Who shot down Ofw. Heinrich Bartels?

[Six Nifty .50s]

Heinrich Bartels failed to return on December 23rd, 1944. Apparently he was last seen over the Bonn area during a dogfight with red-nosed P-47s of the 56th Fighter Group. I don't have access to Jochen Prien's work on JG 27 but I have read David McLaren's narrative of the day's events based on USAAF reports, and there is not enough information to determine the name of the mystery pilot who downed Bartels' plane.

56th FG pilots were credited with a total of 32 German aircraft destroyed in the air; all of them were FW-190s, except for ME-109s credited to Lt. Eugene M. Beason (1), Lt. William C. Daley (1), Capt. Felix D. Williamson (1), and Col. David C. Schilling (3). In the confusion of battle it's possible that some ME-109s were misidentified as FW-190s, or vice versa.

Did the aircraft piloted by Heinrich Bartels carry any special markings that one might be able to identify on the gun camera films?

[Juha]

Hello Nifty
according to a drawing in Werner Girbig’s Start in Morgengrauen (1973) Bartels’ G-10 had a lightly coloured rudder with 98 kill bars and Knight Cross with oak leaves painted on it. And a big lightly coloured 13 on sides before side crosses.

On the page on Bartels in http://www.luftwaffe.cz/experten.html one should find a short description on his last flight.

HTH
Juha

[John Beaman]

The drawing in Gerbig's book is speculation. What we know is that Bartels flew a G-10 (13xxxx series) marked yellow 13. No other data is available via photos or doucments. What was discovered about the a/c at the crash site was pieces. There was some yellow paint flecks perhaps indicating that was the "13", although no definitive or partial figures were found.

However, there were no indication or proof that the aircraft had rudder markings or his wife's name (Marga) like his earlier G-6. A wedding band was discovered with the wedding date and "Marga" inside the ring. That makes it pretty sure it was his aircraft, but markings are purely speculative including the style and placement of the gelbe 13.

[Juha]

Thanks John
I have been wondering the rudder, I have thought that it was rather surprising that somebody used that kind of markings so late in the war.

Juha