[David E. Brown]

Hi Franck and Karl,

Franck, here is the photo Karl and I mentioned (below). Note the proximity of “Red 1” to “White 12”. In your posted photos the former is just to the right out of the picture.

Karl, thanks for sharing your thoughts. They gave me pause to think more about this aircraft and do a bit of research.

I see from Haeffner’s flightbook that he was a very busy fellow. He had three Feindflug in “9K+R1" and one in "9K+R2" all on April 10th out of Leipheim. There were three with "9K+R2" on the 11th, 15th and 16th with an überführung from Leipheim to Memmingen on the 21st, then the next day to München-Reim. On the 29th he picked up his old kite "9K+OH" at M-R (but I cannot discern from his handwriting the destination). No doubt that he was picking up the kite after it was handed over to JV 44 from them about a week before, and then returned to KG 51.

What strikes me is that the aircraft was given a fighter-style code which is extraordinary given that KG 51 was a bomber unit. Interestingly, we know that I. and III./KG(J) 54 did switch to a numeric code in early April 1945. And all photographic and documentary evidence known to date indicates that KG 51 retained the alphabetic code.

I wonder if Haeffner's "Red 1" and "Red 2" were not KG 51 aircraft but from another unit? I suggest this for several reasons. Radtke (1990) indicates that during April, I. and II. Gruppen had losses of aircraft coded "B3+we.8", "B3+ge.9", "B3+ro.1", etc. Furthermore, two I. Gruppe aircraft are noted as Überführung to Innsbruck on May 8, one of which had a Bruchlandung. Unfortunately, no codes are listed, though if this is correct "ro.1" may well be one of these two aircraft.

I might comment further on the Geschwader code that pilots noted in their flight books. During the last months/weeks of the war, and in particularly with regards to KG 51 and KG(J) 54, photographs confirm that the aircraft were wearing a single letter or number respectively. The "9K" and "B3" codes were simply absent and/or painted over. Indeed, Haeffner's "Black O" is a perfect example – only the “O” is visible in extant photos of it. The use of the unit codes in flightbooks was, I believe, the pilot's way of trying to keep track of aircraft affiliations.

Where am I going with this? I believe that Haeffner misidentified "Red 1" as a KG 51 aircraft when it was not. He had a habit of this and most tellingly made a mistake in his flight book on May 8th in identifying the aircraft he flew from Prag to München. Two aircraft arrived there together that afternoon by two 2./KG 51 pilots: "Black L", WNr.110836 of 2./KG 51 flown by Hptm. Rudolph Abrahamczik and "Yellow 5", WNr.501232 of 9./KG(J) 6 flown by Lt. Heinrich Haeffner. In his flightbook for his last flight (#630), he mistakenly identifies the aircraft as “7” and drew a little checkerboard ahead of the number. As the aircraft only wore a “Yellow 5”, he did not know its full code (or could not for that matter).

Taken together, I do not think that “Red 1” was a JV 44 or KG 51 aircraft, the former wearing simple white numbers and the latter white of black letters outlined in black and white respectively. Me 262s from KG(J) 6 all had un-outlined numbers. The only Me 262 unit that I am aware of that at this late stage of the war that had outlined numbers was KG(J) 54. Given that this aircraft it lacks a Gruppe bar (common to III. Gruppe aircraft), I believe that “Red 1” was from 2./I./KG(J) 54 and was one of the two that made it to Innsbruck on May 8, 1945 as noted by Radtke. That means that there very well may be another there that has yet to be photographed.

Cheers,

David

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