Saturday 17 November 2018

Herbert Huppertz, Josef Puchinger JG 2 September 1943


Following my post on Herbert Huppertz (see below) two correspondents have already taken the trouble to contact the Luftwaffe blog.  Thank you!


 " Dear Neil, ... please find attached another image of Herbert Huppertz, taken in September 1943 by PK-photographer Harry Gehm with Oblt. Werner standing on the right hand side, apparently a non-flying officer. This photo is part of an impressive PK-series which is currently on auction at Ratisbon’s for a starting bid of € 10 K, also comprising substantial photo and Propaganda text material covering Army units in Russia in 1942/43 and a couple of shots showing a/c and pilots of I./SKG 10 and III./JG 3 in Normandy in June 1944, although unfortunately only one well known image of a Bf 109 G-6 from III./JG 3. The JG 2 lot comprises some 20 very nice and mostly unknown shots of Fw 190s from Stab I./JG 2 with numerals between „20“ and „26“ as well as some images from III./JG 2, among them two well known shots of Wurmheller and his Fw 190 with the victory tally on the rudder. Another sequence shows Egon Mayer inspecting a downed B-17; some of these images can be found in Paul Müngersdorff’s album. Also part of this lot are several contact stripes containing negative size images, including some very interesting ones but it’s difficult to come to reasonable results from them. I have attached one sample for you to see what I mean...."




..and another correspondent writes;

   " .. finally, after a long wait, a photo of Hptm.Josef Puchinger. Puchinger was posted MIA on 17 December 1944 over Upper Silesia as a member of the Stab IV./JG 300. He was likely shot down at the controls of Bf 109 G-14/AS 'blue 3' countering a 15th AF raid on the Blechhammer and Odertal petroleum refineries in the vicinity of Breslau. He is still listed as missing. This photo where he is in the life jacket I have had for a long time, but it was not certain he was the only person mentioned, that he was an unknown Leutnant...."