KITS 09/2023

Fw. Hans Strebel, 11./JG 3, Franzfelde airfield near Pasewalk, Germany, March 1945

Hans Strebel originally served with 9./JG 3 and

achieved his second victory during Operation

Bodenplatte. In early 1945 he was transferred

to 11./JG 3, which was also part of III./JG 3 Udet.

From the end of January 1945, this unit was

deployed in combat against the Red Army and

by the end of the war had achieved at least 80

victories. Its missions included also attacking

supply columns or escorting anti-tank Ju 87s.

September 2023

The last commander of 11./JG 3 was Lt. Rudolf

Escherich, who originally served on He 177s with

KG 1. In mid-April, 14 pilots of III./JG 3 volunteered

for suicide deployment as part of Operation

Freiheit. These were attacks by crashing into

bridges over the Oder River. Their suicide action

scheduled on April 16 ended in failure and the

formation under Escherich's command lost six

airmen. The C3 label on the fuel tank indicates

engine that required 100-octane fuel. At the end

of the war, machine with same design of fuselage

number was photographed by a Soviet reporter

at Finow airfield. Fuselage was probably painted

in RLM 81 (dark brown variant) and RLM 82 with

yellow-grey version of RLM 76. Vertical tail was

painted in darker version of RLM 74 and 75, the

RLM 74 had a tinge of green. Wing was painted

with lighter shade of colors RLM 74, 75 and 76.

INFO Eduard

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