KITS 05/2023

Bf 109F-4/Trop, WNr. 8673, Hptm. Hans-Joachim Marseille, CO of 3./JG 27, Quotaifiya, Egypt, September 1942

Hans-Joachim Marseille used this plane after his

return from Rome and achieved 49 victories with

this last of “Friedrichs” he used from August 24,

1942, to September 25, 1942. On September 30,

1942, he flew the Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2/Trop

as he led escort mission of the 3. Staffel to cover

a squadron of Ju 87 Stukas. On the return leg,

a smoke filled the cockpit, and Marseille

was forced to bail out. Hitting the rudder

after the emergency exit of the plane, he lost

consciousness, and his parachute did not open.

Seconds later, Marseille died from the impact on

the ground. After his death, WNr. 8673 was used by

1./SG 2 but was hit by flak and lost southward of El

Alamein on October 22, 1942. The aircraft had the

upper camouflage color RLM 79 sprayed all over

the fuselage sides as a non-standard finish. The

lower surfaces were sprayed with RLM 78 and the

camouflage was complemented by the markings

of the aircraft operating on the Southern front,

i.e., white wingtips, white propeller cone and

a band on the aft fuselage of the same color. The

engine cowling bore the emblem of I. Gruppe

JG 27 on both sides.

Bf 109F-4, Lt. Hans-Joachim Heyer, 8./JG 54, Siverskaya, Soviet Union, April 1942

The recipient of the Knight’s Cross, Hans-Joachim

Heyer, was born on April 20, 1922, in Rehungen.

He served his entire aviation career as a member

of 8./JG 54 and scored his first kill on the first

day of the invasion to Soviet Union on June 22,

1941. His victim was a Polikarpov I-15. Heyer’s

“Black 9”, which he flew from the spring of 1942,

was camouflaged with RLM 74/75/76 colors and

the fuselage sides were completed with RLM 70

and RLM 71 patches. The upper surfaces of the

wing, the rear fuselage behind the cockpit and

the horizontal tail surfaces were all painted in

white overpaint made by washable color. The

III./JG 54 emblem was painted below the

windshield on both sides of the fuselage. More

to it, on the left side under the cockpit there

was painted the JG 54 emblem – a green heart.

On the rudder, there were kill marks painted on

both sides. Hans-Joachim Heyer was shot down

and killed near Leningrad on November 9, 1942.

He was posthumously awarded the Knight’s

Cross on November 25, 1942. His score stopped

at 53 aerial victories, all achieved on the Eastern

Front.

Bf 109F-4/Z, WNr. 7420, Lt. Hermann A. Graf, CO of 9./JG 52, Kharkov-Rogan, Soviet Union, May 1942

Hermann Anton Graf was born on October 24, 1912. He

trained as a locksmith and was a keen football player

in his youth. Later he took up sailing and entered the

army in 1939. In the spring of 1940, he served in JG 51

and participated in the Battle of France. In April 1941,

he fought over Greece and Crete, but did not record

any victories during this period. His first kill came on

46

INFO Eduard

August 4, 1941, near Kiev and things changed. At the end

of January 1942, he received the Knight’s Cross for 45

kills, in May 1942, he achieved his 100th aerial victory

and received Oak Leaves and Swords in addition to the

Cross. He was the fifth in line of pilots to be awarded

the Diamonds to the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves

and Swords on September 29, 1942. Graf became part of

propaganda campaigns, even a member of the Luftwaffe

football team. At the end of the war, he was leading

JG 52 and retreated with the unit from East Prussia,

through Silesia and into Bohemia. He surrendered on

May 8, 1945, in Písek (South Bohemia) to the Americans.

They promptly handed him over to the Russians and

Graf spent more than four years in captivity.

May 2023