The I./Jagdgeschwader 21.
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 3:51 pm
Hello to all ; taking advantage of several articles that fell into my hands .......................
The Messerschmitt Bf-109 D.
The D-1 (code name 'Dora') was the first important production model of the fighter Messerschmitt Bf-109. Originally it was intended that the Bf-109 D be equipped with the Daimler-Benz DB 600 engine, a newer and more powerful engine than the Junkers Jumo 210 engines used in the first models, but the DB 600 was scarce, so the old motor continued to be used in D series.
The D-1 as eventually came to be produced was therefore very similar to the machines of the previous C series. The 109 D was armed with four MG-17 machine guns, two on the wings and two on the top of the engine cowling. The Bf-109D-1 had a short lifespan. Its production started in the spring of 1938. The production was fast: in August, it constituted almost half of the 643 first-line fighters of the Luftwaffe. At the end of October, almost 600 Bf-109 D-1 were in active service.
When the war broke out in September 1939, only 235 D-1 remained in the first line units. Two units were equipped with Messerschmitt Bf-109 D, the I./JG 21, commanded by Hptm. Martin Mettig, subordinate to the Luftgaukommando I (Ostpreußen) in the north, and the I./ZG 2 under Hptm. Johannes Gentzen, part of Fliegerführer z.b.V., in the south.
The Jagdgeschwader 21.
After a creation order issued on June 24, 1939, the Jagdgeschwader 21 was formed on July 15, 1939. This creation was linked to a reorganization of the I./JG 1 to which it was still subordinated at the beginning. This fighter group, the I./JG 21 (eventually there will only be one "Gruppe" throughout the existence of the Fighter Wing) was established for the first time in Jesau (province of Königsberg - East Prussia, today the Russian city of Juschny, near Kaliningrad), hence the "Jesau Cross" ("Jesau Kreuz") carried by the planes and which will be kept throughout the conflict even when the units were dissolved and incorporated into another Fighter Wing as the JG 54.
In anticipation of the impending conflict with Poland, the I./JG 21 moved on July 24, 1939 to an airfield in East Prussia further south, near the Polish border, located in Gutenfeld (today: Lugowoje, near Kaliningrad , Russia).
Sources: Messerschmitt Bf 109 A-D. Kagero 44
Messerschmitt Bf 109 C / D in the Polish Campaign 1939. Kagero Air Battles 13.
Le I. / JG 21 pendant la campagne de Pologne et la "drôle de guerre". Collection Histoire des Unités n ° 05.
Luftflotte I 1939. Kagero.
Cheers. Raúl M .
The Messerschmitt Bf-109 D.
The D-1 (code name 'Dora') was the first important production model of the fighter Messerschmitt Bf-109. Originally it was intended that the Bf-109 D be equipped with the Daimler-Benz DB 600 engine, a newer and more powerful engine than the Junkers Jumo 210 engines used in the first models, but the DB 600 was scarce, so the old motor continued to be used in D series.
The D-1 as eventually came to be produced was therefore very similar to the machines of the previous C series. The 109 D was armed with four MG-17 machine guns, two on the wings and two on the top of the engine cowling. The Bf-109D-1 had a short lifespan. Its production started in the spring of 1938. The production was fast: in August, it constituted almost half of the 643 first-line fighters of the Luftwaffe. At the end of October, almost 600 Bf-109 D-1 were in active service.
When the war broke out in September 1939, only 235 D-1 remained in the first line units. Two units were equipped with Messerschmitt Bf-109 D, the I./JG 21, commanded by Hptm. Martin Mettig, subordinate to the Luftgaukommando I (Ostpreußen) in the north, and the I./ZG 2 under Hptm. Johannes Gentzen, part of Fliegerführer z.b.V., in the south.
The Jagdgeschwader 21.
After a creation order issued on June 24, 1939, the Jagdgeschwader 21 was formed on July 15, 1939. This creation was linked to a reorganization of the I./JG 1 to which it was still subordinated at the beginning. This fighter group, the I./JG 21 (eventually there will only be one "Gruppe" throughout the existence of the Fighter Wing) was established for the first time in Jesau (province of Königsberg - East Prussia, today the Russian city of Juschny, near Kaliningrad), hence the "Jesau Cross" ("Jesau Kreuz") carried by the planes and which will be kept throughout the conflict even when the units were dissolved and incorporated into another Fighter Wing as the JG 54.
In anticipation of the impending conflict with Poland, the I./JG 21 moved on July 24, 1939 to an airfield in East Prussia further south, near the Polish border, located in Gutenfeld (today: Lugowoje, near Kaliningrad , Russia).
Sources: Messerschmitt Bf 109 A-D. Kagero 44
Messerschmitt Bf 109 C / D in the Polish Campaign 1939. Kagero Air Battles 13.
Le I. / JG 21 pendant la campagne de Pologne et la "drôle de guerre". Collection Histoire des Unités n ° 05.
Luftflotte I 1939. Kagero.
Cheers. Raúl M .