Historiker

I get all types of requests and a lot of spam. I try to answer every one, since it’s usually something that means something to the requester. However sometimes you just shake your head at the audacity and chutzpah of some…

> Good Day www.fallschirmjager.net and Friends,
>
> I came across your site, www.fallschirmjager.net, and noticed that we
> share a similar interest in the health and wellness of Veterans. I think
> that your site offers a wonderful source of information and relevant
> resources to your viewers. I believe I have a great addition to your
> collection of links. My name is Sarah Anderson, the Communications
> Director for Mesothelioma Resource Online. Approximately 30% of all
> patients in the US diagnosed with this lethal form of cancer served in
> the military at some point. However, our site,
> www.MesotheliomaSymptoms.com, is an excellent resource to learn about
> Asbestos in the military and the various treatment options for
> Mesothelioma.
>
> I saw that on your site,
> http://www.fallschirmjager.net/links/links.html, has some links to some
> other great veteran resources, and I would be grateful if you shared our
> site, MesotheliomaSymptoms.com. Ideally, this would be a single text
> link to Mesothelioma to help raise awareness. Please let me know if this
> interests you. I look forward to your reply.
>
> Respectfully,
> Sarah Anderson

My reply… what you want to get to my readers with this late night TV crap?

“Sarah Anderson”

Sorry, no, I decline the opportunity to advertise for your website. Which appears to be a shill advertisement for gathering class action litigants for a law firm rather than any type of real veterans resource as you describe it.

Regards,
Der Feld

And in case you don’t know what these ‘helpful information advertisements are really about, you can read it in their own words from their website:

MesotheliomaSymptoms.com Disclaimer

This is an educational resource of Seeger Weiss LLP intended to inform victims of mesothelioma and their families about the disease. Seeger Weiss LLP is a law firm committed to representing mesothelioma victims and their families seeking compensation for their injuries.

I’ve received my K98 rifle crate from Nord-Ost Fabricken-Werke. It’s just as well made as my other pieces I’ve purchased from them. Truly excellent quality work.

Now that I’ve filled it up – getting ready for March on Rome III … hmm I’m going to need an FG-42 crate. Hint hint…

It’s been a while since I’ve added to my books page on Fallschirmjäger.net… not that I haven’t been reading. Quite the opposite it’s the pile of books that I have read and haven’t yet posted reviews of… I’m fixing that now.

Interestingly there has been a surge of books of WWII as well as the Reich, Luftwaffe and Fallschirmjäger this last year. Plenty to enjoy!

On that I just finished is I Learned To Fly For Hitler by Joe Volmar…

It’s a really good first person narrative of a young German born boy who returns to Germany just prior to WWII and his adventures as he’s schooled in Germany and the new Reich. Especially interesting is his account of glider training and his selection as a Komet pilot!

Joe fortunately makes his way through a number of close scrapes to survive the war and eventually comes back to America.

I’ve received photos of my K98 rifle crate from Will at Nord-Ost Fabricken-Werke. It’s finished… and looks great!

It’s a huge crate, for five rifles and will have to go by truck… I can’t wait to get it. Nord-Ost also hand made a stencil for the lettering on the crate…

Here it is with a rifle in it. This will give me a good way to display rifles and also control them while at shows. At a glance shows me how many are there, as well as prevents easy removal of the weapons.

It’s also a great way to deflect the awkward ‘can I hold it’ questions… where you don’t want a nice rifle in the sweaty hands of some random person who will almost always hand it off to some other person and possibly drop it… ugh.

I’ve written about this before and have some detailed information on converting the Vigneron magazines for the BFNG.

I ordered a slew of Vigneron magazines and spent last night cutting the notches on the mill and filing the magazines to fit my MP-40 BFNG.

One can never have enough mags and ammo for a tactical… The four Vigneron mags with new notches and tapers on the left, an original BFNG mag on the right.

I recently received a note regarding a common problem with the FF33 that I haven’t written about previously. I’m going to add the information to the FF33 pages but here’s the answer that I have. If any of you have other solutions please let me know and with your permission I’ll add them to the collective knowledge.
—-< note >—-

Dear Feldwebel,

I was lucky to get my hands on a pretty good FF33 with its original battery still in it. Of course only the carrying strap is missing. Since this phone came out of a depot and is to be placed in a private collectors museum, I would like to clean it up as much as possible. I noticed you guys had a very interesting guide on this phone which gave me some good information.

However, I do not seem to be able to remove the crank from the crank hole. Since I am afraid of any what damage done to this piece, I would like to know if you could give me some pointers on how to unscrew the crank. Because every time I try to unscrew it counter-clockwise, it simply winds up the mechanism. Is there any safe way to remove the crank?

Thanks and kind regards,

—-< reply >—-
Hello,

The crank can be difficult to remove sometimes, since as you say the unwind direction is also the same direction as generate for the magneto. The crank handle is cast metal and the threaded stub from the magneto is threaded onto a shaft from the magneto with about 7mm or threads and a flat mating surface.

Here’s a photo of the internals…

There isn’t a way to get inside since the attached crank will prevent removal of the telephone mechanism from the case. There are two methods to solve this.

The first is non-destructive; put a bit of penetrating oil on the shaft of the crank as close as possible to the opening. Then set the FF33 on it’s opposite end and allow several hours for the oil to wick in. After the wait place the phone back down on a table as if you were going to crank it. With the crank handle parallel to the table surface give a sharp tap on the crank near the handle. (Use some small type of brass or wooden hammer.) You aren’t trying to break it, just apply a sudden acceleration force to break the crank free from the magneto stub mating surface. Try it several times, even to reapplying oil and waiting.

If that fails to work the only other method I know of is to cut the crank handle just outside the case. Hopefully you can find a replacement handle.

One other long shot that I haven’t tried is to remove the two screws on top holding the telephone mechanism in the bakelite case. And if there is enough opening you may be able to get a long shaft screwdriver down far enough to wedge into the magneto gears at the shaft to freeze them while you attempt to remove the crank.

Good luck…
Regards,
der Feld

A few days later I got a happy reply…

Hi Feld,

I have succeeded in removing the crank without a scratch!
What I did was quite simple; I sprayed oil into the crank hole at exactly the point where the crank meets the magneto, just as you described. I used WD-40 since it’s spraying straw allows you to deliver the right portion in difficult to reach areas. I then set the closed FF33 on its opposite side for a day to let the stuff wick in. After a day I repeated the process and let it sit for another 24hrs. I then placed the FF33 back in its horizontal position, placed a piece of wood against the crank and hit it a few times with a hamer. I then cranked the phone but with short, jerking motions -just like trying to “outturn” the magneto- and after a couple of turns the crank came off nicely!

Thanks for your suggestions and I hope this may help some other owners in breaking down their FF33 as well.

Kind regards and happy Easter,

I’ve picked up a Segelflugzeugführerabzeichen der Luftwaffe (Glider Pilots Badge) marked “G.H.OSANG DRESDEN”. It’s a very nice specimen and well preserved. It will be a nice addition to my collection.

I’ve received some progress photos of my K98 rifle crate from Nord-Ost Fabricken-Werke. They show another very nice crate taking shape… but also show more of the work that goes into the making of each crate.

I didn’t know that some of the hinges had to be hand made! Interesting… and nice craftsmanship too.

The crate itself looks great! I can’t wait to get it. Will also help a lot with camp site organization knowing I’ve got a place to keep the rifles secure.

Now I need a field desk…

One of the members of the unit, Gary ALbers showed me his notes of a unit history he’d researched… I’ll be transcribing it and posting it on Fallschirmjager.net. But for now here’s his notes;

I’ve released my drawings for the FG-42 II blank adapter under Creative Commons. Which means here is the design, you can use it, make it, enjoy it for non-commercial use as long as you attribute the origin.

Here’s the PDF design document to make one… if you don’t want to make it yourself, contact me at feldwebel@fallschirmjager.net