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Re: Hauptmann Fritz E. Krause, NJG 11?
Hi, Kyrre
This late in the war I would be VERY sceptical about a white rudder as a formation leader marking. The rudder could possily have had kill markings on it if he had any, but not necessarily, even if he had a multitude (and he wouldn't necessarily fly his own aircraft for this flight!).
If he functioned as a Gruppenkommandeur or was flying the aircraft assigned to the Gruppenkommandeur he COULD have flown a double chevron marked aircraft, but it could also just have been number '3' or whatever number.
Also bear in mind that the NJG 11 never had a formal Geschwaderstab, thus the Gruppen operated more or less as autonomous units.
I am not familiar with the history of the Sonderkommando Welter, but as it was a Me 262 unit I am certain others on this board are. I would be surprised if the remains of the piston-engined equipped parts of NJG 111 had much to do with this unit, which as far as I know was used for Mosquito night intruder hunting. Correct guys? What amazes me most when researching some of the luminary personalities of the WWII Luftwaffe is how the die.... in this case this person having survived the havoc of the late WWII airwar was killed when his car was crushed by logs falling off a train while he was waiting at a railway crossing...
With regards to unit strength - during 1945 the units at Gruppe level could in practice consist of only a handful or dozen aircraft and pilots.... no practical need for a Staffel substructure... and thus in this case it posibly was none!
With regard to the colour of the markings I would say the standard Black double chevron, but it could have been green, or blue, or brown... Best tip here is to try to locate some Namentliche Verlustemeldungen for the unit, if You are lucky a few of them from this period have colour on the marking mentioned. Then ---- an educated guess is probably as close as You will get! Unfortunately - the losses available from Genst.Gen.Qu.6.Abt documents have no personnel losses for the Bf 109G's of III. Gruppe in 1945...
Regards,
Andreas
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