Books on the Seenotdienst (Luftwaffe air-sea rescue service)

[Richard T Eger]

Goran
Few questions about Seenotdienst

Fri Apr 12 23:48:12 2026
213.250.7.152

How many pilots were rescued by Seenotdienst (german and enemy) during the war?
How many Seenotdienst aircrafts were shot down by the enemy?
Were they protected by fighters (Me 410 ?) and if so, did these fighters belong to Seenotdienst or were they "borrowed" from fighter or zerstorer units?

Thanks

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

richard dunn
ASR
Sat Apr 13 01:22:32 2026
68.49.0.249

Some of your quesions may be answered in:

The Air Force Law Review/1979 p.602:

"Air-Sea Rescue Operations in Europe During World War II: Historical Perspectives on a Footnote in International Law"

RLD

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

George Hopp
ASR
Sat Apr 13 04:21:00 2026
134.117.137.227

"Die Verbaende der Luftwaffe" by Dierich says that a total of roughly 11,561 personnel were saved from the sea -- divided into 7746 Germans and 3815 enemy.

In doing so, they lost 278 dead and 114 missing.

There are at least 2 photos showing Me 410s with the markings of a Seenotdienst unit. So, one must assume that escort aircraft were allocated to the ASR units.

George

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

LwFlieger
Seenotdienst
Fri Apr 19 05:36:46 2026
152.163.195.194

You could try looking at two books specifically on this subject:

"Der Seenotdienst der Deutschen Luftwaffe," by Volkmar Kuhn; Motorbuch Verlag (Stuttgart, 1978).

"Rettung zwischen den Fronten: Seenotdienst der deutschen Luftwaffe 1939-1945" by Karl Born; E.S. Mittler & Sohn
(Berlin, 1996)

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Theo
Looking for SaGr 125 & 131 lost-lists
Wed Apr 24 21:12:35 2026
195.34.103.63

Hi!

I'm looking for loss lists of 1. and 3./SaGr 125 and 1./SaGr 131 Even not for complete lists, but for their losses while these units were based at the Bulgarian town of Varna at the Black sea. Many tanks in advance!

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Laurent
Seaplanes over the blacksea
Thu Apr 25 22:36:33 2026
213.44.4.218

Hi

I have the book 'Seaplanes over the blacksea' of J.L. Roba and C. Craciunoiu, dealing mainly with Seenotsdienst planes but there is a loss list for SaGr125 (1 and 3 Staffel, 1st June 42, last 21/8/44) and more in text about them.

Nothing AFAIK about 1/SaGr 131 in this book.

Email me your questions if you have not this book, I will send you more info.

Regards

Laurent

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Ed West
Air-Sea Rescue Seenotdienst
Thu Mar 27 16:35:58 2026
64.7.163.108

An excellent article can be found here. It is thoroughly footnoted/referenced.

www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1977/jan-feb/tilford.html

Ed

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

T Jones
6 Seenotstaffel
Fri Mar 28 11:08:17 2026
195.92.67.209

Very interesting but the book list at the end of the article did not include Horst Thurlings very detailed history of 6,Seenotstaffel in the Middle East theatre

Tony Jones

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Michael Murphy
[email protected]
CANT Z501 with Seenotdienstfuhrer Trieste
Thu Sep 18 03:04:04 2026
205.188.209.106

Hello to all -

AeroFan nr. 80 includes an article which updates Hans Werner Neulen's book 'The Rich Booty'. The article includes photos and information about Italian aircraft captured by the Luftwaffe after the Italian capitulation in 1943.

An interesting table is given on page 14 of the article which provides a short loss list of CANT Z506s and CANT Z501s operated by the Luftwaffe. The article mentions that the Luftwaffe captured several CANT Z501s which were used for training purposes. The loss list mentions the following:

August 4, 1944
CANT Z501 operating with Seenotdientfuhrer Trieste missing over the northern Adriatic

August 7, 1944
CANT Z501 operating with Seenotdientfuhrer Trieste shot down by enemy fighters.

Can someone provide more information about Seenotdienstfuhrer Trieste (which I can't seem to find mention of in 'Luftwaffe Codes, Markings and Units'. Also, does anyone have more information and possibly photos of a CANT Z501 in Luftwaffe service.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks
Mike

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Steve W.
Seenotdienst in Adriatic
Thu Sep 18 15:17:06 2026
64.12.96.76

There was no "Seenotdienstführer Trieste", at least by that name officially.

The Seenotdienst unit in the North Adriatic was 6. Seenotstaffel, which moved from Sicily to Venice in Aug 43 and remained there until it was disbanded in Sep 44. on 31 May 44 it reported 22(13) Cant Z.506B seaplanes on strength. This Staffel was replaced by Seenotstaffel 20, which was based at Udine, but was equipped with 10 Fw 190s (as strange as that may seem).

Also in this area were:
Seenotdienstführer 2 at Venice-Lido from fall 1943 to Aug 44 when it was disbanded;
Seenotbereichskdo. XIV at Pola (Istria) from late 1943 until in was disbanded in Apr 44;
Seenotkdo. 14 at Pola (Istria) from Oct 43 until it was disbanded in Aug 44.

None of the above 3 are known to have had any assigned aircraft, however. They were small staffs or reporting centers that coordinated rescue efforts in the northern Adriatic by aircraft and surface vessels.

The use of one or more Cant Z501 seaplanes at Trieste is interesting in that there is no mention of this in the unpublished history of the Seenotdienst. I wonder if it was a tiny Luftwaffe training detachment that was attempting to cobble together an ANR air-sea rescue unit, but never completed the task? If you learn more on this, please let us know.

Steve

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Kari Lumppio
"the unpublished history of the Seenotdienst"
Sat Sep 20 23:00:30 2026
193.229.6.165

Hello!

Got interested in the "the unpublished history of the Seenotdienst" you mentioned.

Does the history have anything of the Seenotdienst at Gulf of Finland? Seenotgruppe 34 IIRC. Also there was a Luftwaffe Seenot detachment at Lake Ladoga in 1943. Anything about it?

With Best Regards,
Kari

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Steve W.
Seenotdienst in the Baltic
Sun Sep 21 16:37:32 2026
205.188.208.168

Sorry, but there's very little. The study was written by former Seenotdienst officers a few years after the war and the authors all seem to have been stationed along the Channel, the coastal area of France and in the Mediterranean. Accordingly, there was barely a mention of the Baltic.

S.W.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Nick Beale
Published work
Sun Sep 21 23:29:00 2026
80.225.118.7

Have you seen Karl Born's "Rettung zwischen den Fronten" (Verlag E.S. Mittler, Hamburg 1996)?

This is less of a history than a collection of incidents and events in the Seenotdienst in different theatres. One 2-page "chapter" for example is "Hexenkessel Danziger Bucht" (The Witches' Cauldron of the Bay of Danzig)

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Nick Beale
Seenotstaffel 20
Sat Sep 20 23:50:40 2026
80.225.108.183

The full name of this outfit was Seenotteilstaffel 20 (Land): so only a "part Staffel" and land-based (or with land-based aircraft rather than flying boats).

It did have 10 aircraft at maximum (Fw 190 A-8s) but didn't maintain that strength long. From what I can tell, it flew overwater recon missions in the northern Adriatic (maybe looking for people who needed rescue as part of that?).

Its aircraft were later absorbed by NAG 11 (with which it was co-located at Udine) and, apparently, what few remained of those Fw 190s after a big raid on Udine by the Allies were passed on to Stab and 1./NSG 9 in the last weeks of the war.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Andy Mitchell
CANT Z501 with Seenotdienstfuhrer Trieste
Thu Sep 18 23:46:11 2026
80.2.186.219

The Beuteflugzeuge site ( http://www.luftwaffe-experten.co.uk/beuteflugzeuge.html ) lists the following:-

Cant Z.506 Italy Q8+B8 Seenotstaffel 6 or Seenotdienstführer/Lfl. 6

Cant Z.506 Italy Q8+X3 Seenotstaffel 6 or Seenotdienstführer/Lfl. 6

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Mike Murphy
[email protected]
Thanks !
Sun Sep 21 17:56:40 2026
152.163.252.161

Gentlemen -

Thanks very much for the information you provided. I am the photographic editor for the Beuteflugzeug 1933 - 1945 site ( http://www.luftwaffe-experten.co.uk/beuteflugzeuge.html ) which was developed by Peter Evans. Patrick Righart van Gelder developed the extensive spreadsheet listing of Beute aircraft that appears on the site including the Z506s mentioned.

The AeroFan article by van Neulen implies that the Germans used the CANT Z501 as a training aircraft. At least 2 dozen CANT Z501s were captured after the Italian capitulation.....some were scrapped, but apparently some were used operationally as previously mentioned. There is additional information in Ali D'Italia 'CANT Z501' suggesting that the Germans and/or ANR forces also operated captured Rumanian CANT Z501s.

My goal is to find photographic evidence of the CANT Z501 in Luftwaffe markings......I would appreciate the 12 o'clock high board keeping me in mind if you happen across a photo of this type in the future.

Thanks again,

Mike