KITS 06/2023

Bf 109F-4, WNr. 13376, Hptm. Heinz Bär, CO of Stab I./JG 77, Comiso, Sicily, July 1942

Heinz “Pritzl” Bär successfully fought over all

major battlefields of World War II. He first served

in the Luftwaffe in the 1930s as a mechanic

but aspired to become a fighter pilot. Despite

opposition from his superiors, he got into flight

training and became a Ju 52 transport pilot with

I./JG 51. With this unit he was unofficially trained on

the Bf 109, which had to be retroactively legalized.

He achieved his first victory in September 1939

and by April 1945 had scored 220 more successes.

He was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak

Leaves and Swords. After a previous command of

12./JG 51, he was appointed commander of I./JG 77

in the Crimea in May 1942. He then successfully

led this unit for a year in the Mediterranean and

Africa. At the end of the war he was in the rank

of Oberstleutnant in command of the elite JV 44

armed with Messerschmitt Me 262s. After the war

he continued to fly sport planes but was killed on

April 28, 1957, during an air show demonstration

of extremely slow flight in an LF-1 Zaunkönig.

The Bf 109F-4 carried a classic Luftwaffe scheme

comprised of RLM 74/75/76. Previous marking

was oversprayed in a dark color, probably RLM

70. The white fuselage band identified aircraft

fighting In the Mediterranean, but in this case,

wingtips were not painted white.

Bf 109F-4, Uffz. Hans Döbrich, 6./JG 5, Petsamo, Finland, September 1942

This aircraft was flown by Hans Döbrich, a fighter

ace credited with 65 victories. He was downed

three times and seriously wounded during the

last incident. He never flew a combat sortie

again. During the second half of 1942, II./JG 5

52

INFO Eduard

was equipped with “Friedrichs” manufactured

for service in a tropical environment. The desert

camouflage colors consisting of RLM 79 and

RLM 78 were applied at the factory. Feldflugpark

(Repair Field Unit) in Pori added segments of RLM

74/70 (some sources state RLM 75/71) which

helped to camouflage effect over the northern

territory. The green shamrock on the cowling was

a crest of 6./JG 5.

June 2023