Strana 63
W.Nr. 151556, 13./JG 301, Stendal, Germany, February 1945
W.Nr. 490617, Uffz. Gerhard Reiher, 8./JG 3, Alperstedt, Germany, November 1944
JG 301 IV. Gruppe was founded on November 24,
1944, in Gardelegen. From there, it immediately
began to fly air counterattacks against Soviet
forces attempting to cross the Oder River. After
the Soviets succeeded, IV. Gruppe was moved to
serve in the system of the air defense of Berlin,
but after heavy losses of pilots and aircraft,
the unit was disbanded on March 19, 1945. This
again took place in Gardelegen. As a result of
intense fighting, pilots were sharing aircraft
and White 44 was one of those used by multiple
pilots. W.Nr 151556 is an example of a Bf 109G-10
from 151XXX production series, manufactured by
the Erla factory in Leipzig. These aircraft were
characterized by large bulges on the top of the
wings above the landing gear bays to house
larger wheels. No further details about this
aircraft are known.
On November 2, 1944, the whole JG 3 suffered
heavy losses during its IV.(Sturm)/JG 3
Sturmjägers’ attack on the formation of 91st
BG B-17s North-West from Halle. The II. Gruppe
suffered the heaviest casualties when in a very
short period of time it lost fifteen Bf 109s and
another eleven were battle-damaged! During
the American fighters’ attack twelve German
pilots were killed. One of the airframes delivered
to compensate for these losses was this
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10 manufactured by Erla
factory in Leipzig, marked Blue 2 and assigned to
Uffz. Reiher. Additional marking consisted of the
unit insignia painted on both sides of the nose and
a white band on the rear fuselage indicating
JG 3 within the Reich Defense system.
KITS 08/2025
INFO Eduard
63
August 2025