|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gunther Kolb | Unteroffizier Gunther Kolb (deceased) Gunther Kolb joined I./JG5 in the autumn of 1944 under the command of Major Weissenberger. A few weeks later, at the end of that year he was posted to join IV./JG5 in norway, where he flew both Me109s and Fw190s on coastal and shipping patrols until the end of the war. |
|
|
|
| Text for the above items : |
Arctic Hunters by Richard Taylor. Occupied by the Germans, by 1942 Norway had become vital to Hitlers war in the East. With the Russians threatening to over-run Finland and attack Norway, the pilots of JG5 were tasked to support German ground forces, and to escort the incessant Luftwaffe attacks on Arctic Convoys from Britain to the vital Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. With such unpredictably harsh weather it was a life or death battle fought under extreme conditions. For the pilots of JG5 - Eismeer, the Polar Sea Group, the sun never set during the long summer months, and due to constant fog and storms it was often impossible for pilots to return to base, often diverting to other airstrips. But their darkest moment came in December 1944 when their Kommodore, Heinrich Ehrler, one of the Luftwaffes most brilliant fighter leaders, was made a scapegoat following the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord. Despite holding the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and nominated for the Swords, he was convicted. High in the Arctic Circle a bitter war of attrition was fought in freezing, unforgiving conditions, the desperate conflict played out against a majestic, awe-inspiring backdrop of beautiful ice-clad mountains. Richard Taylors spectacular painting portrays the Me109s of 6./JG5 led by Oberleutnant Heinrich Ehrler, while based at Petsamo in Finland, as they soar high above the towering peaks of ice capped mountains glistening in the cold polar air, March 1943. Their dawn patrol keeps constant vigil along the glacial fjords of the Norways far-northern coastline, as the majestic vista gives the battle-hardened Me109 pilots a brief moment of tranquility far removed from the grim and bitter battles being fought below. |
Day of the Fighters by Nicolas Trudgian. The pilots of I Gruppe JG-1 were up early on August 17, 1943. It5 was high summer, and even as the first streaks of light appeared in the sky to the east, four pilots got airborne out of Deelan, Holland, and headed for the coast. It was the first routine reconnaissance of the morning. By 0730 German listening services were picking up signals indicating large formations of enemy aircraft assembling to the west of Great Yarmouth, South East England. By 0800 it was clear to the German interceptor fighter groups stationed in Holland that this was going to be no ordinary day. Shortly after 0930 the first wave of a force of some 375 B-17s and B-24s, heavily escorted by fighters, started crossing the Dutch coast south of the Scheldt estuary, their destination Schweinfurt and Regensburg. They were shadowed by the German fighters of 1, 2 & 3 Gruppe along their entire route over Europe. When the Allied fighter escort turned back at the limit of their range, the Luftwaffe fighters made their attack. It was the start of a day of incessant aerial combat which raged all the way across Holland, Belgium and Germany, and all the way back to the coast again as the Americans returned to England. It was one of the longest air-to-air battles of the war and became known by the Luftwaffe pilots as the Day of the Fighters. |
Knight's Move by Robert Taylor The awesome battleship Tirpitz under the command of Admiral Schniewind, in company with battleships Scheer and Hipper, setting sail during Operation Rosselsprung, destined for the open sea and the North Atlantic convoy traffic. Messerschmitt Me109s of JG5, based at Petsamo, provide overhead cover while flotilla escort vessels make up the fearsome armada. The magnificent Norwegian mountains provide a spectacular backdrop this comprehensively realistic and stirring World War Two image. |
|
Contact Details |
|
Sign Up To Our Newsletter!
This website is owned by Cranston Fine Arts. Torwood House, Torwoodhill Road, Rhu, Helensburgh, Scotland, G848LE Contact: Tel: (+44) (0) 1436 820269. Email: cranstonorders -at- outlook.com
|
|
|
