http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1651
Obstltn. Heinz Bär seems to have had an affinity to the number "13". This photo shows Bär with his FW 190.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1652
When Bär was appointed
Kommandeur of III./EJG 2 on 13 Feb. 1945 (01.01.45?) [de Zeng & Stankey], he had Me 262 A-1a W.Nr. 110559 numbered "red 13" as his personal aircraft. Since III./EJG 2 was a training unit the number was placed on the fuselage ahead of the cockpit.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1653
This is from page 197 of RL 7-6/25 in the online Bundesarchiv. It is page two of the strength return reported by
Lw. Kdo West and included by
Gen. Kdo. VIII Flg. Korps at 18:00 hours on 23 April 1945. III./EJG 2 seems to have become "J.G. Baer" with 16 Me 262s and 9 pilots. As a fighter unit, its
kennzeichen would be placed forward of the
balkenkreuz on the rear fuselage. "J.G. Baer" appears again in the strength return of 24 April (RL 7-6/25, p. 372) but is missing in that of 25 April (RL 7-6/25, p. 373) and appears to have been absorbed by "J.G. 44"[sic]. Indeed, in the pilots list of JV 44 from 27 April (RL 7-6/26, pp. 299-300), ten of them are from III./EJG 2 including Bär.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1654
From Dan O'Connell,
Me 262 The Production Log, (Classic, 2005), p. 140:
111857 Me 262 A-1a ... Later listed on the inventory of JV 44 on 26 April 1945. Found at Innsbruck Hotting at the end of the war. Ferried from München-Riem by
Obstlt. Heinz Bär on 1 or 2 May 1945. Previous reports have recorded this aircraft as "white 5", but there is no photographic evidence of it on either side of the aircraft ...".
To my eyes, this photo of W.Nr. 111857 has an overpainted dark "13" on the rear fuselage just forward of the
balkenkreuz.
Could this be Bär's Me 262? And why would it be overpainted?
best regards,
Jim