Sunday, April 17, 2022

Pilots of I./JG 26 with Their New Leather Outfit

 

A picture which showing the heavy losses of fighter units in the "Reichverteidigung" (Defence of the Reich). Taken early October 1944, it shows pilots of I.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) with their new leather outfits in front of the Kommandantur of Krefeld airfield. Of these twelve men only four would survive the war, the other eight would be killed in the eight months until the end of the war. In the first row from left to right: Feldwebel Freiberger (1. Staffel, wounded as Oberfeldwebel on 10 December 1944 in combat with P-47 near Holzhausen / Neuß, died of his wounds on 2 April 1945); Unteroffizier Emil Brühan (1. Staffel, wounded on 25 February 1945 during a belly landing 2 km north-east Ladbergen because of engine failure; died of his wounds on 2 March 1945); Unteroffizier Heinrich Herbster (3. Staffel, wounded on 31 March 1945 by Flak near Lüdinghausen, bailed out and survived); Oberfähnrich Wolfgang Franz (3. Staffel, killed on 26 March 1945 in combat with Tempest near Lengerich); Unteroffizier Wilhelm Düsing (2. Staffel, wounded on 19 March 1945 in combat with P-5I near Osthevern, bailed out and survived), Unteroffizier Hermann Bischoff (without leatherjacket: 2. Staffel, missing in action on 23 December 1944 after combat with Marauder and P-47 south-west of Bonn); and Gefreiter Edwin Zuhaiko (3. Staffel, missing in action on 23 December 1944 after combai with Marauder and P-47 south-west of Bonn). Back row from left to right: Unknown (with pipe), Leutnant Hans-Hermann Krieger (1. Staffel, survived), Unteroffizier Ludwig Sattler (1. Staffel, missing in action on 26 December 1944 with 4./IG 26 after combat with P-51 in area Liege-Aachen), Oberfähnrich Heinrich Vandeweerd (3. Staffel, wearing Eisernes Kreuz I.Klasse, killed in action on 25 February 1945 near Sendenhorst in an accident); and Unteroffizier Heinz Meiss (killed in action on 13 March 1945 as member of 7./JG 26 in combat with Spitfire near Unna.

Source :
"Luftwaffe im Focus" Edition No.1 - 2002

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