Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

I met Don C many years ago and as I remember, he'd used Ultra material in the second volume but not in the first, so that's one source that might change or add to his account a little (they're still excellent books, though).

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Intriguingly, Cantacuzino scored in a Hurricane against the Allies and in a Bf109 against the Axis.

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good evening Gentlemen,

can anybody tell me if Erich Hartmann flew a Bf109G or a Bf109K on 25Apr1945 ?

Cheers,

Mcihael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Xavier Méal writes in his 2015 article "La Luftwaffe rend les armes" (in Le Fana de l'Aviation N°546) that Hartmann had a K-4 on 8May. I wonder if this is based on a document or on an assumption.

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good afternoon Gentlemen,

Johannes Mathews is right in calling Mr. Bär Oskar-Heinz and not Heinrich as proven by his 2(!) tombstones.
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/bar...-heinz-pritzl/
Those authors who call him Heinrich might have though that he's one of those whose name Heinz is only the shortform/nickname for his real name Heinrich. Would that have been the case Heinrich would have been used on the tombstone, because tombstones usually do not feature nicknames.

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good evening Gentlemen,

I wonder if we definitely can exclude Kurt Tanzer from the list of aces with 100 or more Bf109 kills. Is there any source that proves that his alleged score of 128 or even 143 is a hoax ?

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good evening Gentlemen,

have

• Ilmari Juutilainen,
• Jan Reznak,
• Safet Boskic,
• Albin Starc and
• Peter Horn

scored most of their kills in the Bf109G, respectively ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

With regard to Juutilainen, yes. According to Keskinen/Stenman
2 + 1 claims with Fokker D.XXI
34 + 2 claims with Brewster Buffalo
57 + 8 claims with Bf 109 G

Making 93 totally destroyed and 11 as damaged.

Unfortunately they contradict themselves when doing the summary and award him with 94 complete and 10 damaged. Most likely they have listed a fully destroyed aircraft only as damaged, but which one, I don't know.

There could also be two reasons for this. They have actually made a printing error or have interpreted the surviving records differently than the Air Force HQ did at the time. However whatever interpretation is made later, they also quite correctly point out, they cannot change the official historical verdict.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

I've attached the kill list for Reznak as it appears in Osprey's Slovak Aces book.
In the same book it says that 13.(slow)/JG52 returned its remaining 6 109F's on 5 March in exchange for 9 109G-2s. The G-2s were exchanged for G-4s by the end of the same month.
That suggests Reznak's first 3 kills were in an F, the remainder in a G.

As far as I can see, Osprey's Croat Aces book doesn't provide any insight into Boskic and Starc.
It says Boskic claimed all his kills in his first tour, which it would seem ended in October 1942. CdeGloire has his first kill in an E, but only lists 4 of his 8-13 kills (depending on whose list you prefer).
Osprey also says Starc reached 9 kills + 3 unconfirmed (2 were later confirmed) by October 1942. CdeGloire lists his first kill as being in an E, and the rest of his 10-11 kills, starting from 9/10 July (!!), in Gs.
According to the unit lists at ww2.dk, 15.(kroat)/JG52 received its first Gs in July 1942, but from the info there it would appear it was not until on or after 26 July ..........

Cheers
Peter

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good morning Stig & Peter,

thanks for yours answers which are of great help.
That means all those who were the top aces of their country and scored the majority of their kills in the Bf109, scored their majority of their in kills in the Bf109G with the exeption of Boskic and Horn for whom such info is lacking.

I'll keep at it!

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good morning,

for Safet Boskic I found four Bf109E claims

• 16,11,41
• 11,6.42
• 11,6.42
• 6,7.42

and five Bf109G claims

• 16,8.42
• 25,8.42
• 26,8.42
• 30,9.42
• 29,10.42

His total is considered to be 13: are four air kills missing or does that total include his three unconfirmed plus one destroyed on the ground ?

Kind regards,

Michael

Re: Top Bf 109 aces
 

Good afternoon Gentlemen,

currently I'm working through OSPREY's "Jagdgeschwader 52" by John Weal. Already on page 4 he makes a statement about what Bf109 subtype Erich Hartmann flew on 8May1945: "...At least one offical document states quite categorically that JG 52 was equipped entirely with the Bf109G-14 (of various models), and was earmarked for conversion to K-4's.... But there are at least two known photographs of what are, undeniably, the remains of a K-4 amonst the wreckage abandoned at Deutsch-Brod carrying [a tulip leaf decoration]."

Kind regards,

Michael