Gottfried Dulias

[Kutscha]

In Micheal Maslov's monography he says:

- no I-16s reported in the VVS from early 1944 on the EF
- 1 I-16 in the Northern Fleet airforce as of 1-1-45
- all I-16s (~40) removed from PVO service mid 1944

The only unit operating the I-16 was the 888th IAP in the Far East.

[Ruy Horta]

Well plane (mis-)identification shouldn't be the primary concern here, however it seems that Herr Dulias remains somewhat of an enigma. I had hoped that Jochen Prien might react to this thread.

However, I would like to caution against a "guilty unless proven innocent" attitude.

How complete are the records that have been discussed in this thread?

It would be nice if someone could dispel any doubt.

[Artist]

I have little Knowledge of JG 53 but he claims his aircraft was marked yellow 6 with a white fuselage band. Does this help with what unit he flew with?

[Jochen Prien]

Dear Ruy,

although I have followed this thread from time to time so far I did not feel inclined to enter the discussion as I simply don't have the time to dive any deeper in this matter for instance by contacting the BA at Aachen Kornelimünster to check the personal file of said Leutnant Dulias. And quite frankly from what I can see on this thread it doesn't trigger any bit of of interest to spend my time looking for information on a Lt. Dulias.

From what I have gathered so far I can only offer my personal and private opinion and that is that I don't believe a word of the "career" of this Leutnant; may be he was with the Luftwaffe and even JG 53 as some part of the ground staff and may be he was a Russian POW but so far I have found no piece of information that would lend any credibility to his story.

Having spoken to many former fighter pilots in my time it strikes me that in his account "Lt." Dulias never mentions any names of his Kommandeur, his Staffelkapitän, his Kaczmarek or his close friends. Nor does he become specific about the unit he flew with - I can hardly remember any of the veterans I have spoken with in the past who didn't recall what Staffel he belonged to because the Staffel was their - if I may put it this way - home and family.

Then it strikes me that the locations where he - according to his story - saw combat do not really match with JG 53. No part of JG 53 was ever stationed at Aachen and it would be very odd to name Aachen instead of the Feldflugplätze and Einsatzhäfen from which III./JG 53 did actually operate during this time. There were other prominent places closer to the respective airfields. North of Budapest doesn't convince me either. If he were with that unit he must have been first with III./JG 53 and later with I./JG 53. I don't know of many pilots who were posted in this direction during this time.

Two Spitfires in the West without any further information - how to comment on that. Three I-16 Ratas in the East in January / February 1945 seems totally unbelieveable and as such was hardly a question of mis-identification; if it were a case of the latter, then other pilots of I./JG 53 would also have claimed Ratas around this time which in fact they didn't. Or were those Ratas reserved for Lt. Dulias ?

So at the end of the day to me it all appears to be a badly pieced together fabricated "combat career" the like of which we have seen before. The reaction of "Leutnant" Dulias not to enter into this dicussion and not to offer any tangible proof for his story doesn't really add to his credibility. But, again, this is just my personal point of view and I would not have any problem to make my excuses to Mr. Dulias if he were able to give appropriate substance to his extraordinary exploits.

All the best

Jochen Prien

[Jochen Prien]

Dear Ruy,

fiurther to my recent message I would like to add that during my work on the history of JG 53 I have never come across anybody who mentioned a Lt. Dulias; I have spoken to Hans Ring about him and he too could only state that he had never heard of a German fighter pilot of that name nor that he had any documentary trace that a Lt. Dulias ever claimed to have shot down a British or Russian a/c, be it with JG 53 or any other unit.

Jochen Prien

[Jan Bobek]

Dear Mr. Prien,

please try to find some free time concerning the matter with Mr. Cech.

thanks

Jan

[Dénes Bernád]

Below is a colour poster referencing Mr. Dulias.



Did any new info on his Luftwaffe career surface?

[VtwinVince]

I belonged to an organization years ago which sponsored reunions of WW 2 aircrew. At one of these events a former Luftwaffe kampfflieger showed up, claiming to be a Ritterkreuztraeger. Some research on our part showed that this was complete rubbish. The stories grow larger than life sometimes with the passage of time.

[Brian]

Hi guys

I have been following this saga with great interest, and can tell you that such fantasists exist - or did - within British circles. During the course of many years of research/writing I personally am aware of at least three charming gentlemen who tried to convince others - and perhaps themselves - that they had been fighter pilots at Malta during WWII. I expect it all depends on how far they are prepared to continue the pose.

Cheers
Brian

[Andy Mac]

He doesn't feature in official records, he won't confirm/defend his position and he wears a period uniform. Noted authors and researchers have never heard of him.

Circumstantially I think it has been proved he is not genuine - though rather than condemn him we should appreciate he has issues that have led to his deceiving the world for goodness knows how many years.

If anyone is in a position to advise him to 'retire' without delay, they should. At the very least he should consider Police interest in any financial gains over the years from his deception.

He might consider calling it a day at book signings. But . . .

. . .if he is genuine, lets see the evidence.