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Old 21st February 2025, 16:02
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Re: Ostpreußen, April 1945.

Quote:
Originally Posted by photo-war View Post
I think it will be very difficult to accurately name the unit to which these aircraft belonged. JG51 and JG54 were operated this area during the last moths of Third Reich.

But any chance to ID variant of these Fw190, are they A-8 or may be A-9?
The first one, with the collapsed landing gear and four cannon in the wings is an A-8 or A-9; the second may be an F-model with cannon only in the wing roots but it does not seem to have underwing bomb racks.

According to Bundesarchiv RL 2-III/735 (which is free to download) on 16 April 1945 the only Fw 190 fighter unit in Luftwaffenkommando Ostpreußen was Stabsstaffel JG 51, which had 18 of them. The ground-attack Fw 190s were with I./SG 3 which had 24.

Also, 2./NAGr. 4 had 6 Focke-Wulfs. These were recorded as Fw 189 until the lists for 14 and 16 April which say Fw 190. I suspect that this was a typng mistake (unless someone knows better). The last photo-reconnaissance aircraft of 2./NAGr. 4 was destroyed by enemy action on 30 April but four Bf 109s did operate that day (according to National Archives HW 5/701).

NOTE: On 1 April, Stabsstaffel JG 51 reported having 2 Fw 190 A-9 and 20 Fw 190 A-8 (National Archives HW 5/697).
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Last edited by Nick Beale; 22nd February 2025 at 15:50. Reason: Corrected SG 5 to SG 3 (recurring typo in original)
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