Corrections and Additions
 

Gentlemen

here is the first part of corrections and additions concerning the JFV series. More will follow in due course.

JFV 3

p. 135: Other than the rest of the Gruppe 9./JG2 introduced its own form of a revised camouflage scheme on the upper surfaces of its Bf 109s in May / June 1940. This scheme sported bigger and soft edged spots on the fuselage sides as compared to the small, hard edged specks used by the rest of III./JG 2 and I./JG 2. This particular colour scheme can be seen on photos no. 78, 79 and 80 in JFV Vol. 4, that were made before the beginning of the BoB and show a/c of 9./JG 2 in France, presumably in late May / early June 1940.

p. 380: The loss of 2./JG 76 on May 17th, 1940, did not concern Lt. Joachim Schypek but Lt. Bernhard Schulten, who returned to his unit on May 25th, 1940, slightly wounded.

JFV 8 / II

p. 273: The Bf 109 lost on July 25th, 1942, that came down off the Sicilian coast belonged to 2./JG 77, not 1. Staffel as is stated in the last chapter, third line from the bottom; The pilot did not have to take to his parachute but was able to ditch his a/c close to the beach and to swim to the shore - vide Prien, JG 77 Vol. 3, p. 1249 with further references.

JFV 9 / II

p. 526: The loss of Uffz. Georg Koppe occurred on September 8th, 1942, not on the 5th; this is born out by the loss return and is stated correctly in the loss table on p. 570.

JFV 9 / III

p. 318: The rudder on photo no. 335 did not belong to " black 5 " of Oblt. Hackl but to the a/c of Oblt. Heinrich Setz, Staffelkapitän of 4./JG 77; Anton Hackl scored his first four claims in the West whereas Heinrich Setz scored only two claims in the West as can be seen on this photo.

Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Thank you, Jochen!

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Dear Mr. Prien.

Notice/Question:

On page 170/Abb. 177 / Teil 6/II the text below the photo gives the information that the belly landing was on 25.09.1941 after lost of sight (cause flak hit) with a result of 30% damage.

On the next page in the lost list is given that the belly landing was a result of no fuel/low fuel and given with 35% damage.


Whats right?

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Just few remarks regarding Vol.5:

p.244: this photo was taken at Bijeljina airfield in Eastern Bosnia, Yugoslavia

p.252: this photo was taken at Pancevo airfield, Serbia, Yugoslavia

p.254: looking at the landscape and knowing first-hand how it looks this photo could not have been taken at Pancevo (just compare it with p.254), it looks much more like Belgrade-Zemun (Semlin)

p.281 & 282: these photos were not taken at Skoplje or anywhere in Yugoslavia. I've never seen any hangar in Yugoslavia similar to one on p.281, the landscape on p.282 does not resemble that in Skoplje but looks much like the one at Paramythia or Molaoi in Greece

p.312: Bf 109E-7 W.Nr.2039 (Obfhr. Heinz Eckhardt) was rammed by RYAF Fury Mk.II and bot aircraft desintegrated in the air

I also have a question regarding Hptm. Herbert Ihlefeld. Actually, before he was struck by a ground fire above Nis airfield on 6 April 1941, he apparently shot down Yugoslav Potez 25 on landing approach. Several eyewitnesses, including a crewmember from the Potez and the man who hit Ihlefeld's plane, stated that lead Bf 109 in German formation attacked the Potez and shot it down, seconds later this machine was hit by rifle fire and immediately turned in direction of Bulgaria trailing smoke. Didn't he ever claim this kill?

Cheers,
Boris

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Dear Mr. Falcon / Weiss,

unfortunately in the photo caption on p. 170 the degree of damage was erroneously - presumably due to a typing error of mine - given as only 30%, whereas in fact it was 35%.

There is however no uncertainty and no contradiction as to the reason of this incident - Lt. Jürgen Harder lost his bearings after being hit by Flak and had to belly land his a/c when it ran out of fuel near Nowgorod as it is stated in both the photo caption on p. 170 and the loss list o p. 171.

I hope this helps.

Jochen Prien

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Dear Boris,

many thanks for your corrections and suggestions. They remind me again that you cannot trust any caption on the backside of contemporary photos. At the same time - without personal knowledge of the countryside I have no ways of telling right from wrong. Therefore I'm grateful for any constructive input.

p. 244 - the official PK-caption placed this photo at " Deta near Arad." Normally these official captions are quite reliable, so what makes you so sure that this photo was actually taken at Bijeljina ? Don't get me wrong, I'm not mistrusting your comment, I just want to what your correction is based upon.

p. 252 - thank you.

p. 254 - time and place were quoted according to the loss return.

p. 281 & 282 - I take it that Skoplje a/f had no hangars like the one shown here so that this airfield would be ruled out. However, neither of the Greek airfields you mentioned offered anything like those hangars that can be seen here. So the location of these photos must be left open to discussinon for the time being.

p. 312 - thank you

p. 311 / 312 - no, Herbert Ihlefeld obviously filed no claim for the Potez on April 6th, 1941

Kind Regards

Jochen Prien

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Dear Jochen,

as for the photo on p.244 it was definitely taken at Bijeljina, indeed there is a whole series of photos taken on same ocassion, with Hrabak, Phillip and Seidl looking the refuelling, I think that at least seven or eight have been published in different sources throughout the years. Please note a partially visible burned-out biplane in the right upper corner of the photo - it is a Yugoslav Breguet 19. There is even a photo of two captured Yugoslav soldiers rolling one of these fuel barrels.
As for the location of the photos on p.281 and 282, it will remain a mystery for us, at least for now.

Regards,
Boris

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Dear Mr. Prien,

I have finished to read the JVS 6,1 and found some discrepancy between the summary table p.32 and the data for particular units.

p.32: Stab/JG 3 3 killed/missing.
p.51: 2 killed/missed. I know from your JG3 book that on 30.06.41 Fw Hans Kolbe killed in Go-145.

p32: 15./JG27 4 killed/missing, losses: 8 plane >60%, 14 plane < 60%. p201-202 5 killed, losses 14 >= 60% 10<60%

I look short in JVF 6,2 and found the similar discrepancy for 15./JG52, ErgSt/JG54, ErgSt/JG77, I(J)/LG2.

I would like also ask, what is with the loss category "b" (I assume "beschädigt") ? Is this category that also was reported to RLM and GQM or it was easy to repair by unit ?

Thank you& Best regards

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

And additional points from JVF 6,2:

p32 III/52 12 Killed/missed, p48-51 13 losses

p55 ".... zur Beschiessung von Odessa..." is not correct. The destroyer target was sure Constanza.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

A detailed errata for Vol. 6/2 would be very much appreciated.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Hello Mr. Prien,

2 additional informations:

JFV 1:
p.351 - In an flight log from II./ JG 134 the Bf 109D-1 is mentioned since July 1938.

JFV 8/I:
p. 35 - I'd guess the number of G - 4trop produced by Erla Maschinenwerk GmbH isn't correct ... in the range 10864 - 10 921 was it 57 a/c's and not 58 and the range 15 001 - 15 204 ended with 15 209 (in your JG 3 - chronicle is this a/c mentioned as G - 4 too). So was it 209 a/c's and the correct number was 266 (all in all) and not 262.

Best wishes
Rasmussen

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

The thread http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=15761
is unfortenately without response.
In all cases some inconsitences in JVF9,3 Pp. 125 and 160.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

JVF6, II, photo p.222, according to his FB, 'schwarze 4' was the machine of Wolfgang Spaete.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

JFV 9/III. Page 22 photo Inscription:"Pilots of 3/JG53 in September 1942 on Tusow airfield. From left staffelkapitan Oblt. Wolfgang Tonne, Fw. Wilhelm Crinius, Fw. Fritz Gammel, Uffz. Heinz Golinski"
I wonder how it may be September 1942 if Gammel went into captivity on August 23, 1942?

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

JFV Volume 1, pages 428 and 429: In the Stab of I(J)/LG 2, there was obviously a fan of the artist and poet Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908). The photo 417 shows Max, of Max und Moritz, a book by Busch. The drawing on photo 418, shows Lehrer Lämmel, another figure from the Max und Moritz book.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV 9/II for the 29 Oct 1942 page 492 for the victory of 5./JG 52 Obfw Willi Nemitz LaGG 3 (39) 15:50 it has PlQu. 94752. In Tony Woods list it has 94152. The 94752 puts the dogfight to far south from where it occurred. It might be just a printing error in the book but TW's PlQu. seems to be right in this case.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV 9/III page 93 for 09 Sep 1942 for the victory of 1./JG 54 Lt. Horst Ademeit MiG 3 (29.) 18:10 it has PlQu. 11802. Since there is no zero in the PlQu. after the 8, I had to resort to checking Tony Wood's list which has 11862. I have noticed before a "0" being placed instead of a 6 but it's rare.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV 9/II page 33o for 9./JG 51 Uffz Hubert Strassl Pe-2 (3) 17.07 the PlQu. should be 36122 and not 17.07.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV 12/II on page 494 for Lt. Berthold Korts 8/JG 52 it lists missing 2 Abschuesse # 57 & 58 for June/July. On page 481 for the 26 May 43 it has Korts Pe-2 (37) 17.43 followed by Pe-2 (37) 17.45. So every number should move up one thus removing a missing victory?

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV 3 at page 182 is Abb.159 with the following caption:"Möglicherweise handelt es sich bei dieser Bf 109E-1, die am 13. Mai 1940 nach einer Notlandung in der Nähe von Eindhoven aufgenommen wurde, um die Maschine von Oblt. Christel Borries von der 1./JG 20, der nach Feindbeschuss auf gegnerischem Gebiet heruntermusste und zunächst als vermisst gemeldet werden musste, bevor er drei Tage später nach vorübergehender Gefangenschaft befreit werden und zu seiner Einheit zurückkehren konnte. Source Matthiesen."

But I have no Bf 109E-1 at May 13th, 1940 in the Eindhoven area.
And at that date Eindhoven was allready occupied by German forces, so Oblt. Borries could not have been taken prisoner.
Is this maybe a mixed-up with Lt.Karl Borris of 5./JG 26 who was shot down near Numansdorp at May 13th, 1940? He became pow and was released three days later.
The picture in JFV 3 at page 182 is not from the crash of Lt. Borris. The engine of his plane was excavated from the mud in May 1976 by the Dutch Airforce.

So from what crash is this picture?

Jaap

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Jaap,

many thanks for your input. The photo came to me Long ago as [I]"Crash landed Messerschmitt from I./JG 20 near Eindhoven" Therefore I tentatively - Möglicherweise ... - identified it as the possible a/c of Oblt. Borries.

This is now ruled out by your Information. Unfortunately I have no more information to offer so that for the time being it must be considered as u/i. A corresponding correction will be contained in the next Corrections/Additions Appendix.

Thanks and kind regards

Jochen

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Jochen,
Thanks for your answer. If your information is correct it could have been a picture of the Bf 109 from:
Ob.d.L. Genst.Gen.Qu.6.Abt.(IC)Nr 3420/40 g.K. H.Qu, den 15.7.40.
Flugzeugunfalle und Verluste der Verbaende am 13.7.40.
66.) 19.5. Luftflotte 2. 6./JG 20, F, Eindhofen, Absturz infolge Motorbrand.1 Mann verletzt. At August 20th 1940 there was a "Berichtigung" that the plane was 100% Bruch.

Acc. to JVS 3 page 188 the pilot was Gefr. Kurt Koch from 3./JG 20.
The plane at the picture has made it's landing with a working engine and was not burned out. It does not look 100% Bruch to me, but you never can tell.


Jaap

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In JFV12/III page 270 it has "15.03.1943 6./JG 54 Lt. Wolfgang Kretschmer Curtiss P-40 (18) 12.52 PlQu. 35 Ost/28294, Stepanowo 1582" which is wrong. The actual PlQu. in this case is the same as Tony Wood's list of 18294 which is the location the location of Bol'shoe Stepanovo. The actual fighter in this case might be a Yak-7B far from a P-40.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Concerning JFV 13/1, page 479 and the victory claimed by 10/JG 11:
The aircraft claimed by 10/JG 11 was a Caproni 313/S 16A from 3. division/F 11
of the Swedish Air Force. The crew: pilot furir Bertil Egéus, observer löjtnant
Yngve Rosén, w/o furir Gunnar Erlandsson and gunner/mechanic korpral Urban Boström were all MIA. The bodies of Erlandsson and Rosén were found on 30 June 1944 and 1 September 1944 respectively.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Hello Jochen,
Could you give verification of the correct PlQu. numbers for JFV 12/III page 170.
23 Feb 1943
Stab I/JG 54 has Hptm. Hans Philipp and Uffz Hans-Guenther Reinhardt with the following:
Philipp LaGG-3 (172) 08.40 36 Ost/00412
Reinhardt LaGG-3 (28) 08.41 36 Ost/00414
They then continue
Philipp Yak-1 (173) 08:50 36 Ost/10512
Philipp Yak-1 (174) 08:53 36 Ost/10392
Philipp Yak-1 (175) 08:55 36 Ost/10363
Reinhardt Yak-1 (29) 08:57 36 Ost/10364
Philipp Yak-1 (176) 08:59
Then 17 minutes later
Philipp LaGG-3 (177) 09:16 36 Ost/00252

The problem here was while checking the height of these on Tony Wood's list, I found this that Philipp and Reinhardt match for the times of 08:40 and 08:41. Then starting with the Yak-1 at 08:50 the PlQu. have a change,
Philipp 08:50 PlQu. 00412
Philipp 08:53 PlQu. 00392
Philipp 08:55 PlQu. 00363
Reinhardt 08:57 PlQu. 00364
Philipp 08:59 PlQu. 00364

So did they actually fly that distance or is this a mistake in the first number of the PlQu.?

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

This is a correction for Teil 9/II page 153 concerning II/JG 3 it lists on 15.09.42 4./JG 3 Uffz. Heinrich May Il-2 (12) 09:13 PlQu. 47843. In Tony Woods list it has Uffz. May claiming a LaGG-3 at that time. I looked at a Soviet loss and it was driving me crazy trying to figure that out from Prien’s 9/II on seeing an Il-2. I then went back and looked at Tony’s list and it showed a LaGG-3, it then made sense. Serzhant Kryazh’s Yak-7B 179 IAP loss then fell into place for that day. Prien’s list recorder needs to re-examine it better. So, I’ll be keeping both for examination. Don’t miss understand me as condemning Prien’s work as some of his claim list has shown a very much clearer picture of JG 52’s claims then Tony’s.

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

In Teil 9/II page 356 for Lt. Wolfgang Böwing - Treuding 11./JG 51 it has his claim as an Il-2 (30) at 16:50 to the west of Rzhev. This didn’t seem right, so I checked Tony Woods list an it had a Pe-2 with an altitude of 5700 meters. This altitude would not fit in with an Il-2 but did fit in with a Pe-2 on a reconnaissance mission.

Corrections and Additions to JFV 4/II about III./JG 54
 

Dear mr. Prien,

I have some remarks about III./JG 54 in JFV Teil 4/II.
At page 325 is mentioned : “Am 2.Juli erfolgte die Verlegung der Gruppe nach Bergen-op-Zoom, wo sie drei Tage darauf, am 5. Juli 1940, unter Umbenennung in III./JG 54 in das JG 54 eingegliedert wurde. “
The unit went to Bergen airfield near Alkmaar in Holland and not to Bergen op Zoom airfield, Woensdrecht near the Belgian border. This is a classic mistake. See also http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...op+Zoom&page=3

And also at page 325 : “Allerdings erlitt die III./JG 54 in der Nacht vom 23. auf 24. Juli 1940 durch einen Bombenangriff auf den Platz Soesterberg einige Verluste an Menschen und Material, eine Messerschmitt wurde zerstört, mindestens zwei weitere erheblich beschädigt.”
Here is mentioned that III./JG 54 was at Soesterberg during 23/24.7.40. That’s also not correct. The unit was at that day at Bergen near Alkmaar also mentioned Bergen aan Zee (Holland).

Page 333 says Einsatzplatz der III./JG 54 : Bergen op Zoom 2.7.40 – 8.40
Here also Bergen-op-Zoom is Bergen (N.H.) or Bergen aan Zee (Holland).

At page 342 are details given of the Bf 109’s which were damaged or lost at “Soesterberg” at 24.7.40 :
8./JG 54 Bombenwurf, Soesterberg, unter 10% Bf 109E sw 12+
III./JG 54 Bombenwurf, Soesterberg, 100% Bf 109E
III./JG 54 Bombenwurf, Soesterberg, unter 10% Bf 109E

But in RL10/546 9./JG 54 KTB (Fragmente, Abschrift) Juni 1939 - Aug. 1942 it is mentioned that 7.7.40 : die ganze Gruppe verlegt nach Bergen am See.
And also : Mittwoch, den 24. Juli 1940
Die Treffer lagen genau in der Nähe der Gefechtsbaracke und in den Flugzeughallen. Vier Tote und drei Schwerverletzte der Stabskompagnie waren zu beklagen, vier Reisemaschinen und eine 109 völlig verbrannt bzw. demoliert.

And in RL 2-II/213 Lageberichte OKL Nr. 323 is mentioned :
24.7.40 0255 – 0345, Bergen aan Zee (Holland), 10/15 Sprb. mehrere Brb.
2 Angriffe auf Fliegerhorst.
Halle 6 durch Brand zerstört. Darin vernichtet :
- 1 W 34, 1 Arado 66, 1 He 70, 1 Fw Weihe , 1 Caudron, 1 Koelhoven.
- 1 Me 109 stark beschädigt
An einer anderen Halle Mauerschaden durch Bombeneinwirkung.
Einzelne leere Fässer durch Bombensplitter unbrauchbar geworden.
Geringer Schäden an Roll -u. Vorfeld. 4 Blindgänger.
4 Soldaten tot, 5 verletzt.

This is quite different what has been written in JFV Teil 4/II about III./JG 54
- The location is Bergen aan Zee instead of Soesterberg, and
- one Bf 109 was quite damaged instead of 2 quite damaged and one Bf 109 destroyed.
Is there any explanation for this difference?

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Another source dealing with the attack on Bergan-aan-Zee is here: https://wwii.germandocsinrussia.org/...inspect/zoom/6

(Scroll to the bottom of the page)

Re: Corrections and Additions
 

Nick,

Indeed and that's the same Lagebericht 323 as in RL 2-II/213 Lageberichte OKL Nr. 323.

Jaap