FAST COMPANY
No 11 Knights Cross Collection
In the closing months of the War, the Allies on the Western and Eastern Fronts forced the Germans back towards their homeland. The Luftwaffe, despite dreadful odds, continued to fight with great tenacity. The Fighter pilots were mostly young and barely trained but were led by the few surviving more experienced 'experten' and were often fortunate in the quality of the aircraft they flew.
Most numerous and feared by the Allies was the Fw190D-9 or 'Dora' as it became known. It was more than a match for all Allied fighters, including the magnificent P-51D 'Mustang'. This fact was pressed home on the 19th March 1945 when Mustangs of the illustrious 78th Fighter Group lost four of their aircraft to the 'Dora's' of IV/JG26.
The Mustang pilots had been flying a patrol over Germany from their base at Duxford in England and had first encountered the Me109K fighters of IV/JG27. In the frenzied dogfight that ensued the Mustangs downed 12 of the Messerschmitts. However, they had the misfortune on their flight home to run into the path of the 'Dora's' of JG26 led by the formidable Oberleutnant Hans Dortenmann in his distinctive yellow-tailed 'Black 1'. Dortenmann shot down two of the four Mustangs lost and a further two were lost before the 78th could make for home. It was a stark reminder of the supremacy of the 'D-9' and the threat the Luftwaffe still posed.
Dortenmann continued to lead his young pilots until the end of the war, by which time his total of victories in the D-9 had risen to 18, thereby making him the top-scoring 'Dora' ace of the war.
The Main 'Dora Edition' is Limited to only 255 Prints worldwide and is Signed by 18 Luftwaffe Fighter Pilots awarded the Knights Cross:-
Gunther RALL - Flew Fw190D-9 with JG300
Erich RUDORFFER - Flew Fw190A with JG54
Hajo HERRMANN - Flew Fw190A with JG300
Adolf DICKFELD - Flew Fw190A with JG2
Willi RESCHKE - Flew the Ta152H with JG301
Walter LOOS - Flew the Ta152H with JG301
Heinz LANGE - Flew Fw190D-9 with JG51
Hugo BROCH - Flew Fw190A with JG54
Hans-Ekkehard BOB - Flew Fw190A with JG51
Hugo DAHMER - Flew Fw190A with JG26
Maximillian MAYERL - Flew Fw190A with JG51
Fritz SEYFFARDT - Flew the Fw190G with SG2
Otto SCHULZ - JG51
Walter SCHUCK - JG5
Hermann NEUHOFF - JG53
Walter WOLFRAM - JG52
Edmund ROSSMANN - JG52
Gunther SEEGER - JG53
The Main REMARQUE Edition was limited to only 10.
Please contact for availability via maue12@virginmedia.com
