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Re: Me 109 G Photograph
Hi Remi,
my source is Thurner's personal file sent to 1st Aviation Base of Yugoslav Peoples Liberation Army (from Military Archive in Belgrade), where he was deployed in autumn of 1943. The file states that he was a member of Luftwaffe for two years and several fighter schools that he finished, that he defected with Me 109G but does not mention he was a member of JG 77. However there is a person with same name and rank from JG 77 which disappeared over Yugoslavia on 5 January 1944 during a ferry flight from Roumania to Italy so I established a connection (I might be wrong however).
He was born in Klana on 11 November 1922 and I suppose he knew the area very well and knew where to land. It is a rural area with small population where most of people knew each other, he was local and knew the language, so he should not have encountered any problems when confronted by local partisans. He is described as "advanced" in ideological sense so it is even possible that he had some sort of earlier connection with the communists.
And small correction, the exact date of defection is 10 September 1943.
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