Robert "Bazi"Weiss

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

For the time being this is what I have been able to piece together:

1./JG 54

Nowotny was appointed Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 54 on 25 October 1942. He was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 54 on 10 August 1943 whereupon Fischer took up the position of Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 54. He appears to have remained in this role until his death on 8 December 1943.

3./JG 54

Eisenach was appointed Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 54 on 17 April 1943. He was injured on 8 July following which Weiss took over Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 54 upon returning to combat duty. Eisenach returned to his position as Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 54 before the end of September 1943.

10./JG 54

Teumer was appointed Staffelkapitän of 10./JG 54 in July 1943. He was wounded on 3 September following which he was succeeded by Weiss.

Therefore, it would make sense that Weiss relinquished command of 3./JG 54 sometime after 11 September as he is listed as Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 54 according to loss list information regarding his wounding that day and we know that Eisenach had returned as Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 54 before the end of September 1943. Weiss was possibly transferred as Staffelkapitän to 10./JG 54 in September 1943 upon returning command of 3./JG 54 to Eisenach. On a related note, I noticed that various loss list entries for I./JG 54 indicate that the Gruppe was based at Schatalowka-Ost for the time period we are interested in. The only location that I have found for this airfield appears to be 55 kilometers south-southeast of Smolensk. I now believe that the co-ordinates given for his two victories with 1./JG 54 in September 1943 are in error as I entered these into the Luftwaffe Map Grid Converter and both are near Kiev. However, when I entered the co-ordinates of the victories prior to these two the results were indeed in the Central Sector of the Eastern Front. 10. and 11./JG 54 equipped with Bf 109 G-6 fighters at the time appear to have been based at Krasnogwardeisk and Siwerskaja respectively while 12./JG 54 equipped with Fw 190 A-4, A-5 and A-6 fighters was based at Schatalowka-Ost.

Horrido!

Leo