KITS 01/2021

WNr. 740039, Oblt. Leopold Fellerer, CO of II./NJG 5, Parchim, Germany, January 1944

Oblt. Leopold Fellerer came from Vienna, Austria, where he was born on July 7th, 1919. In 1935 he volunteered for the Austrian Air Force,

but was rejected, and he joined the army instead. After the Anschluss of 1938, he again attempted to get into the Air Force, this time the

Luftwaffe, but was again rejected, and so he remained with the infantry. After several more attempts, his application was finally accepted,

and he began training as a bomber pilot in November 1938. At the beginning of 1941 he was assigned to II./NJG 1, where he accounted

for the first kill of a British bomber. On October 10th, 1942, he was given command of 3./NJG 1, which would be renamed in December

of the same year as 5./NJG 5. Over the course of the year, his tally had grown to eighteen and Fellerer was elevated to Hauptmann, taking

command of II./NJG 5. On April 8th, 1944, he received the Knight’s Cross for what were by then 34 aerial victories, and in May of that year,

he was made CO of III./NJG 6. Over the course of the Second World War, he was credited with 41 kills. During the fifties, he served with the

Austrian Air Force, and commanded Langenlebarn Air Base in Tulln. He was killed on July 15th, 1968 in a crash of a Cessna L-19 near Krems.

Hptm. Walter Borchers, CO of III./NJG 5, Neuruppin, Germany, January 1944

Walter Borchers, a future ace with 59 kills, was born on January 22nd, 1916 in the Ofen, in Lower Saxony. At the beginning of the war, he was

attached to 5./ZG 76, equipped with Bf 110s. He took command of the 5. Staffel in the spring of 1940. A year later, the unit was tasked with

night fighting and redesignated 8./NJG 3. On April 22nd, 1943, Oblt. Borchers was given command of III./NJG 5, and in a year, as a Major,

command of the entire NJG 5. He perished in the cockpit of a Ju 88G-6 on March 6th, 1945, after having downed a British Lancaster north of

Altenburg. This came at the hands of a Mosquito night fighter crewed by W/Cdr Walter Gibb and F/Lt Kendall from No.239 Squadron, RAF.

Out of Borchers’ crew, only the rear gunner survived. Walter Borchers had two brothers, all served in the Second World War, and all were

awarded the Knight’s Cross. The oldest of them, Hermann, received his on October 16th, 1944. Adolf on November 22nd, 1944 and the

youngest of the trio, Walter, on July 27th, 1944. Both his brothers, Adolf and Hermann, survived the war.

Kat. č. 672248

WNr. 5547, Ofw. Helmut Treynogga, 6./NJG 6, Echterdingen, Germany, March 1944

On the night of the 15/16th of March, 1944, after unsuccessful attempts at intercepting British bombers attacking Munich, Ofw. Treynogga

became disoriented and for a lack of fuel, set down at Dübendorf in Switzerland. Together with his radio operator, Uffz. Heinz Schwarz, he

would spend five weeks in Switzerland and his aircraft, equipped with a FuG 202 radar, was thoroughly tested. After his return to Germany,

Ofw. Treynogga was again assigned to the night fighting role. On the night of the 5/6th of June, 1944, he again became disoriented over the

town of Graziano in Italy, and he bailed out of his aircraft. He did not survive the event.

Bf 110G-4 coded 2Z+OP, with which Ofw. Treynogga landed in Switzerland, was camouflaged in RLM 74/75 on the upper surfaces and the

lower ones were sprayed RLM 76. The exception was the lower surface of the right wing, which was in black. This aircraft lacked the two MG

151/20 cannon under the fuselage.

32 eduard

INFO Eduard - January 2021