Me 262 B-1a/U1 Red 8

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Focke Wulf 190 A-7 / R11 Green 5 N of JG 300

An account of Lt. Karl Schick flying Green 5 N on March 24./25. 1944 can be found in Lorant & Goyat, Jagdgeschwader 300 Wilde Sau, Vol.1, p. 154. K. Schick of 5./ JG300 was acting as radio liaison officer in the operations room in Rheine and got airborne in a Fw 190 A-7 with FuG217 Neptun against Royal Air Force bombers targeting Berlin that night.

His aircraft Green 5 N, Werknummer 340292, was lost after he collided with a Lancaster, Lorant ditto, p. 351. According to the tactical number color, the aircraft he used this night was likely regularly assigned to JG300 Geschwaderstab. Although Lorant lists Schick´s opponent as successfully destroyed aircraft, no such reference can be found in John Foreman´s Luftwaffe Night Fighter Combat Claims book.

No picture of Green 5 N is known.

The letter "N" after the tactical number was used by JG300 in early 1944 by various aircraft:
  • Red or Yellow 1 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-7 / R11, Lt. Klaus Bretschneider 6./ JG300, Lorant ditto, pp. 157, 161, see also Lt. Klaus Bretschneider´s Focke Wulf 190 Nachtjäger
  • Red 3 or 8 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-6, 6./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 156
  • Black 1 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-5, WNr. 52618, 6./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 350
  • Red 2 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-5, WNr. 1231, 5./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 351
  • Red 20 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-5, WNr. 52553, 5./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 352
  • Yellow 5 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-8, WNr. 170033, 6./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 353
  • White 4 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-6, WNr. 550879, 4./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 353
  • Yellow 5 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-7, WNr. 430645, 5./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p .354
  • Red 3 N, Focke Wulf 190 A-6, WNr. 470078, 4./ JG300, Lorant ditto, p. 354
It seems as if only II. Gruppe of JG300 made use of the letter N - allegedly for Nacht - on their aircraft. II./ JG300 had only Focke Wulf 190 assigned.

Open to interpretation is why the colors of tactical numbers and the Staffel assignment in various instances do not match: officially 4. Staffel was white, 5. Staffel was red, 6. Staffel was yellow, and green was used by Geschwaderstab.