KITS 04/2023
WNr. 0142481, Fw. Otto Kittel, 2./JG 54, Krasnogvardeyjsk, Soviet Union, February 1943
Otto Kittel was born on February 21, 1917,
to German parents in Korunov (German:
Kronsdorf, since 1945 Krasov) near Krnov in
Austria-Hungary. After the declaration of the
Czechoslovakia, the Krnov region became part of
it, but after the Munich Agreement it was one of
the territories that Czechoslovakia had to cede to
Germany under pressure from the Great Powers.
The inhabitants claiming German nationality
subsequently became German citizens. Kittel was
apprenticed as a car mechanic in Mladá Boleslav
and joined the Luftwaffe in 1939. He completed
his first combat deployment during the fighting
in Yugoslavia in the ranks of JG 54, which was
deployed in East Prussia to support Army Group
North in the advance on Leningrad during the
attack on the USSR. On June 24, 1941, Otto Kittel
scored his first two aerial victories, and on
September 14, 1943, he achieved his 100th kill.
However, he did not survive the war. His aircraft
went down in flames near Dzhūkste, Latvia, after
a dogfight with a formation of 14 Il-2s. However,
it is not clear when this occurred, it is stated to
be either 14 or 16 February 1945. During World
War II, he shot down 267 enemy aircraft, all on
the Eastern Front, ranking him 4th in the list of
Luftwaffe aces.
Lt. Leopold Wenger, 10./JG 2, Caen-Carpiquet, France, February 1943
At the end of 1941, the Luftwaffe considered
a resumption of the bombing of Great Britain and
coastal shipping. It was ordered that every fighter
unit taking part in operations against Great
Britain would include one Staffel for the purposes
of the so-called “hit and run” bombing missions.
This role was taken up by 10.(Jabo) Staffel within
JG 2. Under the command of Oblt. Frank Liesendahl,
the unit sank twenty ships for a total of 630,000
BRT of shipping in four months. Wenger’s aircraft
carried the standard day camouflage scheme of
Luftwaffe fighters consisting of RLM 74/75/76.
The fox biting a ship in two was the insignia
of 10.(Jabo) Staffel. One of the pilots of this unit
was Leopold Wenger, born on November 19, 1921
in Graz. He was killed on April 10, 1945, when he
was shot down over Vienna.
WNr. 142317, Fw. Ludwig Seif, 11./SKG 10, Sidi Ahmed, Tunisia, January 1943
An order dated November 30, 1942 redesignated
III./ZG 2 as III./SKG 10, but the unit maintained
its combat assignment for ground support,
bombing and destroying of enemy ground
assets including airfields and ports in Tunisia.
III./SKG 10 operated in the area until April 30,
66
INFO Eduard
1943, when they handed over their remaining
four aircraft to II./Schl.G. 2, the unit they shared
a base with. During combat operations, pilots of
III./SKG 10 destroyed hundreds of Allied tanks
and other ground equipment, shot down thirteen
aircraft and sank or damaged twelve ships. The
aircraft flown by Feldwebel Seif was camouflaged
in RLM 74/75/76. The white fuselage band was
applied to aircraft operating in the MTO. The port
side of the engine cowl sported the III./SKG 10
unit marking, a yellow winged arrow on a blue
shield.
April 2023