German Photo Album “Fliegerhorst Company of the Seefliegerhorst List” (Sylt Island)
This German photo album is attributed to the “Fliegerhorstkompanie” of the Seefliegerhorst List on the island of Sylt.
This was the naval air station (Seefliegerhorst) for seaplanes at the northernmost tip of Sylt. The company handled the day-to-day operations of the base: technical maintenance, security, logistics, recovery, ground crew, etc. It was part of the Fliegerhorst Command and supported the flying units stationed there.
The main flying unit from the late 1930s until October 1939 consisted of Küstenfliegergruppe 406 and its predecessors. The headquarters and the three Staffeln (including He 60, Do 18, He 59, and later He 115) were based in List. After that, most units moved to other bases on Sylt (Hörnum, Rantum) or farther afield (Norway, France, etc.).
There was also a strong presence of the Seenotdienst (the Luftwaffe’s air-sea rescue service). Starting on July 1, 1937, the Seenotbezirksstelle (L) List/Sylt was based here.
The ship in the photos in your album, the Krischa 3 (officially Krischan III, renamed Bernhard von Tschirschky in August 1936), was precisely such a Luftwaffe Flugsicherungsschiff / Flugzeugbergungsschiff. It was stationed in List starting in 1937 and was used for the recovery and transport of seaplanes.
Key details in this album that stand out are as follows:
Photos of Sylt from the late 1930s.
Krischa 3 → directly linked to the Seenot-/Flugsicherungsdienst in List.
Christmas 1941 in Lübeck → likely leave or a temporary transfer/detachment (Lübeck was in the same air force district).
Italy in 1943 (Naples and Grosseto) and southern France (Cannes, April 26–27; Marseille, April 30, 1943).
This group was stationed in the Mediterranean region in 1942–43. Grosseto and Naples had Luftwaffe bases; Cannes and Marseille were located along the route or served as temporary staging areas during operations in the western Mediterranean.
The photos featuring Fallschirmjägers were also taken here.
The album contains 78 photographs.