Denys Boudard has recently posted a number of images from DAA 1679/1763 on social media. For those who don't participate in Mark Zuckerberg's 'forums' (or believe in enriching them with 'free' content) here's a look at some of those files with a couple of additions.
DAA 1679 and DAA 1763 are just two of the hundreds of PK files held at the ECPA-D. DAA 1679 and DAA 1763 comprising some 32 and 36 images respectively focus on the machines and personalities of II./JG 53 on the Eastern Front - according to the archive's own caption. This includes aces like Wurmheller (seen third right below) and the Kommodore (middle) climbing down from his Friedrich.
Wurmheller made 19 claims with JG 53 prior to joining JG 2 in the West some weeks after the launch of Barbarossa. At least one 'expert' has pointed out that most of the men in the images are wearing life-jackets - this image therefore may well have been taken prior to Barbarossa. But note how the aircraft are arrayed grouped together on the field in the image below - and the absence of buildings or airfield infrastructure in the photo. I can imagine that these views were taken after the transfer to the unit's field strip in eastern Poland just prior to the invasion of Russia - for example. And the Jagdflieger wore life-jackets more often than not - more than one German fighter pilot drowned after bailing out and coming down into a lake, reservoir, marshland and/or large river...
Check out Anders Hjortsberg artwork here
Also on this blog;
Visiting the ECPA-D, November 2024
The Luftwaffe blog at the ECPA-D, November 2023