[Juha]

Hello Andrey,
according to Finnish literature there were 15 Bf 109Fs of Osasto Philipp (Detachment Philipp), other name Kommando I./JG 54, operating from Petäjärvi and from Mensuvaara from July to Oct. 42. From Hannu Valtonen’s Luftwaffen pohjoinen sivusta (1997) p. 218 “According to photos the Det. was made from 1./JG 54. First Ju 52s carrying the ground echelon began to arrive on the evening of 28.6.42…” The last sorties mentioned in the book were flown on 29.10.

But there is also photos on planes of a Rotte from 7./JG 54 at Utti a/f on 23 June 42, one of the planes is that of 7th Staffel leader Oblt. Friedrich Rupp. I don’t know if this Rotte had anything to do with Kommando I./JG 54. Possible not. My very uninformed quess is that the Rotte was only visiting at Utti, maybe because something special at Kotka harbour.

Other sources
Hannu Valtonen’s Luftwaffe-kuvasto. Saksan ilmavoimat Suomessa ja Pohjois-Norjassa 1941-1944 (1998)
Kalevi Keskinen’s and Kari Stenman’s Saksalaiset koneet Suomessa 1939-1945 (1998)

BTW I’m sorry to learn that Vlad Antipov was not mentioned in that article in AIR MAG HORS-SÉRIE No.3. You Russian researchers have much to give to us westerners, not least because Your unique archival material. Hopefully AIR MAG HORS-SÉRIEwill correct this omission.

BTW2 I have heard rumours that the archives of a number of IAPs cannot be found nowadays because they were mislaid after the war or destroyed during the war. Do You know if there is any truth in these rumours?

Juha