Wolf and Rudorffer - Horridoh for the 7,000th kill at JG 54 - archive photo scan #12

 

a set of (different) low-res images from an ECPA-D photo series file ref KBZ 24 F234.  Six photos from the series were published in Tome 2 of Philippe Saintes' JG 54 history "Les Aigles au Coeur Vert" (Lela Presse) and others more recently in Jochen Prien's JfV Teil 15/II. " Einsatz im Osten 1944" 

Jagdgeschwader 54 "Grünherz" ace Lt. Albin Wolf seen on his return from a sortie flown on 23 March, 1944 in Pechory/Pskov. Kommandeur Rudorffer is seen with Wolf as the celebrations on the 7,000th victory claimed by the Geschwader get under way with the successful StaKa of 6./JG 54. Only a handful of images in this series by PK Reimers actually show much of Wolf's Fw 190. Other images in the series show the pilot being welcomed by his comrades StaKa 5./JG 54 Lang and Heinrich Sterr StaKa of 4./JG 54 while bottles of Pommery Champagne and brandy are opened to celebrate the event. Wolf had also just returned his 135th victory downing a Soviet Yak 1 fighter. The pilot's Focke-Wulf Fw-190 A 6 is seen although none of the images show the Staffel number. Wolf would be shot down and killed barely a week later 20 km south-east of Pskov (Pleskau) - on 2 April 1944 at 09:30 during combat at low altitude with a Yak-9 his Fw 190 A-6 (WNr 551142) took a direct hit from an anti-aircraft shell. Wolf received a posthumous promotion to Oblt. and the Eichenlaub.