[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hi Skyraider3D

I understand you don't read our JG 300 chronicle vol. 2 - of which only the french edition exist until now - and so you have only partial information about the air battles of february 9, 1945. You wrote: " the 109 went into a vertical dive and crashed into the ground". Wilhelm Gärtner's Messerschmitt was actually hit at hight altitude, went in a short dive and exploded in mid-air at 7000 m. Witness was Fw. Berthold Wendler (3./JG 300).
It would be wrong to believe that Wilhelm Gärtner was at the controls of "your" 109 - if it's actually a 109...

All the best
Jean-Yves Lorant