[John Manrho]

I studied the LuWa article and still have the opinion that this is not a III./JG 6 a/c. Let me explain why.

First of all, as I stated above, the a/c has no vertical III. Gruppe bar. I have several pictures of 109's of III./JG 6 from the period Feb-April 1945 and these have all a vertical III. Gruppe bar. Unfortunately I have no picture of the Nov-Dec 1944 period. I had contact with 80 former members of III./JG 6 or their relatives but found no pictures of that period. The 109's from Sept-Oct 1944 show no bar, but that is obvious as these belonged to I./JG 5 which had no bar. One well known picture of WNr 491404 taken in March 1945 shows clearly the III. Gruppe bar. I see no reason why III./JG 6 would apply the vertical bars in February 1945 and not direct after their renaming in October 1944.

Indeed the crashed enemy aircraft reports give indications for the red-white-red markings of JG 6 a/c lost during Bodenplatte. Kogler's a/c (Stab JG 6) was marked red-white-red and according to CEA #264 Trost's a/c (2./JG 6)was marked white-red-white, which is more than likely a clerical error. The a/c of Jung (2./JG 6) and Fries (4./JG 6) were also found but were destroyed and no mention of the bands were made. Grabmair's Fw 190 (5./JG 6) was also found with a red-white-red band. It seems consistent that these 190's were marked with red-white-red.

The 109's are more difficult. Rose's a/c (9./JG 6) is mentioned in the CEA #264 but without bands, although he bellylanded his a/c. Perhaps not yet painted? Schlossborn's a/c (9./JG 6) was also found and again red-white-red is mentioned! Betz's a/c (10./JG 6) is mentioned in a seperate report and now only red-white is reported with red closer to the cockpit. However, I have a picture of the crashsite and the a/c is totally destroyed. Krumm's a/c (12./JG 6) is also in CEA #264 and now the bands are listed as red-white again. However, in my opinion not clearly described which band is first. Again, Krumm's a/c was totally destroyed.

Also the picture showing Schwerdtfeger's a/c is imho not conclusive, at least the red is closer to the cockpit and it might even be that the aft red band is not clearly visible. Also, although I used it in my Bodenplatte book, I am now not 100% convinced this is Schwerdtfeger's a/c.

Assuming that 784938 has a white-red band and belongs to III./JG 6 is for me a bridge too far.....

Regards,

John