Markings for KURFÜRST 1/72
COL A
Maj. Wilhelm Batz, CO of II./JG 52, Zeltweg, Austria, May 1945
This aircraft (probably from the 334xxx series) was the personal mount of the CO of II./JG 52, Maj. Wilhelm Batz. In February 1943 he was assigned to the Stab II./JG 52 on the Eastern Front and won his first victory on March 11. In May he was appointed CO of 5./JG 52. By March 1944 he had already achieved his 100th victory and in April he was appointed CO of III./JG 52. In early February 1945 he became commander of II./JG 52 in Hungary. He scored his last victory (237th) on April 16, 1945. Five days later he received the Swords to the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves. Batz and his unit flew from Zeltweg, Austria, to Bad Aibling, Bavaria, to surrender on May 8, 1945, escorted by a formation of Thunderbolts in the final part of the route. After the war he joined the Bundesluftwaffe and successively commanded Flugzeugführerschule S and Lufttransportgeschwader 63. Yellow markings were introduced by Luftflotte 4 in March 1945. The fuselage and vertical tail were painted with RLM 81 (dark brown variant) and RLM 82. The lower part of the fuselage was left unpaintedand the joints were filled. Fuselage sides were sprayed with RLM 76, which was also used on the oil cooler cowling. The wing was camouflaged with RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL B
Fw. Hans Strebel, 11./JG 3, Franzfelde airfield near Pasewalk, Germany, March 1945
Hans Strebel originally served with 9./JG 3 and achieved his second victory during Operation Bodenplatte. In early 1945 he was transferred to 11./JG 3, which was also part of III./JG 3 Udet. From the end of January 1945, this unit was deployed in combat against the Red Army and by the end of the war had achieved at least 80 victories. Its missions also included attacking supply columns or escorting anti-tank Ju 87s. The last commander of 11./JG 3 was Lt. Rudolf Escherich, who originally served on He 177s with KG 1. In mid-April, 14 pilots of III./JG 3 volunteered for suicide deployment as part of Operation Freiheit. These were attacks by crashing into bridges over the Oder River. Their suicide action scheduled on April 16 ended in failure and the formation under Escherich's command lost six airmen. The C3 label on the fuel tank indicates engine that required 100-octane fuel. At the end of the war, an aircraft with the same design of fuselage number was photographed by a Soviet reporter at Finow airfield. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 81 (dark brown variant) and RLM 82 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL C
9./JG 4, Flensburg airfield, Germany, May 1945
The emblem of JG 4, a knight's helmet, is painted on the cowling of this aircraft,which probably belonged to 9. Staffel of III./JG 4. It is possible that its pilot was Fw. Hans Braun, who used an aircraft with the same markings in late 1944. The Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4s were received by III./JG 4 in October 1944 and used along with the G-14 and G-10 versions. At that time, the temporary commander of 9./JG 4 was Lt. Hans Klaffenbach (21 victories), who briefly represented Hptm. Johannes Kaufmann (10 v.). Hans Klaffenbach became commander of JaboG 32 with F-104s in 1964 and led it for eight years. In 1997 he was one of the most prominent guests at the opening of the Museum of the Air Battle over the Ore Mountains in Czech Republic, in which he had taken part on September 11, 1944. Kaufmann led his unit from the end of January 1945 in battles against the Red Army, and on several occasions his unit escorted airmen in suicide attacks on bridges on the Oder River. His daughter was the famous German actress Christina Kaufmann. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL D
6./KG(J) 6, Klecany airfield, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, May 1945
This aircraft, probably produced in the 332xxx series, found at the end of the war, bore signs of damage probably caused by an American air raid. KG(J) 6 was being retrained from bombers to fighter aircraft at bases in and around Prague. Eventually it was to be armed with Me 262 jets, but the retraining was done on single-engine fighters. The I. and II. Gruppe were equipped with Messerschmitt Bf 109G and K. For most of the time II./KG(J) 6 was undergoing retraining for fighters, its commander was Hptm. Hans-Joachim Faulhaber, who had previously served with KG 77 and was awarded the Knight's Cross. In 1942 he had escaped an encounter with a night fighter over England and returned with a damaged plane. Faulhaber was replaced at the end of March 1945 by Hptm. Wilhelm Kunze, who had seen combat on the Western Front with KG 2 and was also shot down by a British fighter, in December 1943, during a training flight near Eindhoven. His unit was defeated in aerial combat on March 31, 1945, against Mustangs from the 309th FS, 31st FG. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL E
5./JG 11, Strausberg airfield, Germany, early 1945
By the end of 1944, II./JG 11 was equipped mainly with Messerschmitts Bf 109G-14/AS. During December this unit lost 42 machines in combat and to accidents. In the same month the first delivery of K-4 version arrived. During Operation Bodenplatte the II./JG 11 lost nine more planes, including the first two K-4s lost in combat. This unit was deployed from late January 1945 to Strausberg air base east of Berlin against the Soviet Air Force. This aircraft probably carried a yellow band as a quick identification feature of JG 11 among Luftwaffe fighter units. The commander of II./JG 11 from August 1944, until its disbandment in early April 1945, was Hptm. Karl Leonhard. Born in 1913, he served with I./JG 53 at the start of the war and achieved his first victory, a Potez 63, on May 26, 1940. His last victories (21st-23rd) were achieved on April 16, 1945, in an Fw 190A against Soviet bombers, as the last commander of I./JG 11. After the war he moved to the USA and died in San Diego in 1995. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL F
12./JG 27, Prague-Kbely airfield, Protectorate of Bohemia of Moravia, May 1945
The commander of III./JG 27, from October 1944, when the unit received its first Bf 109K-4, until the end of the war, was Austrian Hptm. Dr. Peter Werfft (26 victories). From February 1945 his deputy was CO of 12./JG 27, Oblt. Emil Clade (27 victories). While serving in Africa with II./JG 27, Clade and his Schwarm attacked a lone low-flying Bristol Bombay transport from No. 216 Sqn RAF on August 7, 1942, in the Allied rear. He managed to shoot it down and the aircraft was destroyed on the ground by Uffz. Schneider, who was awarded the victory. The commander of the British Eighth Army, Lt. Gen. W. H. E. Gott was killed on board. Lt. Gen. Montgomery, for whom Gott’s death became a major milestone, since he was appointed in his place. Clade led 12./JG 27 from November 1944, during the fighting in western Germany, until its disbandment in early April 1945. In the last month of the war, he commanded I./JG 27. After the war, he worked as an airline pilot, took up sport flying, and published a memoir in 1996. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL G
Lt. Horst Potreck, Stab III./JG 53, Kreuzstrasse near Holzkirchen, Germany, April 1945
Twenty-year-old Horst Potreck served in the 11./JG 53 in 1944 and later was assigned to Stab III./JG 53. The CO of III./JG 53 at that time was Hptm. Siegfried Luckenbach. In the summer of 1943, at the age of thirty-one, he began serving with Stab III./JG 1 in the Netherlands and scored three victories. A year later, he briefly commanded I./JG 27 on the Western Front. In September 1944 he was reassigned to Stab III./JG 53 and took over 12. Staffel. During Operation Bodenplatte he was shot down by an American fighter but escaped. At the end of January 1945 he became commander of III./JG 53 and scored several more victories. In February he was again shot down in combat with the Americans. In April his career endedto an accident, when Luckenbach unexpectedly stopped after landing and climbed out onto his wing. Potreck apparently did not see him, rammed his aircraft and Luckenbach was severely wounded. The wreckage of the machine Chevron 4, probably Potreck’s, was found by Allied soldiers after the fighting ended. Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL H
WNr. 330177, Uffz. Alfred Nitsch, 12./JG 77, Neuruppin, Germany, November 1944
In October 1944, III./JG 77 became the first Luftwaffe fighter unit to be completely re-equipped with the Bf 109K-4. They received 68 of these aircraft. Its commander was the experienced JG 77 veteran Major Armin Köhler (40 victories, KC). Uffz. Alfred Nitsch was photographed with the
“Blue 3” in November 1944. It is highly likely that the aircraft was serial number 330177. Fw. Hans Rössner (12 victories) was lost in this plane during a dogfight with Thunderbolts on December 23, 1944, near Münstereifel. Although the Germans claimed three P-47s as shot down, 13 Bf 109K-4s were destroyed or damaged. Two pilots were killed and four were wounded. During December 1944, III./JG 77 lost about half of its aircraft. So, during Operation Bodenplatte, in which III./JG 77 lost a further 11 machines and pilots,part of its armament comprised again various versions of the Bf 109G. From mid-January 1945, the unit was deployed on the Eastern Front. At the end of the war it fought in Upper Silesia, based at Beneschau in the Hlučín region (today Dolní Benešov, Czech Republic). Fuselage was probably painted in RLM 74 and RLM 75 with greenish version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.
COL I
WNr. 333878, S. Ten Umberto Gallori, 3a Squadriglia, Io Gruppo Caccia, Lonate Pozzolo, Italy, March 1945
This aircraft, produced in February 1945, was one of six Bf 109K-4s received by the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana in Northern Italy. During February it was assigned to 3a Squadriglia “Arciere”, which was part of Io Gruppo Caccia “Asso di Bastoni” under the command of Maggiore Adriano Visconti (10 victories). The aircraft, WNr. 333878 “3-14”, was damaged in aerial combat on April 10, 1945. In the early morning hours, three Bf 109s from Io Gr. C. were sent against four P-47s from the 65th FS, 57th FG, which were conducting a weather reconnaissance in the Milan-Lago di Como area. In the aerial combat a Bf 109G-14/AS “1-7“, piloted by M.llo Veronesi, and a Bf 109K-4 “3-14”, piloted by S. Ten Gallori, were damaged. One P-47 was reported damaged by M.llo Forlani. The American pilots did not claim any victories. In late April, the Io Gr. C. moved to Malpensa and on April 29, after receiving security guarantees, laid down its arms and surrendered. Visconti and his aide, however, were shot dead by the Russian bodyguards of resistance commander Aldo Aniasi. Fuselage and vertical tail were probably painted in RLM 81 (dark brown variant) and RLM 82 with greenish version of RLM 76. Wing was painted with colors RLM 74, 75 and 76, the RLM 74 was darker version with tinge of green.