Hauptmann Fritz E. Krause, NJG 11?

[atckyrre]

Thanks for your replies guys!

A few things:
- Krause flew according to his own words the Blue Doppelwinkel on his flight to Kjevik. In the Aeroplane Monthly there's a quite detailed account written by Urbanke about the different movements on the final days of the war as the Leck-based planes flew North through Vejle and Århus in Denmark on their way to Kjevik, Lista and also Stavanger
- One of the G-10's at Kjevik had the gondola guns according to Hafsten's list from May 45.
- (One Schwarm from I./JG 11 got to Norway, the rest of that Gruppe remained in Denmark) Irrelevant. Wrong Geschwader.
- Quite a lot of aircraft from 7./NJG arrived, though only one appears to have been nailed down to that unit, possibly the Bf 109G-14 flown by Willi Budel who did a ground loop on landing due to exhaustion from the tight formation flight with Krause. Budel's plane was apparently damaged perhaps even before departure and ended up as a 60% damage after landing if my interpretation is right.

Edit: JG 11 has nothing to do with this.

Kyrre

[ju55dk]

According to Bereitschaftmeldungen from Luftflotte Reich III/NJG 11 became as all other NJG-Gruppen a Staffel,thus III/NJG 11 became 7/NJG 11. On the 1. april 1945 III/NJG 11 had 40 Bf 109 on strenght, of wich 25 wre ready for combat! On the 12. april 7/NJG 11 had 26 Bf 109 of wich 21 was combat-ready!

Entry from KTB 7/NJG 11 on 5. may 1945:
05.05.1945 at 06.30 start of 4 Bf 109 to Norway! Oblt. Krause, Uffz. Buder, Ltn. Steininger and Ofw. Rullköter. Steininger and Rullköter experienced trouble with the landing-gear and returned to Leck!!!

Only 4 Bf 109 took of, and 2 arrived in Norway. I have never heard about 1/NJG 11 aircraft in Denmark???

Junker

[atckyrre]

Just so it's said, we're talking Fw190s from I./JG 11, not just 1. Staffel. And whether the remaining Fw's actually stayed in Denmark it does not say. Here are the paragraphs:

"Also landed at Aalborg-West were parts of I. (GrKdr Hptm Leonhard) and III./JG11 (GrKdr Hptm Kutscha), making a total of 11 Fw 190A-8s. Both groups left Leck between 0630hr and 0700hr with at least 20 machines for Kristiansand in Norway. They were due to refuel at Vejle, but only a few found it. By 0830 several had returned to Leck, and the above-mentioned 11 had diverted to Aalborg-West. Once refuelled the latter, led by Hptm Kutscha, tried again to reach Kristiandsand, but were forced by the bad weather over the Skagerarak to break off and return to Aalborg-West. In the event, just one Schwarm (Flight) of I./JG11 succeeded in reaching Kristansand from Vejle."

Scanning as we speak, folks. Let me know in PM if you're interested.

Kyrre

edit: Wrong JG in original post.

[ju55dk]

I/NJG 11 was renamed 1/NJG 11 in april 1945! But what has JG 11 to do with NJG 11??

I do know about JG 11.

Junker

[atckyrre]

Originally Posted by ju55dk

I/NJG 11 was renamed 1/NJG 11 in april 1945! But what has JG 11 to do with NJG 11??

I do know about JG 11.

Junker

Doh! My bad. I was so hung up on NJG I read what I wanted to read. I'll be going back to my previous posts and edit, just so it's said.

Sorry.

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Hi guys

After having read what precedes, I believe some more infos will perhaps be useful. By order of IX.(J) Fliegerkorps of March 30th 1945, the strength of III./NJG 11 was reduced to that of a reinforced Staffel as previously stated. So III./NJG 11 + 5./NJG 11 became the new 7./NJG 11. From April 5th 1945, this last Staffel operated under command of 2. Jagddivision in Stade. Oberleutnant Fritz E. Krause acted as "Kommandeur der 7./NJG 11" and flew regularly with a double chevron marked Bf 109 G-14/AS and G-10 from February 14th, 1945. Here an extract of the Kriegstagebuch for that night:

- Einsatz 19.52 Uhr - 21.21 Uhr. Startbefehl für 11 Bf 109 6000 m über Platz. Angriffobjekt Chemnitz, Einflugweg über Koblenz-Kassel. Keine Feindsichtung, schwache Böenberührung zwischen Leuchtfeuer Ida und Hermes. Landebefehl durch 3. Jagddivision.

Krause himself was airborne from Bonn-Hangelar between 20.02 and 21.01 with a double chevron 109.

I was lucky enough to meet this very nice man during a visit to my old friend Gerd Stamp at the beginning of the 80' in Nassau an der Lahn. Fritz Krause's logbooks reveals that he flew double chevron marked 109s on each combat mission until the war's end - excepted in the night of 21/22 February 1945 (white 9). No mention of coloured chevrons in his logbook, so possibly black (why did Axel said blue ? - I will ask him).

Oblt. Fritz E. Krause claims:

1) Nachtjagdgruppe 10 = 07/08.07.1944 Mosquito 01.48 Uhr
2) 3./NJG 11 = 11/12.09.1944 Lancaster 00.20 Uhr
3) 3./NJG 11 = 04/05.11.1944 Lancaster 19.45 Uhr
4) 3./NJG 11 = 31.12.1944 Lancaster 18.50 Uhr

Hals und Beinbruch an alle !

Jean-Yves Lorant

[atckyrre]

Jean-Yves,

Many, many thanks for a very thorough answer. One can't ask for much more!
One clarifying question: Did he keep both the G-14/AS and G-10 at his disposal at the same time? I am not sure in Luftwaffe how higher ranks were equipped and for all I know he could very well have two aircraft available to him at the same time.
My assumption would be he got the G-10 after the G-14/AS.

A little more about the nature of the NJG's flying towards the end of the war: Can one assume that the aircraft available to these fliers were all MW-50 equpped? Considering their task, intercepting high flying bombers and Mosquitos I would think it was a minimum but perhaps they flew different planes for different sorties?

My own summary for Krause's plane on May 5 1945, most of the information would be considered conjectural:

- Fact: Doppelwinkel. Urbanke claims it was blue
- Likely paintjob: Standard. Possibly all RLM76.
- Likely plane: Bf 109G-10. Possibly with gondolas under wings
- Being in the 150-series I assume early type with smaller tires and small wing bulges.

She who must be obeyed, the little one at 17 months, calls,

Kyrre