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near Krasny Oktyabr. According to the field
post number provided by Petermann in
Klinnert's book, this unit was Grenadier-
Regiment Nr. 666.
When JG 52 headquarters received a report
that Petermann was alive, this information was
relayed to the airmen who were currently in
action. Although Petermann's and Düttmann's
memoirs differ slightly in the wording of the
message, the result was the same: a joyful
roar erupted from the pilots in their Bf 109s.
The soldiers then led the rescued airman
through the trench system to the ambulance
station. One of them took him to the main
dressing station, where he received a tetanus
shot. He was subsequently taken to Temryuk,
where he was paraded in his dirty and
tattered overalls before a general of mountain
troops. Since Petermann had traversed about
15 kilometers through enemy territory, the
general was interested in many details. This
general was likely Rudolf Konrad, under whose
command the XXXXIXth Gebirgskorps defended
the western part of the Kuban salient. In this
section of the front, the 370th Infanterie-
Division, of which the aforementioned
Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 666 was a part, also
fell under his command.
Kommodore of JG 52 accompanied by
his Adjutant arrived in a Storch to pick up
Petermann. Upon returning to the unit, he was
welcomed at the officers' mess, by a music
platoon, then returned to his quarters with his
comrades from the 5th Staffel and received a
hot meal—the first he had enjoyed in four days.
WNr 19257 or 19527?
In connection with Petermann's downing
on June 6, 1943, I would like to address
a mistake that has long been associated with
his aircraft. It was a Bf 109 G-4, designated
"Black 8," with WNr. 19527. I am attaching the
original loss report, which lists the area east
of Kalabatka as the location of the emergency
landing (Düttmann must have really lost
track of where he was during the fight). This
production number has been cited in more
recent publications by Bernd Barbas or Jochen
Prien and his co-authors.
However, the very first overview of JG 52's
losses was published more than thirty years
ago by a former intelligence officer of the unit,
Mr. Niko Fast. In that report, he provided the
WNr. 19257 for this loss. I mistakenly used
this information in my 1996 article, and other
authors have done the same.
Interestingly, a group of researchers in
Russia discovered the wreckage of an aircraft
that they believe belonged to Petermann and
bore the WNr. 19257. This aircraft was restored
by the German firm Meier Motors GmbH
and is now flying in the USA at the Military
Aviation Museum in Virginia. On its website,
the museum incorrectly states that Petermann
made an emergency landing after combat on
May 5, 1943, instead of June 6. Mistakes happen.
Perhaps the Russian researchers and the
museum are correct, and Petermann's "Black
8" was indeed 19257, with a Luftwaffe official
simply making a typo.
I don’t think so. The actual aircraft with the
WNr. 19257, also marked "Black 8," was indeed
in service with 2. Staffel in I./JG 52. It was only
a quarter of a year after Petermann’s shoot-
down, on October 4, 1943, that it sustained 20%
damage due to a tire puncture at the Nikolaev
base. Moreover, it was a G-6 version aircraft
(likely converted from a G-4 version). So, I've
no idea where the team who sold the recovered
wreckage to the US did get the WNr. 19257.
Further Aviation Career
Viktor Petermann was treated for four
weeks in a field hospital starting in mid-June
1943 and then returned to 5./JG 52, which was
then engaged in combat in Ukraine. In July, he
was promoted to the rank of Leutnant, and
HISTORY
The general of the mountain troops to whom
Petermann reported after his rescue was likely
Rudolf Konrad, under whose command the XXXXIXth
Gebirgskorps defended the western part of the Kuban
salient.
The Soviet pilot believed to have shot down Petermann was Captain Yuri Tikhonovich Antipov of the 267th IAP.
This was the second of his eight solo victories. In the photo, he is awarding Ml. lt. Maria Ivanovna Kulkina,
a female fighter pilot who served in his regiment and later became his wife. Kulkina joined the VVS following
the death of her first husband, who had also been a pilot. Initially serving as a liaison pilot in the 267th IAP,
she later retrained to fly fighter aircraft. Kulkina occasionally flew combat missions with her husband,
but tragically, on May 20, 1944, she was killed in a dogfight. Photo: sovietmedals.ucoz.com
INFO Eduard
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November 2024