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Bf 109G-6, WNr.18502 or 18503, Hptm. Horst Carganico,
CO of II./JG 5, Pskov-South, the Soviet Union, early 1944
Bf 109G-6 Trop, WNr. 27169, Fw. Heinrich Bartels, 11./JG 27,
Kalamaki, Greece, November 1943
Horst Carganico was born on September 27,
1917 in Breslau (Wroclaw in Poland nowadays).
The first combat unit to which the then twenty-
two-year-old Lt. Carganico joined was JG 1
at the beginning of the war. This was followed by
a return to Norway on January 1, 1941, where he
served as commander of 1./JG 77. On September
25, 1941, Carganico was awarded the Knight’s
Cross after achieving his 27th victory. In March
1942 Carganico’s unit was renamed 6./JG 5, but
by April 1942 he had already taken command
of the entire II. Gruppe. On March 26, 1944,
he was appointed commander of I./JG 5, which
participated in the fighting against the Allies as
part of the Defense of the Reich. On May 27 of that
year Major Carganico flew his last sortie. During
an attack on a B-17 formation his Bf 109G-5 was
badly damaged, hitting a high tension power line
while attempting an emergency landing. He did
not survive the crash near the French town of
Chevry. Carganico’s total score stands at sixty
kills in 600 missions. The camouflage of his
aircraft was painted over with white and RLM 70
on the upper surfaces. Under the cockpit was the
marking of II./JG 5 aircraft on both sides. On the
left side of the fuselage behind the cockpit was
Carganico’s personal emblem – Mickey Mouse
dragging his boots with dates commemorating
the pilot’s returns to the unit after emergency
landings behind enemy lines. On the right side
of the fuselage, there was probably the marking
of the Gruppe commander – a double chevron
and a horizontal bar.
Austrian Heinrich Bartels was born on July 13,
1918, in Linz. He began his career as a fighter pilot
over the English Channel, where as a member
of the Erg./JG 26, he shot down two Spitfires in
August 1941. He then went on to the ranks of JG 5
in northern Europe, where he scored 47 victories
against the Soviet air force. The remainder of his
99 victories came in the ranks of JG 27. Fateful to
Bartels was an encounter with American fighters
on December 23, 1944. He managed to shoot down
one of the Thunderbolts, but he did not return to
the base. The wreckage of his aircraft was not
found until a quarter of a century later in January
1968. An unused parachute was found in the
cockpit, which is now on display at the Deutsches
Technikmuseum in Berlin. Bartels’ Bf 109G-6
is shown as it was captured in photographs
taken on the occasion of scoring his 70th kill.
The photographs can thus be dated to November
15, 1943. A total of 70 Abschussbalken (victory
marks) are painted on the rudder along with
the Knight’s Cross, which Bartels had received
a year earlier, on November 13, 1942. The sawtooth
border of camouflage paint on the upper surface
of the wing is typical of some of the aircraft
produced at the Erla factory in 1943.
KITS 01/2024
INFO Eduard44
January 2024