Anti bomber pilots, in defense of the Reich. Part 3

Messerschmitt Bf109G of Major Walther Dahl's III./JG 3 undergo enginbe maintanance at Leipheim in March 1944. The aircraft in the features a typical spinner spiral and the white fuselage band of the Geschwader, as well as the black vertical bar of III. Gruppe

Fw190 'Yellow 13' prepares o start up at Störmede in the spring of 1944. It is believed that this aircraft may have been one of those flown by Hauptmann Rüdiger Kirchmayr, Staffelkapitän of5./JG 1 and victor over 14 four-engined bombers

Anti bomber pilots, in defense of the fallen idea of a madman. Part 2

Hitler's obsessive thinking about the bomb hit a British city, didn't allow to focus on the defense of their own country. Those pilots in the second half of the war, were doomed, but always showed, unquestionable usefulness of fighter units and high qualifications of the Luftwaffe staff.

Messerschmitt Bf109 G6/R of 12./JG3 fitted  with loaded underwing 21 cm WGr mortar tubes photographed at San Severo, in central Italy, in August 1943

Know your enemy -  under the Mediterranean sun, Sicily-based Germn fighter pilots receive open air instruction on how to attack a B-24 in 1943