FalkeEins - the Luftwaffe blog
now online - an 'exclusive' chat with Airfix Bf 109 G-6 'Superkit' designer Matt Whiting and researcher Clint Mitchell here !
At the Hahnweide 'Oldtimer' Fliegertreffen 2025 (Kirchheim unter Teck, south-east of Stuttgart), one of the most anticipated highlights was Charlie Brown flying the unique Me 109 E 'rote 12' — according to Charlie the first public display of this aircraft. 'Red 12' is currently the only airworthy example of its kind with Daimler Benz DB 601 engine actually flying anywhere in the world. Although the Emil housed at the Biggin Hill heritage hangar (Kent) is due to fly again soon..
"..Charlie Brown, a well-known warbird pilot with decades of display flying experience, has taken on the unique responsibility of flying this rare aircraft. His flights at Hahnweide 2025 will showcase not only the engineering brilliance of the Messerschmitt but also the careful dedication required to keep such a rare machine airworthy..."
A single click on the 'red button' to watch the 'Paddy Patrone' video here..
According to the seller this is a II./JG 77 Emil - and I'm inclined to think that he is correct. But for the II. Gruppe bar I might have said this was a I.(J)/LG 2 machine. Note narrow fuselage band ahead of the Kennung, yellow cowl and the interesting 'stripey mottling' probably of 71 and 02. Wing tips appear to be white..
See today's 'Featured blog post' entitled "..from Larissa to Salonika.." for similarly marked II./JG 77 machines in Greece during April 1941..(especially the combination of white wingtips and yellow rudder/cowl)
Another JG 77 Emil in Greece - note 'R' Richthofen badge beneath the cockpit...
Below; Another ex-JG 2 Bf 109 E in Greece, JG 77 ace Emil Omert in the cockpit probably at Molaoi
Staying with the same seller, this is a neat view of Anton Hackl's 5./JG 77 Bf 109 F-4 'black 5' during the summer of 1942 (Crimea). Note the Seeadler emblem ahead of the cockpit..
In his 'Inside the cockpit - 'Messerschmitt Bf 109 E' video, Chris from the 'Military Aviation History' channel describes the dials on the instrument panel of the Deutsches Museum Emil. One small 'clock-like' indicator on the bottom right of the panel is marked "Luftschraube" - 'propeller'. All we see is a clock dial with no numerical markings but divided into hours and minutes. This simple instrument relates to engine management in a 109 by aiding the pilot in selecting propeller pitch. This is the propeller pitch control indicator on early Emils - in early Emils there was no automatic propeller pitch control.
Simply put, the pilot set the pitch manually - degrees of either 'fine' or 'coarse' according to the rpm - by selecting a 'clock time' - the "Luftschraube Uhrzeit " as seen on performance charts. The Luftwaffe fighter pilot would have to learn the rpm and associated 'clock' settings to manage the engine at its most efficient settings and avoid 'over-speeding' the engine.
Below; an extract from a wwiiaircraftperformance Bf 109 engine settings chart for 'Sperrflug' or 'patrol'. From left to right , 'Altitude', 'RPM' 'Manifold pressure' and 'Prop pitch time' (Luftschraube Uhrzeit). Note the low rpm settings for increased endurance (lower fuel consumption).
Note: the sentences under the 'Sperrflug' table refer to later Bf 109 variants with auto pitch control and/or earlier variants with retro-fitted auto pitch control - which could be disengaged as required, eg takeoffs, landings or as here, when in the 'Sperrflug' regime - 'switch off' (ausschalten) the 'autocontrol' and adjust (einstellen) pitch either using the thumb control (Daumenschalter) on the throttle or the lever on the instrument panel' . The power settings given in the table give very low fuel consumption, perhaps about 100 ltr/h.
The electric VDM system was produced to compete with the American Hamilton standard 'hydramatic' pitch propeller control system and was different from most other propeller hub and pitch control systems - the centre of the hub was hollow so that it could be fitted to engines with centrally mounted engine armament such as the DB 600 series of engines. This resulted in the need for the propeller pitch control system to be remotely located as opposed to being located in the hub as it was in most other systems.
Below; prop pitch control mechanism on the side of the DB 601 engine in the Emil.
Prop pitch control lever on an Emil instrument panel
When flying the Me 109 the pilot did not really need to know the exact degrees of the propeller's pitch, just what indications on the instrument related to the selection that was required; there were essentially two options, to 'coarsen' or to 'fine' the pitch. This corresponds to the two options available - "größer" moving the lever up and "kleiner" moving the lever down (in the same way a modern Airbus pilot does not need to know what exact degrees of flap and slats he is selecting - he just needs to know when he needs flaps one or flaps two)
In early 109s (including the Emil) the control 'switch' was a lever attached to the instrument panel but as it became clear that flying an aircraft in combat and having to move your hand off the throttle (or the stick) to change the prop pitch was not a good idea, a rocker thumb switch was added to the top of the throttle. From this point on all the pilot had to do was move his thumb up or down to increase or decrease the prop pitch.
A decrease in engine rpm means an increase in propeller pitch or coarsening the propeller blades and an increase in engine rpm means a decrease in propeller pitch and a 'fining' of the propeller blades. Thus there are no markings on the face of the 'Luftschraube 'clock'. It is read just like a clock - higher rpm means that the clock needs to rotate clockwise to its maximum reading of 12:30 which is fully fine on the prop pitch ( about 22 degrees). For lower rpm the clock should be rotated all the way round anti-clockwise to 4:30 which indicates the propeller is now fully coarse. (blade pitch about 70 degrees) ..
The "Bf 109 Mecanik" youtube channel explains how this worked in both early (DB 601) and later (DB 605) variants of the Bf 109 in this short video.
"...31 January 1944, Pau, south-west France. Friedrich Kisslinger climbed into the cockpit of a Messerschmitt 109 E coded ‘red 5', an E-3 built by Erla in April 1940, from a batch of 500 constructed between August 1939 and April 1940. According to German archives, it had already been damaged twice, the first time on 29 August 1942, when it sustained 35% damages in northern France, and a second time on 25 March 1943, again at 35%, at La Rochelle Laleu airport [when a plane was damaged, the Luftwaffe recorded the degree of destruction. Thus 100% meant total loss].
Friedrich Kisslinger was 21 years old and had followed the standard curriculum by learning to fly gliders before arriving in Pau. On 31 January he got airborne. Once at altitude, he somehow lost control of his aircraft and was unable to stabilise it. When he finally bailed out he was too low. He was killed on impact with the ground, and his plane crashed nearby. How did the young Friedrich Kisslinger find himself in 1944 in south-west France? Quite simply because in 1943 and 1944, Tarbes, Pau and Toulouse were three major Luftwaffe training bases. These airfields were far from the front line and enjoyed decent weather, ideal for training young pilots. Jagdgeschwader 101 and the Jagdgruppe Ost, Süd and West were based here. Formed at the end of 1942, JG 101 was based in Pau, Tarbes and Ossun, while JGr. West and Ost were based in Cazaux, Biarritz, Toulouse, Mont de-Marsan and Landes-de-Bussac. These training units sometimes opposed Allied raids. On 5 March 1944, for example, Chuck Yeager's P-51 B was shot down by Irmfried Klötz, a young pilot from JGr. West flying the Fw 190..."
So-called 'Idiotenbock' Emil trainer with 'fixed' landing gear and wing-tip 'stabilisers' - from reading the piece it is not clear if they were flown like this - that seems unlikely. These 'skids' were more likely designed as an aid to 'rough-field' taxiing.
After a long investigation and thanks to local eye witness accounts, Gilles Collaveri's association "Aérocherche" located the field where Friedrich Kisslinger's Me 109 crashed. Parts of the aircraft were uncovered, albeit damaged where the field had been ploughed. Nonetheless, one oil temperature gauge plate had miraculously remained intact because it was folded in half, protecting the inscriptions. It confirmed that the 'aviation archaeologists' of 'Aerocherche' were looking at the remains of an Emil. Numerous parts gradually came to light: equipment components, a fragment of an instrument panel counter, ammunition cases of different calibre: cannon and machine guns. Some of them still showed traces of green camouflage paint. In the spirit of respect and remembrance the pilot's family was located near Munich, more specifically the pilot's nephew, who shared the same first and last name as his uncle. He expressed a strong desire to visit the site of his uncle's crash. More than 70 years after the accident, Friedrich Kisslinger arrived from Germany with his son to visit the crash site of his uncle's Me 109 ‘red 5’.
See Friedrich Kisslinger's visit towards the end of Gilles 20-minute film on Vimeo here
Parts of this article were previously posted on line at the Aérocherche FB page here
Ex-JG 5 machine, located in Russia, (crashed near Murmansk in early 1942) and restored in the UK, now based in Bonn-Hangelar..back in the air after engine problems.
JG 52 Emil in the hands of the 'black men' under the netting on the Channel coast at Calais Coquelles during the 'Battle of Britain' ('Luftschlacht um England'). Previously published - but this is not Bennemann's 'Black 5'.
A 'Toni' from Kurt Hammel's photo album. 2. Staffel JG 77 Bf 109 T 'Red 1' appears to have suffered a landing accident as the port gear leg has collapsed. Fuel from the fuselage tank is being drained. The Staffel number appears to have been over-painted on a lighter pale patch perhaps obliterating a previous identity. Fuselage and wings have been re-sprayed at some point. See the neat Swiatlon artwork in the Chandos 'Graf Zeppelin's Eagles' title. According to the Marshall history this is Lister in 1941. Click on the image for a larger view..
During the summer of 1940 a pilot from I Gruppe JG 52 based at Coquelles near Calais filmed the images that follow on his 8mm camera. Depicting as they did the daily routines of a Luftwaffe fighter unit during the Battle of Britain made them fascinating enough. But the Wingleader team were further intrigued by a clip towards the end of the film showing a downed RAF pilot and the smoking wreckage of an RAF aircraft. Chris Goss, owner of the film, had according to the commentary, always assumed that this snippet of film showed a downed machine from 1941 - with the RAF's 'lean-into-France' good numbers of Spitfires and RAF medium bombers were brought down over France. In addition, only four Spitfires put down on French soil during the Battle of Britain, of which three were extensively photographed - no images of the fourth were known. So was this the missing Spitfire R6966 flown by Sgt. Philip Wareing of 616 Sqd downed on 25 August 1940? A single click on the red start button to view here.
Below; A line up of JG 52 Emils seen in Coquelles just outside Calais, the site today of the Tourist traffic waiting areas for Channel tunnel Le Shuttle traffic..note the clock tower of the town hall ( le Beffroi de l’Hôtel de Ville ) on the skyline..click to view large.
Luftwaffe fighter units based on this (open expanse of grass) airfield; source ” Les pertes de la chasse de jour en France ” by Pierre Watteeuw (Luftwaffe day fighter losses in France)
– I./JG 52 from 3 August to 31 October 1940
– I./ JG 51 from 9 March to 25 May 1941
– III./ JG 26 from 19 October 1941 to 7 April 1942
..and from the current Peter Petrick archive sale, P/O Roberts 64 Sqd Spitfire belly-landed at Calais-Marck on 15 August 1940 after Luftkampf with fighters of I.(J)/LG 2, one of just four Spitfires to come down over France during the Battle of Britain...
..An 'unknown' Emil - possibly 'green 13' - being prepared for a 'commemoration/celebration' of some sort or simply being camouflaged ? Any suggestions, please comment below..click on the images to view large.
and a comprehensive caption from a blog reader;
"...the two images you show as “ green 13 “ are from the BA and are registered as no 342-628-36 pp. They show a/c of 3.(J)/LG 2 taken at Calais-Marck in the first half of August 1940. The mechanics are covering the a/c pen with camouflage nets, so no celebration. The colour of the numeral is brown for 3rd Staffel. If you take a close look you can see part of the Micky Mouse Staffel badge on the rear fuselage. Not visible in your photo are the early yellow theatre markings which I.(J)/LG 2 introduced very early; the rear part of the rudder and the tips of the horizontal stabilizers are yellow as are presumably the wing tips, which are covered by tarpaulins..." Jochen Prien
In early 2023 - ie last year - Mortons published "Luftwaffe Fighters - Combat on all Fronts 2". I wrote a number of ace pilot 'profiles' for this 130-page A-4 softback (£9.99) including a 7-page (A-4) 3,500 word feature on III./JG 27 ace Erbo Graf von Kageneck, which exploited, for the first time in English, his letters written at the front to his parents at home. And also featured a neat selection of photos. Erbo was downed on December 24, 1941 by RAF fighters and subsequently died of his injuries (early 1942). One of Erbo's (four) brothers, August von Kageneck, who lived in Paris post-war - and was interviewed by a friend of this blog - wrote a French-language account of Erbo's life ('Erbo- pilote de chasse') and established that his brother was shot down by Commonwealth ace Clive Caldwell. Translated extracts from August von Kageneck's biography of his brother and the interview that he gave also appear in the Mortons piece. In English. Published in early 2023. Last year, just in case there is any doubt. Not 2024.
" Erbo, Graf von Kageneck became an ace during the Battle of Britain and as Kapitän of 9./JG 27 made a name for himself over Malta in 1941. He was awarded the Ritterkreuz and the Eichenlaub for his successes during Barbarossa. Recalled to the Mediterranean, Erbo ran into his old RAF opponents but was shot down and seriously injured in December 1941. Transferred to hospital in Italy via Athens, he died in Naples on February 12, 1942..."
Von Kageneck’s force-landed Emil ‘Yellow 1’, August 20, 1941. The Staffel number is painted on the engine cowl while the rear fuselage displays a wide yellow band. The rudder scoreboard now displays 45 victory bars. His 45th had been achieved on August 16, 1941.
Luftwaffe Fighters - Combat on all Fronts 2 - available from Mortons here or read some of the cracking reviews on amazon. I've no idea who the 'alte Adler' is but I'd like to thank him here! Will there be a No. 3? Well its written ..but there are one or two other projects coming up first....
FalkeEins- the Luftwaffe blog, now 1,360 published posts and sometime yesterday the blog received its 6 millionth 'hit' - that's now over 6 million page views for this blog. Thanks to all supporters. Go here if you want to read more on this.
below; wreck recovery of a crash-landed Emil somewhere in Belgium at II./JG 26. Will it fit on the back of that truck?
Several images from an expired ebay auction from the estate of ex-III./JG 26 pilot Ofw. Heinz Humburg. Note the Spanish Cross with swords on his tunic, lower left. Humburg did not fly as a pilot in Spain contrary to what is implied elsewhere. This biography attempts to correct further inaccurate accounts online.
Humburg was born in October 1915 and trained as a sheet metal worker after leaving school. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 but was not accepted for pilot training. He went to Spain and flew his first combat sorties during 1937 as a Bordmechaniker. On his return from Spain he was accepted for pilot training which he concluded at Jagdschule Werneuchen following the outbreak of WW II. He arrived at JG 26 on 18 May 1940 from Erg.Jgr.Merseburg according to the JG 26 pilot listing (RL 10 /265). He was posted to 9. Staffel of JG 26 Schlageter and according to the 'Kracker archive' he downed a Spitfire, east of Dover on 15 August, 1940. This is probably not correct - he was awarded an EK II during September 1940 and then according to the same source (RL 10/265) was sent back to flight school for further training and did not rejoin the Geschwader until 1 September 1943. This followed a spell with Luftdienstkdo. 2 / III. at Venlo, an airfield which was undergoing major expansion during late 1940-early 1941 as home to the premier Nachtjagd Gruppe I./NJG 1. According to his obituary in Jägerblatt issue 3/90 he was "..subsequently shot down three times and on three occasions was forced to bail out of his 'Gustav'.."
Again, according to Kracker, Humburg was WIA on 16 December, 1943 when he ran out of fuel and crashed in "White 1" at Hoya Weser, injuring himself. According to the JG 26 pilot listing in RL 10/265, he was hospitalised in early January 1944 following illness. Assigned to the Frontfliegersammelgruppe Quedlinburg - which is where all pilots suitable for front-line service (often after hospital stays) were 'collected' (but not necessarily in the 'physical' sense') and then re-assigned to the respective front-line units - he was sent back to III./JG 26 in mid-February 1944. He made some 77 Feindflüge (combat sorties), earning the Frontflugspange in Silber (awarded 28 September 1944) and returned four 'confirmed' victories in JG 26; two P-47s, a P-51 (27 September at Arnhem) and a B-17 between August and September, 1944. Additional claims according to Perry include a P-47 at Yerville on 7 June, 1944 and a P-47 at Rugles on 17 July, 1944 (Perry Claims). His 7th, an "e/a" in February, 1945, no date given.
In November 1944 he was trained on the Me 262 at Lechfeld and was posted to III./EJG 2 and then JG 7 in March 1945. He died on 5 May 1990.
..these photos simply labelled "Brest". II./JG 77 departed Scandinavia** for France in early November 1940. Machine with Kommandeur chevrons and 'Seeadler' emblem probably belonged to Hptm. Karl Hentschel. Click on the image to view large!
A detailed account of II./JG 77 actions against RAF Bomber and Coastal Commands during the summer of 1940 appears in this blogger's "Luftwaffe Fighters -Combat on all Fronts" Volume I, published by Mortons)
Coming soon from the publishers of AÉROJOURNAL - due on 12 January 2024 is a 'special' (HS N° 47) devoted to JG 77 available to preorder now here
"..Heinz Bär, Joahnnes Steinhoff, Siegfried Freytag, Kurt Ubben, Wolf-Dietrich Huy, Gordon Gollob, Joachim Müncheberg or Armin Köhler - a number of illustrious Experten passed through JG 77, the Luftwaffe fighter arm's "ace of hearts" Geschwader, whose Gruppen quickly distinguished themselves at the start of the Second World War: I. /JG 77 in the Polish campaign and II./JG 77 protecting the Bay of Germany from RAF bomber raids. This was followed by the Western campaign for the former, the Norwegian campaign and protection of the fjords for the latter, and the unprecedented creation of III./JG 77 in July 1940 from the planned carrier fighter Gruppe that was to have manned the 'Graf Zeppelin', which was never completed. After the hard-fought Battle of Britain and victory in the Balkans and Crete, the three Gruppen of JG 77 were scattered across all fronts, in the Soviet Union of course, but above all in the Mediterranean. Hard-fought campaigns over Malta, North Africa and Italy were the Geschwader's 'finest hour' but which relentlessly wore down its fighting strength. In 1944, elements of the Geschwader took part in the Battle of Normandy and the defense of the Reich, with JG 77's last bloody feats of arms coming in the Ardennes and the "Bodenplatte" operation in December 1944-January 1945. This exceptional special issue is the complete history of this JG, which claimed some 4,000 victories between 1939 and 1945..."
..the inscription on the back of this image reads " ..a flight from Larissa (Greece) to Salonika.. " (Thessaloniki, Greece)..
A yellow-cowled Henschel 126 comes in to land, II./JG 77 Emils in the foreground (note emblem forward of the cockpit on 'white 3'). Both Emils appear to have white wingtips and yellow rudder and cowl..
Another image from the same negative strip, so date and location is spring 1941 somewhere in Greece. Nearest the camera "TD+MS" appears to be a rare Klemm Kl 31. Note the Siemens radial. The Kl 31 was the first German four-seater touring monoplane and appeared in 1933.
In September and October 1939 one of the less well-known Jagdwaffe units to operate over Poland was Jagdgruppe 101. The unit spent the winter of 1939/40 in northern Germany tasked with defending the northern borders of the Reich. The unit's Emils featured a cartoon 'running dog' emblem on the cowling. The only Kennziffer visible may be 'yellow 6'. The machines are finished in the dark green splinter scheme. Note the outline form of the numeral - a markings characteristic of JGr. 101 and the small size fuselage Balkenkreuz. Subordinated to the Stab/ JG 77, a few machines from this unit participated in the 'Luftschlacht über der Deutschen Bucht' on 18 December 1939. The unit was dissolved early in 1940, its pilots being posted to other units during February 1940. A number were incorporated into ZG 1. (cf. Prien, " Der Sitzkrieg" JfV Teil 2 page 507).
(Note the lower image was on the same negative strip but features a later '1940' scheme - click on the images to view large)
Late February 1941 saw the appointment and arrival of the new Kommodore of JG 2. Wick's successor, Hptm. Wilhelm Balthasar, was another ace who enjoyed a considerable reputation. Born in 1914, he had been orphaned following the death of his father on the Western Front. Following his enlistment in 1933 and service in an artillery regiment, Wilhelm Balthasar had subsequently transferred into the Luftwaffe and gone on to serve in Spain. Appointed to lead the recce detachment of the bomber arm of the Legion Condor (claiming a single aerial victory), he had moved to the fighter arm and added a further six Luftsiege to his score. Kapitän of 1./JG 1 in Poland and during the offensive in the West, Balthasar had been awarded the Ritterkreuz on 14 June 1940 having achieved twenty three victories. In August 1940, the young officer headed up III./JG 3 during the air battles over England. He had added to his tally during the Battle of Britain but sustained injuries on two occasions. It was only following his return to flying duties that this experienced veteran was appointed to command the "Richthofen". Hptm. Karl-Heinz Greisert stood down from his temporary role in charge of the Geschwader and resumed command of his II./JG 2.
Balthasar's presumably 'brand-new' yellow-nosed Bf 109 F-2, most probably only just received at the unit. Rudder scoreboard shows 31 victories (May 19, 1941).
my ICM Friedrich is finished in the markings of Kommodore Balthasar as seen in late May 1941 in the three greys, but being an early F-2, there’s a chance it could have been finished in BoB Emil colours - 71/02/65. Decals assembled from various remnants, including the rudder ‘kill’ markings. Balthasar was one of the leading Luftwaffe aces during the campaign in the West and the Battle of Britain. He was killed in his new Friedrich during July 1941.
Overall the ICM Bf 109 Fs are a little tricky in parts -especially the cowl - but the detail is reasonably good..
Uffz Heinrich KLÖPPER, born 9 Jan 1918 in Gross-Bülten, was a 2./JG 77 pilot in May 1940. On 15 May six Bf 109s of 2./JG 77 intercepted five French fighters at Rosée. Two Morane 406s were claimed by Oblt Eckehard Priebe and Klöpper - they were in all probability Bloch 152s of GC II/1 up from Laon/Couvron on a bomber escort sortie. Klöpper's victory was not confirmed and Klöpper himself was shot down. Bailing out and not knowing if he would land in his lines, Klöpper unholstered his pistol during the descent - until he saw the uniforms of his compatriots coming to his aid. The personal emblem on his Emil (below) recalls this bail-out. During the Battle of Britain he returned his only victory with 2./JG 77 - a Spitfire over Dungeness on October 5, 1940. The Staffel became 11./JG 51 and went east for Barbarossa. During the first day of the assault, on 22 June Klöpper shot down his first VVS aircraft, a Soviet SB-3 bomber. During 1942 he instructed before returning to his unit. In March 1943, he was posted to 7./JG 1. As Staffelkapitän, Klöpper made his last kill on 26 November 1943, a USAAF P-38 Lightning. The next day he was killed over the Netherlands during air-combat with another P-38 Lightning and crashed near "de Oldenhof" castle in the vicinity of Vollenhove. Klöpper shot down a total of 94 enemy aircraft in approximately 500 combat missions. DK (21 Aug 42), RK on September 4, 1942.
