Fw/Ofw Jaenicke/Jänicke 1./ZG 76

[Chris Goss]

Above flew as Rottenfliger to Helmut Lent 1939-40 before becoming a night fighter. Although I have photos of him, I am trying to find his Christian name. No kills, no awards-bit of a mystery man. Theo & Matti have drawn a blank

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Chris,

Ofw. Jänicke (also written as Jaenicke) appears several times in my documentation:
1) he is on a list of 3./NJG 1 crews with Oblt.Hansen, Oblt.Lent, Oblt.Böhmel, Oblt.Kettling (we discussed this some years ago), Lt.Bender, Ofw.Herzog, Ofw.Rossbach, Ofw.Schönherr and Fw.Mütschele. We all know that some stayed with the I./NJG 1, some went to the II./NJG 1 and others like Kettling continued with the Zerstörer. The list has no date but might be composed around the time that Hansen's 1./ZG 76 was about to become the 3./NJG 1.
Jänicke's Bordfunker was Uffz. Fritz Grundmann.
2) Jänicke (and Grundmann) are also on a list of 3./NJG 1 crews, allegedly composed in early October 1940. On this list: Oblt. Hansen, Lt.Bender, Ofw.Herzog, Ofw.Rossbach, Fw.Schlecht.

It seems that Jänicke's career in the nightfighter force ended not much later: he does not appear again in a unofficial/unpublished I./NJG 1 history and his regular Bordfunker Fritz Grundmann died with Ofw. Hans-Heinz Wegener (3./NJG 1) on 29th June 1941.

You will find another nightfighter pilot Jänicke: Helmut Albert Georg (born 27th November 1921), he actually was with the 2./NJG 1 in April 1944 (He219 conversion) but moved to the II./NJG 1 where he was hospitalized on 22th August 1944. I have no further data on him, but he is portraited in a photo album of doctor Siecke, medical officer of the I./NJG 1. Siecke's comment: Uffz. Jänicke, 2./NJG 1


Best regards, Marcel

[Chris Goss]

Marcel: This accords with me. I wonder if he was commissioned and if so, the only one that could possible be him was Fritz Jaenicke

[Theo Boiten]

Hi Marcel,

Thanks for sharing these interesting details on Jänicke. The Uffz. Helmut Jänicke that you mention at the end of your posting achieved two night Abschüsse with 6./NJG1 in November 1944 and survived the war. In the NCA 1944 series, I will publish a lengthy account written by him about his first Abschuss.

Cheers, Theo