KITS 08/2021

WNr. 210909, Maj. Gerhard Barkhorn, Stab JG 6, Welzow, Germany, February 1945

The personal aircraft of Gerhard Barkhorn, the new CO of JG 6 at the time, was manufactured by the Focke-Wulf factory in

Sorau. The name ‘Christl’ is a reference to Barkhorn´s wife Christa. Marking on the fuselage identifies the Geschwader’s CO aircraft. Barkhorn achieved 301 aerial victories during WWII, all of them as a member of JG 52, putting him in second place among

German fighter aces. His first victory was achieved on July 2, 1940 and the last on January 5, 1945. In 1945, Barkhorn became the

CO of JG 6 and flew Me 262 jet fighters as a member of JV 44 shortly before the German surrender. Barkhorn was awarded the

Knight´s Cross on August 23, 1942, with Oak Leaves (on January 11, 1944) and Swords (on March 2, 1944). In the post-war era,

he joined Bundesluftwaffe.

WNr. 210003, Oblt. Hans Dortenmann, 12./JG 26, Germany, 1945

Oblt. Hans Dortenmann, a 38-kills fighter ace and Knight's Cross holder, noted in his memoirs that he used Dora WNr. 210003 as

a personal mount from September 1944 to the end of hostilities. He personally destroyed her to avoid falling into enemy hands at

the end of the war. At first, during Dortenmann´s service with III./JG 54, the airplane was marked 'Red 1'. In late February III./JG

54 was redesignated IV./JG 26, and Dortenmann was appointed Staffelkapitän of 12./JG 26. His Dora became 'Black 1'. The White-Black band appeared on the tail as well as IV. Gruppe‘s wave. According to Dortenmann´s memoirs, the original RLM 74/75

camouflage scheme was changed to RLM 81/82, but the reason for re-painting remains unknown. A new style blown canopy was

installed instead of the original flat one. The vertical part of the tail unit was painted yellow from JG 54 days.

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INFO Eduard - August 2021