Fw 190 Bf 109 JG 54 Luftwaffe aces Russland Hans Philipp - daily Ebay photo find #187

courtesy of Marco @koelsch333 Ebay sales here

Bf 109 F-4 'white 9' of Stkp. Hans Philipp, 4./JG 54, early fall 1941

Film diary of a Jagdstaffel July 1941 - Erwin Leykauf 8./JG 54, refuelling the Kommandeur's F/G III./JG 54

The following stills were captured from footage made available via the Agentur Karl Höffkes film archive AKH and are reproduced here with the kind permission of Karl Höffkes.

Reel Nr. 162 has a section entitled "Film diary of a Jagdstaffel" which features the Friedrich 'Black 3' usually flown by Erwin Leykauf of 8./ JG 54 - the ten victory Balken on the rudder date the footage to late July- early August 1941. Other aircraft in the footage are 'Black 7' and 'Black 10'. A later clip depicts the refuelling of the Friedrich/Gustav (probably a G-2, thanks John!) of the Kommandeur III./JG 54 with close-ups of the bowser controls for those interested in this sort of detail (bonjour Laurent!). Note the III. Gruppe wavy bar over the theatre band (presumably)

AZ models Bf 109 Friedrich in 72nd scale due soon

AZ's new Bf 109 F was born..... Happy parents - left to right - Pavel Vandelik, mould maker, Petr Muzikant, author of the master model, Jan Pavlik, consultant (and Saxon fan), Jan Polc, camouflage and decals design and Petr Safra, completion and distribution.

JG 51 Friedrich - daily Ebay photo find#181

here

Oblt Egon Mayer Staffelkapitän 7./JG 2 Channel front ace - April 1942 - Osprey Weal Bf 109 Channel Front Aces ?

Above; Oblt. Egon Mayer, about to climb down from the controls of a Stab III./JG 2 Friedrich, seen relating a successful combat account to his erster Wart (Gefr. Bender) probably on or around 17 April 1942. In the three days between 14 and 17 April 1942 7./JG 2 claimed no fewer than 17 victories including 8 claims for Staffelkapitän Oblt. Egon Mayer himself. This tally included two Spitfires on 16 April for his 31st and 32nd victories and three more the following day (two of these remaining unconfirmed). The ground crews invariably gave the successful pilot a rousing welcome, as seen in the scenes below,  probably photographed on the same occasion.

A member of JG 2 since the autumn of 1939, Mayer had moved from II. Gruppe to I. Gruppe before being transferred to 8. Staffel of III./ JG 2 - all during 1940. He was subsequently entrusted with Machold’s 7. Staffel and it was from this moment that it could be said that his career really took off following his first claim - the downing of an MS-406 on 13 June 1940. He filed claims for his 14th and 15th ‘official’ victories returned on 12 July 1941. His rudder total at that time included his two as yet unconfirmed Abschüsse returned on 23 June. Invariably rudder scoreboards provide only an approximate indication of a pilot’s actual tally. As the Staffelführer of 7./JG 2 Lt. Egon Mayer shot down two Spitfires for his 17th and 18th victories on 23 July 1941 and on 1 August 1941 Lt. Egon Mayer was awarded the Ritterkreuz or Knight's Cross. In less than two months, he had claimed no less than fifteen ‘kills’ bringing his total victory score to eighteen. On 21 August 1941 Lt. Egon Mayer as Staffelführer of 7./JG 2 ( in theory a pilot held the rank of Oberleutnant prior to being promoted to Staffelkapitän) returned his 19th and 20th victories in two separate combats. During the evening of 16 September 1941, Egon Mayer (promoted to Oberleutnant on 01 September 1941) claimed two Spitfires in the vicinity of Boulogne for his 22nd and 23rd victories. On 20 September Oblt. Egon Mayer claimed his 24th victory (a Spitfire) over the Pas-de-Calais. Moments later he had to belly land his "White 1 " on a Channel coast beach. He returned his 25th on 02 October, also a Spitfire..

On 19 August 1942, his 25th birthday, Mayer shot down two RAF Spitfire fighters over Dieppe (51-52). In November 1942, Hauptmann Mayer was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 2. Mayer is credited with developing the 'head-on' method of attacking bombers - a first experiment in combat flown in late 1942 is related here.
http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/iiijg-2-in-france-30-december-1942.html

Following on from their Spitfire Channel Front 'Aces' title I would imagine that Osprey and John Weal are also planning a Bf 109 Channel Front aces title.

JG 77 Friedrich, DAK desert Stuka of StG 3- daily ebay photo find #176

Bf 109 F Chevron I+ with Bf 109 F 1+ seen in the background with the yellow theatre fuselage band ahead of the Balkenkreuz. Taken in the USSR. Appears to be a Bf 109 F-2 (external strengthening strips on the tail section). Staffelabzeichen on the cowl is the Wolfskopf of III./ Jagdgeschwader 77

 Thanks to Goran at the Luftwaffe Research Group for the find.

And from Jochen Prien ..." an early F-4 from the 7000 WerkNr. range since III./JG 77 was equipped with this sub-type when they converted to the Bf 109 F immediately prior to the German attack on the USSR. "White 1" in the background should be Oblt. Huy's mount again, seen in quite a lot of images from the early days of the war in the east..."

Marco at koelsch ebay sales is currently offering these rather nice DAK Stukas apparently of StG 3 seen in North Africa during 1942 on offer here

more Russian Front Luftwaffe aces, Uffz Alfred Döllefeld "Gelbe 7", 9./JG 54, 9./ JG 3 ace Lt. Rolf Diergardt

 Bf 109 F-2 WNr.8086 Uffz Alfred Döllefeld "Gelbe 7", 9./JG 54, Notlandung 28.January 1942 at Gr. Machim due to engine damage (damage reported as 30%).Eastern Front, Winter 1941-1942

below; currently on offer via Manuel Rauh here

Zvezda 1:48th kit built by Brettas

Aces of 9./ JG 3, one of the most successful Staffeln in JG 3, from a well-known sequence (cf. Prien/Stemmer Messerschmitt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei der III./ JG 3 pages 215-224 ). Below, Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 ‘Yellow 8’ of 9./JG 3, May 1942. Ofw. Georg Schentke on the wing. III./JG 3 emblem on the cowl and the inscription 'Peterle' under the cockpit. Schentke's nickname.

III./JG 3 ace Georg Schentke had some 43 victories - the same total as his Staffel comrade Ofw. Eberhard von Boremski, as per the rudder scoreboard - when the Staffel left the Russian Front to collect new Friedrich F-4s in Straubing during May 1942. Schentke was later that year one of the leading aces in the Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik but was shot down (KIA) in the vicinity of Stalingrad on Christmas Day 1942. Currently on offer here

Below; Staffelkapitän 9./JG 3 Oblt. Viktor Bauer in the cockpit of his 'Yellow 7', 'Ellen' was Bauer's wife..

 Below; photo print in my shoebox of another 9./ JG 3 ace Lt. Rolf Diergardt in the cockpit of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 ‘Yellow 10’ ‘Li - Li - Li’ (WNr. 13324), Straubing, May 1942.  On 21 May, just two days after returning to the front - note the 'luggage' stowed behind his head - Diergardt returned his seventh victory in this machine. On 13 June ‘Yellow 10’‘Li - Li - Li’ was hit by another aircraft on the ground and sustained damages assessed at 20%. Diergardt was KIA on 11 August 1942 in the vicinity of Stalingrad in another Friedrich 'Yellow 10'. He had at least ten victories. The day before Staffelkapitän Bauer himself had been shot down and seriously wounded...

JG 51 F/G, Smolensk March 1942 - daily Ebay photo find #159

F-4 according to the seller, Stab III./JG 51 F/G Smolensk, March 1942. Click to view large

Currently on offer here

More JG 54 Friedrichs from the Finnish wartime photo archive SA-kuva

More JG 54 Friedrichs from the Finnish wartime photo archive - these high-res downloadable photographs from the Finnish Wartime Photograph Archive can be viewed, used and downloaded by anyone. I have re-sized these particular images so that they load easily on this blog; click on the image here to view large. When you publish a photograph from the archive, you should mention "SA-kuva" as the source. (This means "Finnish Armed Forces photograph" in Finnish.) Please note that you can only conduct searches in Finnish - only 160,000 images to search through! These images of I./ JG 54 machines were photographed at Petäjärvi during August 1942..