Strana 29
#8409
BOXART STORY
When two Bf 110s landed in neutral Sweden on
September 1, 1941, it was a welcome opportunity
for the Swedes to thoroughly examine the aircraft.
At that time, they were considering licensed
production of this type. One of the aircraft flipped
over during an emergency landing, but the other
landed smoothly near Tärendö. On the rudder of
this Messerschmitt were marked eight victories
achieved against British and Soviet opponents,
and the aircraft was piloted by Lt. Felix Maria
Brandis. The Swedes took at least eighty photos
of Brandis’ aircraft and its details.
At the beginning of 1941, Felix Maria Brandis
served with a Bf 110 unit that was organizationally
subordinated to JG 77, which was equipped
with Messerschmitt Bf 109s. The designation
of Brandis’s Staffel, after some initial changes,
settled as 1.(Z)/JG 77, with the letter Z standing
for Zerstörer (destroyer, heavy fighter). The unit
was based in Norway, and its task was to counter
British bombers.
Already at the start of 1941, Brandis had a stroke
of luck when, on 27 January, he and his radio
operator Gefr. Matthias Gans managed to escape
unharmed after ditching following an engine fire.
In the following months, Brandis shot down three
British twin-engine bombers. After the start of the
attack on the Soviet Union, during operations over
Murmansk in July, he added to his tally a Soviet
bomber and two fighter aircraft. The unit operated
against the Soviets from the Norwegian base at
Kirkenes, near the Finnish and Soviet border.
However, the German pilots were not warned by
their intelligence officers about the intensity and
accuracy of Soviet anti-aircraft defenses. Later,
Bf 110 crews admitted that, had they been informed,
they would have chosen different altitudes for
certain phases of their combat missions. Enemy
flak hit Brandis’ aircraft on July 17, 1941, during
Stuka escort mission against Varlamovo. Brandis
had to ditch in Petsamo bay, and this time his
gunner, Gefr. Gans, did not survive.
An unexpected opponent appeared on 30
July in the form of Royal Navy aircraft from
the carriers HMS Furious and HMS Victorious.
The British launched a raid on the ports of
Kirkenes and Petsamo, losing twelve Albacores
and four Fulmars in the process. The Germans
deployed nine Bf 109s, four Bf 110s, and even
nine Ju 87 bombers in interception. The German
side, including anti-aircraft gunners, claimed
28 enemy aircraft shot down. Felix Brandis added
two Albacore bombers to his tally.
Brandis scored another victory, this time over
a Soviet fighter, on 15 August. Although it was
his ninth confirmed kill, only eight victories were
marked on the rudder of his aircraft.
On 1 September, the event mentioned at the
beginning, Lt. Brandis led a formation of four
Bf 110s in an afternoon attack on the Murmansk
railway. On the return leg, two aircraft made
emergency landings near Alakurtti due to fuel
shortage but were only lightly damaged. Felix
Brandis and the pilot of the remaining aircraft lost
orientation due to severely reduced visibility.
The crew of Uffz. Rudolf Reitz and Uffz. Guntram
Weigl overturned during a gear-down landing on
a small island, and it took the Swedes quite some
time to get both airmen out of the aircraft. Their
plane was a Bf 110 E-1 (WNr. 4113) with the code
LN+KR. Brandis, with Uffz. Alfred Harnach as his
gunner, managed a smooth landing. Their aircraft
was also an E-1 version, serial number 4114, and
bore the fuselage code LN+FR. All the airmen
later recalled that their internment was very
comfortable, including boat outings.
After the aircraft and crews returned to
their unit, Lt. Brandis achieved another victory,
shooting down a Polikarpov I-16 on 15 September.
But the following day, Brandis once again crash-
landed his aircraft. This time, his gunner was Uffz.
Weigl, who had been in the second crew during
the crash landings in Sweden. Brandis was
flying a Bf 110 D-0 (WNr. 3170) coded LN+HR, and
had even taken a war correspondent onboard.
The aircraft had two victory marks on its rudder,
as it was usually flown by Ofw. Mundig as his
personal mount. This very aircraft is depicted on
Antonis Karydis’s box art. During a combat flight
over the Kola Peninsula, Brandis’ Messerschmitt
was hit in the left engine. He managed to bring the
damaged aircraft back behind friendly lines but
had to make an emergency landing in the tundra.
Fortunately, German mountain troops observed
the final phase of the flight, located the crew, and
brought them to their command post.
By the end of 1941, Lt. Brandis achieved four
more victories against Soviet fighters, but on
February 2, 1942, he died in a crash on an icy
surface in poor visibility. His gunner, Fw. Herbert
Baus, survived with injuries. By that time,
Felix Maria Brandis held the rank of Oberleutnant
and was the commander of his Zerstörerstaffel,
which had in the meantime been redesignated as
6.(Z)/JG 5.
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
With Bf 110 in the Far North
Text: Jan Bobek
INFO Eduard
29
July 2025