Rudo Božík - slovak fighter ace in WWII and his Bf 109 G's

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hallo David,

Thanks for your precisions! Yes, the photos are quite exceptional! The ounce is not given; Bundesarchiv would be an obvious choice, unless the late Rudo Bozik had quite an outstanding camera;-))

Anyway, this Gonzo aviation guy put up some excellent shots from Slowakia.

Cheers
Marc

[ianatheling]

An excellent set of photos. Some of these are published elsewhere. I have a few comments;

#1 to 4 The Emils were a mixture of E-2, E-4 and E-7 types. These were purchased by the Slovaks to join the First formation of the Slovak 13 Letka. White 2 is WNr. 2945 Bf 109E-4. These entered combat in autumn 1942. White 2 crashed in May 1943.


#5 The Fw189A-2 between two emils is at Piešťany in autumn 1943.

The early Gustavs are G-4 types. The colour of the numerical codes is yellow, not white and belong (mainly) to the second formation of the 13 Letka (13.(slow).JG 52)


#6 and 15 is at Anapa summer 1943
#7 and 26, 1+- had ‘Marta’ painted below the cockpit.
#8 npor Ján Gerthofer 24 victories, standing next to 2+.
#9 rtk Ján Režňák (32 victories) and Izidor Kovárik (28 victories) with 10+- G-4/Trop.
#14 G-4 6+- WNr. 199330
#16 BH+XL either WNr 19308 or 19368 ? of 4./JG 54.
#19 Probably yellow 10+- WNr. 15195.
#21 Ladislav Dubay with 8+- in background Anapa 06-1943.
#22 11+- Anapa 03-1943.
#24 and 39, 40 Izidor Kovárik (28 victories
#29, 31 32 33 34, 35, 36, 37 Bf 109G-4/R6 CU+PQ Anapa 04-1943.
#41 Ján Režňák, Ján Gerthofer and Izidor Kovárik with 10+- G-4/Trop.
#43 Ján Páleníček
#45 Ján Páleníček and Vladimir Kriško with 10+- G-4/Trop
#47 celebration for František Hanovec after his first victory over a Airacobra 22-07-1943


#52 Avia B-534.IV probably dating from late autumn 1941. To the rear is a Avia MB.200 still with 1939-40 markings.
#54 Avia Ba-122, serial no. 122.7, code S1 of Slovak acrobatic school.
#37? A scrapeyard with Slovak Letov S.328 to the rear.

(sorry if there is some repetition to points made by others, but this took some time to complete)


Ian

[ianatheling]

PS.

Božik was involved in one of my favourite stories of the war. When the Slovak fighter pilots were retired from the Eastern Front they lost the Bf 109Gs shown in many of the photos above. These had been leased to them by the Luftwaffe. Until new arrangements could be made for the defence of Slovakia, the Slovaks relied upon an assortment of obsolete types including Avia B-534 biplanes and Bf 109 Emils.

On the 13th April 1944 Božik was in the air in a Bf 109E when he spotted what from a distance he identified as a US Liberator. He began his attack upon the American heavy. However the ‘American heavy’ was a Bf 110G-2 WNr. 6397 2N+HM of II./ZG 1. From afar Božik had misidentified the two engines and fuel tanks as four engines. He realised the error as he was about to open fire.

However the crew of the Bf 110 were also guilty of a misidentification. They ignored the remote possibility that a Bf 109E was still in the air in 1944, and believed that they were about to be attacked by a US P-51. The rear gunner opened fire upon Božik. Although he had evidently realised the error, he decided to open fire himself. The Bf 110 was hit and crashed. Pilot Wilhelm Meilinger was killed, but the gunner bailed out and survived. Fortunately for Božik, the gunner sustained the story that they had been attacked by a P-51. Božik confidently claimed a victory against a Liberator.


Ian

[ouidjat]

Originally Posted by ianatheling

#14 G-4 6+- WNr. 199330
Ian

Do you mean 19330?

Franck.

[ianatheling]

Originally Posted by ouidjat

Do you mean 19330?

Franck.

Hi Franck

I have it as 199330...but this does look like it is a typo with the source. One too many figures! 19330 seems correct.


Happy New Year
Ian