Reichenberg survivors

The last of the 175 built examples in the world.

One of those that eventually fell into the hands of the Allies was donated to the city of Antwerp.

The city of Antwerp received the exceptional object from its savior during WW2, Colonel Armstrong.
Together with his 22,000 men from “Antwerp X”, he had managed to save the city and its crucial port from destruction by V1s. More information about the city's relationship with Armstrong can be found on our “Antwerp and Armstrong" page. He donated the Re4 so that later generations of Antwerp residents could remember the sad but proud period in which Antwerp and “Antwerp X” helped determine the end of WW2 in the West, when Hitler launched his last major offensives over land and in the air to the city and its harbour.

In 1945 the Antwerp Re4 “Wasserlaufer”, a variant against sea targets, was exhibited for the first time at the Steen.

“Antwerp, 25 June 1945.
To the Board of Mayor and Aldermen,

At City Hall.”

Madam, Sirs,

Mister General Armstrong, commander of well known formation Antwerp “X”, who defended our city against the flying bombs, had, in remembrance of this battle donated a shot down V1. The craft, which was heavily damaged and not fitted with wings, was replaced on the 12th of this month with a brand new example (partly still in its original packing) and which was captured by the American Army.
As at that time the exposition “Since 1939″ opened on the Groenplaats, where a complete V1 was on display – i did not find it appropriate to display our V1, all the more since Captain Edgar had reported, that it was the intention of General Armstrong to also supply the Mayor with a V4, which would be more suited for display.
On the 23rd of this month this piloted flying bomb (V-4) was delivered. It is a new example, also captured in Germany. The fast advance of the Allied armies stopped the Germans from using these new killing devices. In consultation with the Mayor this V-4 was displayed in the garden at the north side of the Steen – near the walking terrace, where she had been put together Sunday by the American specialists. The services of City Buildings and Agri- and Horticultural works cleaned and prepared the garden Monday morning. To the press an announcement was sent about General Armstrong’s gift and the exposition of the V-4. I thanked the American captain who delivered the gift in name of the City Council. I take the liberty of proposing you write an official letter to General Armstrong to thank him for this important donation, which testifies of his special attention for our city. May i ask you , to order the police to ensure special and constant security as long as the V-4 is displayed at the Steen.”

It was there for about 4 months with great interest, unfortunately sometimes a little too much... During this exhibition, the pilot's seat was said to have been stolen and apparently that was not the only thing. On October 29, 1945, mayor Huysmans received the following request:
“As the nightly interest for the flying bomb continues (during last night once again a part was stolen) i take the liberty of asking you, if you would want to give the order to the responsible City Service (Port works?) to take the bomb apart and store it in the Steen. In the meanwhile it would seem usefull to me that the police would guard the craft.”
On October 30th the Mayor sent a copy to the Antwerp chief of police, Jozef De Potter.

“Antwerp, 8th of November 1945.

To the Council of the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Antwerp.
Madam, Sirs,
As a result of your order stated in the document mentioned on the edge, i have the honor to let you know that the V4 was disassembled by my services and taken to the Vleeshuis Museum on the request of Mister Peeters.”

On November 5th, three days after the Re4 was stored in the Vleeshuis Museum, also the V1’s Armstrong gave the city were stored there.

On February 22, 1946, the College granted a first loan.
“Musea for antiquities. Loan.- The Ministry of Defense, Service for clearance and demolition of explosives devices, can, for an exhibition in Brussels from March 14th till April 5th, make use of the flying bombs V-1 and V-4. Said service will finance the tasks of taking apart, picking up, bringing back and putting back together these machines of war.”

When the benefactor Colonel Armstrong left Belgium in 1950 it was his turn to receive presents from the grateful City of Antwerp.
During the ceremony in the Handelsbeurs, mayor Lode Craeybeckx first emphasized the historic role that General Armstrong had played with his 22,000 American, British and Polish soldiers. 
“Those days, in which the pages of our city’s history would be written in blood and gold. In those days the man appeared who was to become sharer of the suffering and in that titanic struggle the
primary, most diligent hero.”…

 

“There is not one person in this city that does not realize, what he owes to you and your troops.”…

“We are not only grateful to you, we are proud of you, we will never forget you in Antwerp.”…

There seemed to be a lack of pride of his valuable gifts, which were neglected for decades and languished in storage.

Since, upon receipt in 1945 it was described as an “important gift, which also testifies to his special attention for our city” the substandard care in the following decades seems all the more disgraceful. On the photos we see the dismantled Reichenberg in the 1990s stored between tiles and stones in warehouse Godfried. Brand new when it was delivered the Re4 has clearly not aged well in decades of being badly stored. Even before the move to the Hessenhuis in the 1970s it was not in great shape.

The transport clamp that served as a support at the Steen in 1945.

In 1994 it was once again dusted off and put together to serve at some events around 50 years of liberation.

With limited resources, it was put back together and painted in the workhouse of the Public Cleaning Services in Wilrijk. The same year, the Re4 was still on display in Kapellen and later Brussels, where it was exhibited until 1995 at the exhibition “I was 20 in ’45”.

In 1997, Armstrong's gifts finally seemed on their way to fulfill their role permanently in Antwerp's memory.

On 17 July 1997, the Board took note of the Stampe Museum's wish to exhibit the Re4 and a V1 on permanent loan and decided to grant this in part. Since they wanted to reserve the V1 for the planned MAS museum, it would only be given on temporary loan. In the upcoming extension to the Stampe museum, a permanent place could be reserved for the Re4 and a temporary one for the V1.

On 14 May 1998, the College authorized a temporary loan to La Coupole.
The French museum was given the Re4 on loan for the period from 15 May to the end of October 1998.

On 25.10.1999, the Culture Coordinator of the City of Antwerp drew up an advisory note on the V1 and Re4. The latter had not returned, apparently without any documented arrangement, more than a year after the expiration of the loan. An extension was proposed in the advisory note “Awaiting the realization of the Stampemuseum”. Since the note also confirmed the 1997 loan agreements for the V1 and Re4, this extension was clearly advised as a temporary measure. On 9.12.1999, the College thus decided to extend it for an undetermined duration.

After Article 5, the following article specifically mandated “to do the necessary in view of the mentioned loans.In September 2000, the Stampe Museum was almost ready and asked the city when they would have the V1 and Re4 available. The surprising answer was that only the V1 would be handed over, still temporarily, but the Re4 was never mentioned again. The specific "Awaiting the realization of the Stampemuseum" advised extention now suddenly appeared to be the reason it would not go there. The documentation surrounding this decision was apparently omitted, since the file made available to us in 2018 did not contain any document regarding any extension or adjustment of the loan in 20 years. 

Armstrong’s Re4 in La Coupole, 2000.

In February 2020 it was announced that he would be on display in Antwerp from March 27 to June 1 at a temporary exhibition of the MAS.
Since the first measures regarding COVID-19 were imposed at that time, these plans unfortunately fell through. We naturally hope that the Antwerp interest may prove a turning point in the management of the Antwerp Re4. For the time being we are in the dark about the future, by highlighting its history and that of the few other survivors, this page can hopefully help clarify what a gem Armstrong's Re4 is in Antwerp's WW2 heritage.

Other Reichenberg survivors.

Of the Reichenberg survivors, not only the Antwerp one was kept in less than ideal circumstances after the war. Usually a lot of restoration was needed to get them to the condition in which they can now be viewed in museums as eyecatchers in their collection.

Lashenden Air Warfare Museum. (Kent, Verenigd Koninkrijk)

 

Saved from scrapping in the 1970s, after several restaurations, “#85” has been housed in a purpose-built space since 2017.

 

 

Click here to go to the Re4 page of the museum.

Just like the Antwerp Re4, this one was also on an exhibition in 1945 (in Farnborough, United Kingdom). Since the Re4 had no bow, it was mounted on an unmanned V1. Unlike all other aircraft, the aircraft was not given an "Air Ministry" number, but was sent as a bomb to the mine clearance service for use in training.

It was transferred to a mine clearance school near Horsham where it was converted into a regular V1. Although it was certainly put to good use, one wonders why an ordinary V1 could not be sourced instead of the rare piece that had been exhibited earlier. The cockpit roof disappeared and after a while he had to stand outside due to lack of space.

In 1966 he moved to Chattenden and a year later Fort Clarence, Rochester. Here it was given a fake cockpit roof, a thick coat of black paint and set up outside on a piece of Bailey Bridge.

Salvation came in 1970 when the then newly established “Lashenden Air Warfare Museum” included it in its collection. Just in time… During a bomb search for their new museum, they asked what the plans were for the Re4 at Fort Clarence. Given the terrible state it was in in the meantime, the answer was “the scrap heap” so they asked if it could be included in the new collection. They got permission, rushed to collect it, and undertook a preliminary restoration until funds were available for a full-fledged one.

After finding enough support and funds, the Re4 went to Germany in 2009 for a professional restoration by specialists.

Alexander Kuncze specializes in restoring aircraft from WW2 and was also working on a second Re4 around this time, which is now in Switzerland. In Munich it was completely overhauled, missing instruments and a new bow tip for the anti-land target version were added. In 2013, after a year of exhibition in Germany, he came back to England. In addition to the restoration also a new accommodation was built in the museum, which was completed in 2017.

National Military Museum. (Soesterberg, the Netherlands)

Well-preserved variant for land targets. Departed from Delft in 2005 and stored in Soesterberg. After treatment in 2019, he returned in 2020 to be exhibited.

 

 

Click here to go to the Re4 page of the museum.

Until the move, it had been on display in the impressive collection of the Armamentarium in Delft since the 1980s.

In 2005 it was transferred and stored in the National Military Museum in Soesterberg.

From November 2019, it went to the Historic Engineering company for a few months for a very thorough restoration and conservation. Despite previous overpainting, these images also show the beautiful original condition of the Dutch copy. Fortunately, with this restoration it was decided to return to the original layers instead of adding more layers of paint. During this process, it was also possible to uncover pieces of history that were hidden under previous restorations. When repairing previous reconstruction attempts on the rudders, it turned out that these are not originally from a Re4, but are the modified rudders of an ordinary V1. Original instructions reappeared on the undercarriage with the removal of paint. Although the Re4 had no radio on board, there was a cable to the radio on the aircraft that carried it. The cable and connection for this feature are still present in this copy.

After the exhibition “He or I” of the National Military Museum, he was subsequently included in the permanent exhibition. 

Canadian War Museum. (Ottawa, Canada)

Land target variant brought to Canada in 1945 by Captain Farley Mowat's "Intelligence Collection Team" (under restoration).

 

Air Force Day, 16.6.1947. © Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584067

On June 9th, 1951. © Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3584520

Initially it was on the RCAF Station in Trenton, Ontario. It later moved to the Canadian War Museum where it has been under restoration for some time but seemingly still visible.

In 1999. © Harold A. Skaarup

© Harold A. Skaarup

 © Randy Lutz

 In 2010 © Andrew Iarocci

Flying Heritage Collection. (Washington, United States)

Found in the 1990s in the Mittelwerk factory through a newly discovered entrance, added to the museum collection in 2001. Marked as “#29”.

 

Click here to go to the Re4 page of the museum.

Owned by millionaire Paul Allen, the Re4 moved from Arlington Airfield to the museum's Flying Heritage Collection in 2008. Here too it was set up with a transport hood instead of a bow spire with igniter.

Swiss Military Museum. (Full, Swiss)

After the war, "#27" was in Czechoslovakia where it was bought by a collector in 1997, in 2015 it ended up in Switzerland.

© Alexander Kuncze
© Rudolf Stumberger

The collector sold his find so that the Re4 ended up in Germany by 2010, where it was also restored. In 2015 a Swiss collector bought the piece and made it available to the Swiss Military Museum.

© Wim Dirks