Model and Story Priller
Josef “Pips” Priller and his Focke-Wulf WNr. 310
Text: Jan Bobek
Model built by: Jan Baranec
Josef “Pips” Priller ranks among the best-known airmen of the Second World War. He gained public awareness thanks to Cornelius Ryan’s book The Longest Day and the portrayal of his character in the film of the same name. Priller even served as an adviser during its production. Among other things, he assisted in reconstructing the scene in which, together with his wingman, he attacked the Allied landing area in Normandy on 6 June 1944. Priller spent most of his wartime career in the ranks of JG 26 “Schlageter,” and through outstanding leadership of this Geschwader, both in combat and on the ground, he helped keep his men at the forefront of German fighter units. After the war, he wrote the history of this unit under the title J.G. 26 Geschichte eines Jagdgeschwaders.
Nine years in the ranks of the Luftwaffe
Josef Priller was born on 27 July 1915 in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. In 1935 he entered armed forces as a Fahnenjunker with Infanterieregiment 19. Holding the rank of Oberfähnrich, he transferred to the Luftwaffe and began flight training at Salzwedel in October 1936. As a Leutnant, he was assigned to the Stab I./JG 135 on 1 April 1937. In November 1938 the unit was redesignated I./JG 233, and on 1 May 1939 its designation was finally standardized as I./JG 51. From July 1939 he served with I./JG 71, which in October 1939 was redesignated II./JG 51. On 1 October 1939, he was appointed commander (Staffelkapitän) of 6./JG 51, which formed part of II./JG 51.
Priller achieved his first two victories on 28 May 1940, over Dunkirk in air combat with RAF fighters. During the French campaign he recorded six kills. His 20th victory was claimed on 17 October, for which Priller was awarded the prestigious Ritterkreuz on 19 October.
The Kommandeur of III./JG 26, Hptm. Priller, stands by the tail unit of his personal aircraft, Fw 190 A-2 WNr. 310, together with his wingman Lt. Johann Aistleitner (killed on 14 January 1944). Photo: PK Foto
Priller was transferred to a new unit on 20 November 1940, becoming Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 26 “Schlageter.” After his unit’s winter rest and its return to operations in spring 1941, Priller recorded an extraordinary run of success between 16 June and 11 July 1941, when he shot down nineteen RAF aircraft, including 17 Spitfires, raising his score to 39 victories. For his 41st victory, achieved on 19 July 1941, he was awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr. 28) the following day.
His next promotion came on 6 December 1941, when Priller, now holding the rank of Hauptmann, became Kommandeur of III./JG 26. By the end of 1941, his score had reached 58 confirmed victories. He was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 20 December 1941. This decoration usually preceded the award of the Ritterkreuz, but it had only been introduced in 1941.
From December 1941, Priller’s unit was re-equipped from the Messerschmitt Bf 109 F to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A. By the end of 1942, Priller had a total of 81 confirmed kills to his credit. Priller assumed command of the entire JG 26 on 11 January 1943, as its Geschwaderkommodore, replacing the previous commander, Major Gerhard Schöpfel (45 victories, holder of the Ritterkreuz).
At the end of December 1943, he was at the same time temporarily entrusted with command of the air operations of 4. Jagddivision, and served as Jagdfliegerführer 4 until March 1944.
Josef Priller in a photograph from August 1942 beside his new personal aircraft, Fw 190 A-3 WNr. 0552. With this machine, Priller scored only a single victory, when he shot down a Spitfire on 21 August 1942. This Fw 190 was damaged several times while serving with III./JG 26, then suffered further damage with the operational training unit I./JG 105, and was finally destroyed in a fatal crash with 2./JGr. Süd in May 1944. Photo: Gordon Permann Collection SDASM
He achieved his 100th victory on 15 June 1944, over France by shooting down a four-engined B-24 bomber of the 492nd BG. For this feat he was awarded the Schwerter (Nr. 73) to the Ritterkreuz on 2 July 1944, and at the same time was ordered to cease combat flying, since the Nazi regime did not wish to lose such an outstanding air officer in combat against the omnipresent numerical superiority of the Allied air forces. Priller later, however, returned to combat operations.
His final, 101st victim was a Mustang on 12 October 1944, flown by Captain Hershel T. Pascoe of the 357th FG. During a raid on Bremen, Priller shot him down near Wunstorf, and Pascoe ended up in captivity.
During the attack on Allied airfields in Operation Bodenplatte on 1 January 1945, Priller led his JG 26 and III./JG 54 (which later became IV./JG 26) in the assault on Brussels-Evere and Brussels-Grimbergen. His service with JG 26 ended on 28 January 1945, when he was appointed Inspekteur der Jagdflieger Ost, which also meant the end of his combat activity. He held this post until the end of the war.
Josef “Pips” Priller flew 307 combat missions, during which he achieved 101 victories on the Western Front, including 11 four-engined bombers.
After the war, Josef Priller ran the brewery of family Riegele. During 1948, Allied authorities confiscated art objects, furniture, and furnishings he had acquired during the war in France and Belgium. In the end, however, he managed to recover a substantial portion of these items through patient dealings with the authorities. He died on 20 May 1961 in Böbing, Upper Bavaria, as a result of a heart attack. He is buried at the Westfriedhof in Augsburg.
Preparation of an Fw 190 A-2 or A-3 from II./JG 26 before take-off, probably at Abbeville-Drucat during 1942. It was precisely this airfield that gave rise to the Allied nickname for JG 26, the “Abbeville Boys.” Photo: Bernie Thorsch Collection via Peter Merlin
This photograph of aircraft from II./JG 26 clearly shows the practice of carrying mechanics on the wing of the Fw 190, helping the pilot to orient himself while taxiing. Interestingly, the aircraft on the left is an Fw 190 A-1, that is, fitted with 7.92 mm machine guns in the wing roots. II./JG 26 used this early Focke-Wulf version until August 1942, alongside Fw 190 A-2 and A-3 aircraft. Photo: Bernie Thorsch Collection via Peter Merlin
Schlagetergeschwader converts to the Focke-Wulfs
When the decision was made as to which fighter unit would be the first to use the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-1, the choice fell upon II./JG 26 “Schlageter,” which was equipped with Bf 109 E aircraft. Around the beginning of August 1941, the Erprobungsstaffel 190, led by Oblt. Otto Behrens, moved from Rechlin in Germany to the Paris airfield of Le Bourget.
His Staffel had successfully completed the operational trials and was now to pass on its findings to II./JG 26 of Hptm. Walter Adolph. Had it not been for Behrens’s experience and dedication, the entire project would in all probability have been cancelled, because it was continually dogged by problems (above all with the BMW 801 C-1 powerplant) that would have discouraged less determined men.
Although part of II./JG 26 was converting to the Focke-Wulf in Paris, the remainder of the unit stayed in Belgium at Moorsele airfield and continued to take part in combat operations. This procedure later became standard for other units converting to the Fw 190 A. The Focke-Wulfs first saw successful operational use as early as 14 August 1941.
BL973, F/Lt Stanislav Fejfar, No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF Hornchurch, the United Kingdom, March-May 1942
Stanislav Fejfar, a member of Czechoslovak Air Force before the war, flew as commander of 45th Fighter Squadron based in Slovakia during the Munich crisis. He scored his first two kills during the Battle of France as a member of Armee de l’Air flying MS.406 with GC I/6. On July 12, 1940 he arrived in Great Britain aboard the ship Neuralia. On September 9, he started his operational career as a Pilot Officer with No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF scoring his first out of three kills claimed during the Battle of Britain. On July 21, 1941, he joined No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron as a F/Lt in the position of B Flight leader. Stanislav Fejfar perished on May 17, 1942, in the cockpit of Spitfire Mk.Vb BL973 during the Ramrod 33 mission. He was shot down by Hptm. Josef Priller between Guines and Audebert in the northern France. A couple of days earlier Priller had also shot down Sergeant Karel Pavlík, author of Pluto the Dog nose art on Fejfar’s Spitfire.
III./JG 26 was the second Gruppe to begin re-equipping with the Fw 190 A-1, in November 1941. Difficulties with the powerplants still persisted. In field conditions, mechanics had to modify the exhaust piping, and the unit had to procure some spare parts on its own from all over Germany.
The fact that Oblt. Borris, commander of 8./JG 26, received a gold watch from BMW because the engine of his Fw 190 exceeded 100 operating hours speaks for itself. At the turn of 1941 and 1942, the first Fw 190 A-2 aircraft with the improved BMW 801 C-2 powerplant are documented with III./JG 26.
The first aircraft of this version was already recorded with II./JG 26 in December 1941, in the same month, I./JG 26 took delivery of its first A-1 aircraft.
During 1941, the Geschwaderstab JG 26 under the command of Adolf Galland retained the Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4. By then, many pilots had come to appreciate this version of the Bf 109. After Maj. Gerhard Schöpfel took over command of JG 26, his Stab began converting to the Fw 190 A-2 in January 1942 and started using the A-3 version in April. The fighter-bomber Staffel, 10./JG 26, changed over from the Bf 109 F-4/B to the already proven Fw 190 A-2 and A-3 only in June and July 1942. The A-3 version was equipped with the BMW 801 D-2 powerplant, which was already relatively trouble-free.
Josef Priller selected as his personal aircraft an Fw 190 A-2 (WNr. 20 206) built by Focke-Wulf. The machine received the Kommandeur’s marking “double chevron,” and from 11 December 1941 to 11 January 1942 Priller flew 25 non-operational sorties in its cockpit while familiarizing himself with the new type. At its controls, he achieved his 59th victory on 3 January, claiming a Hurricane near Calais. Priller later flew this aircraft several more times.
Once he exchanged it for a newer machine, WNr. 20 206 remained with Priller’s Stab III./JG 26, and the mechanics merely painted over the inner part of the command chevron on the fuselage. This altered the marking to a single chevron, that is, the aircraft of the Katschmarek (wingman), who was Fw. Walter Grünlinger. Beneath the canopy, in place of Priller’s "ace-of-hearts card marked Jutta", there appeared the "seven-of-hearts marked Rata" Grünlinger’s personal emblem. Priller last sat in the cockpit of WNr. 20 206 on 22 April 1942.
In the meantime, Josef Priller occasionally flew aircraft from various Staffeln of his III./JG 26. These included WNr. 5215 (White 1), 0084 (White 8, an A-1 version), 0216 (Black 7), 054 (Black 3, an A-1 version), and he also flew aircraft from his own Stab, specifically Fw 190 A-2 WNr. 5292 and 5296. In aircraft WNr. 054 and 0216, which belonged to 8./JG 26, he scored his 59th and 60th victories respectively. In the latter case, on 27 March 1942, his victim was Spitfire Mk. VB (AD197) of No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, whose pilot, P/O Vladimír Michálek, was killed.
WNr. 0125310, Hptm. Josef Priller, CO of III./JG 26, Wevelghem, Belgium, June 1942
Josef “Pips” Priller was born on July 27, 1915, in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. In 1935, he joined Wehrmacht and as soon as a year later, in October 1936, he started to attend the fighter pilot training. He achieved his first aerial victory as a commander of 6. Staffel JG 51 when he downed a Spitfire above Dunkerque on May 28, 1940. In November 1940, he was appointed a commander of the 1./JG 26. On December 6, 1941, he became commander of III./JG 26 and from January 11, 1943, he lead the whole Jagdgeschwader 26. His number of victories kept growing and on December 20, 1941, his success was rewarded and Priller was decorated with Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. On January 28, 1945, he was appointed Inspekteur der Jagdflieger Ost, where he remained till the end of WWII. Priller’s total score was 101 victories over enemy aircraft. All of them were achieved in the Western Front. After the War Priller married Johanna Riegele, the proprietor of a brewery and became general manager of Riegele brewery in Augsburg, Germany. He died of heart attack on May 20, 1961. This aircraft was flown by Josef Priller in June 1942. It sported the standard camouflage scheme for Luftwaffe fighters and had yellow rudder and bottom part of the engine cowl. It also carried the marking for the CO of the III. Gruppe. The tail carried 73 kill markings, Priller’s tally to June 1, 1942.
The Focke-Wulf WNr. 310
The model of Priller’s aircraft that is the subject of this article bears the Werknummer 310. In Priller’s flight logbook, its Werknummer is recorded as 5310, and the Abschussmeldungen (victory reports) connected with this aircraft show that it was an A-2 version. From these fragments, it is therefore possible to conclude that it was an Fw 190 A-2 built under licence by Arado at Warnemünde. Its full Werknummer was 0125310, and when it left the factory gates, it carried the Stammkennzeichen TQ+SJ.
Priller first took this aircraft into the air on the evening of 23 April 1942 at Wevelghem airfield. It was a test flight. In the following months, WNr. 310, marked with the double command chevron, became the aircraft most frequently flown by Priller.
He first scored a victory in it on 25 April 1942, when during Circus No. 137 he shot down a Spitfire. In total, he achieved thirteen successes in this machine, all of them Spitfires. Among his victims were the Czechoslovak fighter ace F/Lt Stanislav Fejfar of No. 313 Squadron RAF and his comrade Sgt. Karel Pavlík.
Pages from Josef Priller’s logbook, on which the Werknummern 5310 and 5311 can be seen. On the right is a note relating to the air combat of 5 May 1942, in which Priller shot down Spitfire Mk.VB (BM261) of No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF. Its pilot, Sgt. Karel Pavlík, was killed near the Belgian village of Dranouter. The wreckage buried itself so deeply into the hillside that his body could not be recovered until 1945. Photo: Bundesarchiv
An entry from Josef Priller’s logbook recording the result of the combat of 15 July 1942 over the sea. During the unsuccessful British attempt to rescue W/Cdr Brendan “Paddy” Finucane, Priller shot down one of the Spitfires of No. 402 Squadron RCAF, which had volunteered to provide cover for the rescue operation. Another Canadian pilot was wounded in the combat, but landed safely in England. The Canadians, who countered the Germans’ altitude advantage by forming a defensive circle, claimed one Fw 190 destroyed, but III./JG 26 lost no aircraft. Photo: Bundesarchiv
This Fw 190 also destroyed Spitfire Mk.VB (BM296) of No. 402 Squadron RCAF. Its pilot, F/Sgt. Hughes, came low over the sea into Priller’s fire on 15 July during the unsuccessful operation to rescue W/Cdr Brendan “Paddy” Finucane. Unlike the legendary Irish Wing Leader, the downed Canadian, though wounded, was rescued.
Although during the spring and summer of 1942 Priller occasionally used other aircraft as well, in the overwhelming majority of cases he flew WNr. 310. He last took its controls on 10 September 1942. Thereafter it was passed to the operational training unit Jagdgruppe West, where it crashed on take-off on 13 April 1943 and was damaged to the extent of 45 percent. At that time, the aircraft was listed as an A-3 version, which would suggest that it had meanwhile been fitted with a more modern engine. On 27 May it was sent for repair to the Ago branch at Villacoublay and in the process was once again registered as an A-2 version. No further data on this Focke-Wulf are known.
In preparing this article, I was kindly assisted by David Lengyel and Peter Merlin, and I would like to thank them here.
Sources:
Bundesarchiv: RL 10/262, RL 10/263
CALDWELL, Donald L.: The JG 26 War Diary, Volume One 1939-1942
CALDWELL, Donald L.: JG 26 Photographic History of the Luftwaffe´s Top Guns
deZENG IV, Henry; STANKEY, Douglas G.: Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries
MOMBEECK, Erik: The Abbeville Boys, Special Album No. 1
OBERMAIER, Ernst: Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe 1939 - 1945, Band I Jagdflieger
PRIEN, Jochen; STEMMER, Gerhard; RODEIKE, Peter; BOCK, Winfried: Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945, Teil 7
RODEIKE, Peter: Focke-Wulf Jagdflugzeug, Fw 190 A, Fw 190 „Dora“, Ta 152 H
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