Aluminum based, curved locomotive bow eagle with a wingspan of 139.7 cm and a height of 63.8 cm. The wreath has a diameter of about 23.2 cm and the swastika is 14.0 cm. The reverse shows that the upper part of the wings is folded back, and the eagle’s head and neck are hollow. The leaves of the wreath run up to the claws.

The book on the topic remarks that only 5 of these eagles were found at that time. Three had a repaired swastika and two had welded wings. GIs had to fit those enormous eagles into transport boxes and had no choice but to cut them down. The book states further that one eagle was shipped in one piece as the GI had access to proper packaging.

This eagle is to believe the only one outside of two rail museums in Germany. Both the Technick Museum in Berlin and in Nurnberg show this eagle on electric train engines that are on display.

This eagle was part of the famous Roger Bender collection.

About fast locomotives:

There have been efforts to improve the aerodynamics of steam locomotives since around 1900.

However, systematic tests on the aerodynamics of steam locomotives were not made in Germany until the 1930s. In addition to examining the aerodynamics, it was also necessary to determine the extent to which the engine of the locomotive, in particular the bearings, heat up due to a lack of air supply. The sufficient supply of combustion air under the grate was also an important point.

The tests showed that a faired locomotive had a power gain of 290 hp over the un-faired version at 120 km/h; at 140 km/h it was even 385 hp. With an indicated output of 1980 hp, this was a gain of around 15 and 20 percent, respectively.

The results of these investigations were incorporated into the design of the two class 05 express locomotives, both of which were delivered in 1935 with complete streamlining.

In the meantime, the class 61 tank locomotive, also with full fairing, was created and intended for express traffic between Berlin and Dresden. There was a suitable wagon set for this, the so-called Henschel-Wegmann train, which was aerodynamically adapted to the locomotive. A second example of this type of locomotive was built in 1939 in a slightly modified form.

Another express locomotive with streamlined livery was the DR class 06, two of which were delivered by Krupp in 1939. In the same year, the first DR class 01.10 and DR class 03.10 locomotives were put into service. Here, for the first time, a larger series of locomotives with streamlining was manufactured, namely 55 units of the 01 10 series and 60 units of the 03 10 series. The shape of the casing of both series was similar but differed visually from the previous streamlined locomotives.

The last Reichsbahn locomotive with streamlining was added in 1941 with the class 19 10, a steam engine locomotive with single-axle drive. Its fairing was visually like that of the 01.

In addition to steam locomotives, the E18 and E19 series electric locomotives should also be mentioned, which were designed as streamlined locomotives before the Second World War and were intended to reach speeds of up to 180 km/h in the case of the E19.