Strana 39
Maj. Wilhelm Batz, CO of II./JG 52, Zeltweg, Austria, May 1945
Fw. Hans Strebel, 11./JG 3, Franzfelde airfield near Pasewalk, Germany, March 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.
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.
KITS 03/2026
INFO Eduard
39
March 2026