompanying the attack. The weather was overcast and cloud was about 1000ft so it was hoped pilots Captain Jakub Krasnodębski and Sgt. Krystian Fokczyński could fly just under it and hope no one spotted the oddly marked Stuka. However they were to strike a blow that was not foreseen when they took off that morning.
The Fuhrer himself was inspecting troops some 150 miles from Krakow.
At about midday the Polish Stuka spotted what they thought was a small German staff car amongst other transports and decided to press home their attack little knowing who was in said staff car.
The Stuka was not designed for such low level work and was far better suited diving at 90 degrees but the cloud cover made this impossible so they attacked on an almost level plain releasing their main bomb but that fell woefully short and drew attention and everything opened up on them. A return strafe was marginally better with bombs exploding just ahead of the staff car forcing it to stop very quickly with the Fuhrer still inside. However a SdKfz 6 travelling close behind couldn't stop and ploughed into the back of the staff car killing the Fuhrer instantly.
The war was to last another three years but without Hitler Germany sued for peace when Russia attacked and the Allies invaded Dieppe.
Unfortunately the Stuka crashed as the crew were critically injured in their last attack and died when the plane hit the ground.
Today in the Krakow aviation museum is a replica of the plane that killed Hitler.
Here it is.
