KITS 01/2021

9./JG 1, Paderborn, Germany, May 1944

The Bf 109G-6/AS was developed to intercept enemy aircraft at higher altitudes. This accounts for the camouflage paint consisting of just

RLM 76. At unit level, these aircraft often received additional coats of then standard colours consisting of RLM 74 and RLM 75 over the side

and upper surfaces. The JG 1 unit emblem was applied to the nose, and this was a winged numeral '1' inside of a square, rotated to sit on

one of its corners. On period photographs of Yellow '14', the red fuselage band is clearly visible, signifying the fact that this aircraft served

within the Defense of the Reich system. The vertical bar located within it was a designator for III. Gruppe planes, and was always rendered

in the Staffel colour. This was, in the case of the 9. Staffel, yellow. Some sources conclude that the fuselage code of Yellow '14' covered the

earlier applied numeral '3', while others suggest that the covered designation was either the factory applied 'TO' or 'TQ'. We are offering

both possibilities.

WNr. 412179, Uffz. Horst Petzschler, 2./JG 3, Burg near Magdeburg, Germany, May 1944

Horst Petzschler was born in Berlin on September 1st, 1921 and joined the Luftwaffe on April 1st, 1941. After undergoing fighter pilot training, he was assigned to JG 51 on August 23rd, 1943, and it was there he would gain his first three kills. On April 13th, 1944, he was transferred to 2./JG 3 which was a component of the Defence of the Reich structure, but by June 1944, he would return to JG 51 on the Eastern

Front. On May 4th, 1945, III./JG 51 was relocated to Schleswig-Holstein from eastern Prussia. Horst Petzschler did not reach that location due

to a navigation error and landed at Bulltofta in Sweden, where he was interned and in January 1946, the Swedes handed him over to the

Soviets. He was released from captivity on September 22nd, 1949. On his return, he worked for the Berlin Police Department and in 1953,

he emigrated to Canada and then the United States, where he worked in the aviation industry. He retired in 1988. Over the course of the

Second World War, he downed 26 enemy aircraft.

During his service with 2./JG 3, Uffz. Petzschler flew an aircraft coded Balck '14'. The aircraft was painted RLM 76 overall at the plant and

carried the JG 3 insignia on the nose. On May 30th, 1944, Fw. Otto Bülsow was shot down during combat in this airplane over Belzig.

INFO Eduard - January 2021

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