A series of views below depicting Staffelkapitän Lt. Günther Schwanecke of JGr.Ost seen during late 1944 working alongside his mechanics on a Bf 109 G-12 of 4./JGr Ost in Weidengut (Schlesien). Staffelkapitän Schwanecke had been challenged by his 'black men' to get the machine back to airworthy status and then fly it! Schwanecke survived the war with around ten Luftsiege and features heavily in Erik Mombeek's histories of JG 5 and JG 4.
JGr. Ost was disbanded during February 1945 and Schwanecke was posted to the Geschwaderstab JG 4 apparently with the rank of Hptm. He later reported;
" ..Following the disbandment of my 4./ EJG Ost at Riesa Leutewitz, I was posted to JG 4. This Geschwader wasn't entirely an unknown quantity since IV./JG 4 had been formed from one of my previous units, II./JG 5 - not unnaturally I asked to be assigned to IV. Gruppe. However there was no requirement for a Staffelkapitän in any of the unit's Gruppen so I wound up with the Geschwaderstab - Kommodore Michalski gave me a warm welcome - with over 430 combat sorties under my belt I undoubtedly made an ideal Rottenflieger for him.." (Mombeeck JG 4 Vol II)
A small selection of some of the very interesting images from Michael Meyer's current Ebay sales here