Strana 65
Lt. Friedrich-Wilhelm Schenk, 2./JG 300, Borkheide, Germany, February 1945
W.Nr. 491353, Cap. Ugo Drago, 1
a
Squadriglia, 2
o
Gruppo, ANR, Aviano, Italy, February 1945
Friends and colleagues of Friedrich-Wilhelm
Schenk came up with the nickname Timo-
Schenko for him. It was a joke that took
advantage of the name of Soviet Marshall
Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko, and
it quickly caught on to the point where the
ground crew painted the name on the fuselage
of Schenk's aircraft. Friedrich-Wilhelm Schenk
flew with JG 300 from July 1944 up to March
1945, when he was reassigned to JG 7 and flew
Me 262 jet fighters there. During the Second
World War, he achieved seven kills and after the
war he became a Lufthansa pilot.
After the creation of Italian Social Republic,
led by Benito Mussolini, on September 18, 1943,
on the territory of Italy occupied by German
military,, Germany allowed this puppet state to
establish its own military force of four divisions.
Its air force component called Aeronautica
Nazionale Repubblicana consisted of two
fighter plane groups (Gruppo Caccia), torpedo
groups (Gruppo Aerosiluranti Buscaglia) and
several transportation squadrons. In 1945,
both fighter groups flew Messerschmitts
Bf 109G-6/G-10/G-14. The Commanding Officer
of 1a Squadriglia Gigi Tre Osei, was in this time
Capitano Ugo Drago, an ace with seventeen
kills to his credit. In April 1945, he was awarded
the German Knight's Cross. After the war,
he emigrated to Argentina, where he made
a living as a flight instructor. He returned to
Italy in 1953 and took up a post with Alitalia with
which he flew until 1973. He died in Rome on
April 22, 2007. Towards the end of the war, the
majority of German markings on ANR aircraft
in the form of fuselage and wing crosses were
no longer removed, only the swastika on the
tail being oversprayed and replaced by Italian
markings. This marking, an Italian flag edged in
yellow, was also added to the fuselage sides.
KITS 08/2025
INFO Eduard
65
August 2025