KITS 07/2021

Bf 109G-14/AS, Ofhr. Klaus Grothues, CO of 9./ JG 300, Mark Zwuschen, Germany, December 1944

This Yellow 1 was damaged when the landing gear dug into the soft ground and the propeller hit the runway surface of the Mark

Zwuschen airfield. The aircraft had the undercarriage legs painted red. Klaus Grothues was the last ace of III./JG 300 with 17

confirmed kills. He was killed in action during an attack against the formation of the American bombers during USAAF raid on

Berlin on January 14, 1945. Grothues was shot down near Rathenow, west of Berlin when at controls of the Bf 109G-14 Yellow 2.

Bf 109G-14/AS, Ofhr. Bruno Klostermann, 11./JG 300, Jüterbog-Waldlager, Germany, December 1944

Ofhr. Bruno Klostermann was a cousin of the French fighter ace Pierre Clostermann. Unlike his more famous relative, he did

not live to see the end of the war, as he was killed in action during the USAAF's big raid on Berlin on January 14, 1945. That date

was a black day for the Wilde Sau units, with JG 300 and JG 301 losing nearly 90 aircraft and 68 pilots in thirty minutes. Jagdgeschwader 300 alone lost 50 % of all its aircraft. Klostermann's Green 12 had the undercarriage legs painted red.

Bf 109G-14/AS, Lt. Karl Mitterdorfer, CO of 10./JG 300, Jüterbog, Germany, September 1944

In the late summer and early autumn of 1944, the JG 300 established a special Mosquito-Jagdstaffel to combat the night incursions over Berlin conducted by de Havilland Mosquito bombers of the RAF's Light Night Strike Force. The 10.(N)/JG 300 operated

out of Jüterbog under Staffelkapitän Karl Mitterdorfer. His White 1 featured the unit's comet emblem on both sides of the cowling

and a narrower-than-usual red band around the rear fuselage. The aircraft´s lower starboard wing surfaces were black.

INFO Eduard - July 2021

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