Re: Karl Kaulard, I./JG 77
 

A quick morning check made me find this photo of Karl Kaulard sitting - alive - in his Bf 109 G-14, Fall 1944: http://www.hammer-eifel.de/Hammer-On...schreibung.htm

Beyond that, the fate of 7 planes out of the 17 lost on 23 December 1944 by I./JG 77 are still listed as missing in action with no further detail available.

Cheers
Marc

Re: Karl Kaulard, I./JG 77
 

Dear Marc,

I have taken another Long look at the small photo in Mombeek's LuGa - p 92 - and am under the imrression that the numeral "7" has a narrow white trim, making it a "blue 7" from 4./JG77. I also see a number of subtle differences in the camouflage scheme and the fuselage details when comparing the two photos of "yellow 7" and the one shown in LuGa. What is certainly of interest is that in the Mombeek photo you can see Germans around the a/c which means that the a/c came down on the German side and - looking at the a/c - the pilot could walk away from his plane, not being mentioned in the loss lreports. If in fact the a/c in all three photos is the same then the Germans were not able to retrieve the b/l machine in time. The fact that in the "German" photo the ground was free from frost whereas in the "US" photos the ground is solidly frozen indicates a lapse of time between the dates the photos were taken.

Therefore - the LuGa photo Shows a Bf 109 G-14 of I./JG 77, but not sure whether this is the same as "yellow 7" in the two US photos.

KR

Jochen Prien

Re: Karl Kaulard, I./JG 77
 

Dear Jochen,

Thanks for your updated analysis. Erik’s photo indeed does not show any US personal around the plane; as I pondered around those three photos of “7” this morning, I was also under the impression that the color of this “7” was blue indeed, given its rather dark hue. 4./JG 77 is thus a definite possibility.

The same damage pattern of the spinner seen both on the “German” and the “US” photos does IMHO speak in favour of this being one and the same aircraft, showing obviously more degradation in the “US” photos.

Hopefully some more information and even photos will show up one day in order to solve this “cold case” too...

Sincerely
Marc