Strana 37
Bf 109G-2/Trop, Fw. Anton Hafner, 4./JG 51, Bizerta, Tunisia, November 1942
Bf 109G-2/Trop, Hptm. Heinz Bär, CO of I./JG 77, Bir Dufan, Libya, December 1942 – January 1943
Anton Hafner was born on June 2, 1918, in Erbach
near Ulm. In 1940 he successfully completed his
fighter pilot training and joined JG 51, where he
remained for the rest of his fighter pilot career.
On August 22, 1942, he shot down his 60th enemy
and was honored with the Knight’s Cross of the
Iron Cross on the next day. At the beginning of
November 1942, the II. Gruppe JG 51 moved from
the Eastern Front to Africa. There Hafner was
shot down on January 2, 1943. He survived and
upon his return from a hospital he joined the
Stabstaffel JG 51. On May 15, 1944, he overtook
the command of 8./JG 51. On October 17, 1944,
Oblt. Anton Hafner, now holder of the Knight’s
Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, shot
down his 204th enemy, a Soviet Yak-7. During
the same battle, while performing a low flight
with his Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6, he hit
a tree and did not survive the subsequent crash.
The aircraft of the II. Gruppe JG 51 moved to
Africa from the Eastern Front painted in the
RLM 74/75/76 colors camouflage. The yellow
identification elements, marking the aircraft
operating in the Eastern Front were repainted
and substituted by white complements on
the wingtips and on the tail of the fuselage.
The rudder sported symbols representing Anton
Hafner’s aerial victories. The location of the
white horizontal band marking an aircraft of the
II. Gruppe in front of the fuselage number was
an oddity.
Heinz “Pritzl” Bär was one of the Luftwaffe
pilots who fought in all major theaters of
operations of WWII. He conducted more than
a thousand operational flights and had a record
of 220 aerial victories. On the other hand,
he was shot down eighteen times himself. For
his achievements in combat, he was awarded
Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
and Swords. After WWII he continued flying as
a test pilot on sports aircraft and died on April
28, 1957, while performing a common flight on
an LF-1 Zaunkönig. Heinz Bär’s aircraft, which
was found by the Allied forces in Africa, had
a camouflage on upper sides and both sides
of the fuselage in RLM 79. Over that color
there were irregular swirls painted in RLM
80. The undersides were painted in RLM 78.
The camouflage was complemented by white
wingtips, white propeller spinner and white
band on the aft fuselage – the marking of the
aircraft operating in the Southern Front.
KITS 06/2025
INFO Eduard
37
June 2025