on the way back to Almorox he came across an armored car and set it on fire. His exploit in the V6 made him famous, and Balthasar found himself in command of the newly formed combat group with the V6 and three He 45C recon planes. Over the next few months, the V6 was flown by a number of pilots, and on 6 July Unteroffizier Max Schulze knocked out an additional number of armored cars. On 19 July Schulze was once again flying the V6 when the engine seized during landing. Schultze walked away from the resulting pancake landing, but the plane broke her back and was a write-off. V8 and V9 were then sent to Spain in the spring of 1938. The V8 was the earlier A series model with the larger DB600Aa engine, but it was only in Spain until July when it crashed. V9 was the B series platform and armed with twin 20 mm cannons. Like the V6 it was then used primarily as a ground attack plane, but it was also flown by a number of experienced Spanish pilots before being returned to Heinkel and becoming the show plane. Luftwaffe The early stages of the Third Reich's expansion plans consisted of a series of annexations of territory where the majority of the population were culturally German. This started with the March 1938 Anschluss, the annexation of Austria. Next on the list came the Sudetenland, a portion of western Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was not interested in giving it up, and unlike the Austrian example, it did not look like France and the United Kingdom were going to simply sit back and watch. Suddenly the possibility of a military confrontation looked very real. As a result, the Luftwaffe pressed every flightworthy fighter into service. At the time the Japanese Navy batch of 112Bs was being completed, and these were taken over and used to form IV./JG 132 on 1 July 1938. They were first based at Oschatz, but were moved to Karlsbad on 6 October. The planes moved again on 17 November to Mährish-Trübau, where they were reformed as I./JG 331. But by that time the crisis had passed, and I./JG 331 received Bf 109Cs in place of the 112Bs. The planes were then returned to Heinkel and then shipped to Japan to fulfill the order. A number of other 112s at the Heinkel plant were used as