Jagdgeschwader 53 'Pik-As' Bf 109 Aces of 1940 by Chris Goss

Author:Chris Goss
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472818737
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hauptmann Rolf Pingel (centre, facing the camera) transferred to I./JG 26 as its new Gruppenkommandeur on or about 22 August 1940. Seen here just prior to his departure, Pingel is talking to (right) Hauptmann Wolfgang Lippert, Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 53, who departed for II./JG 27 at the start of September, Oberleutnant Ignaz Prestele (far left), who replaced Pingel as Staffelkapitän of 2./JG 53, and, to Prestele’s left, Leutnant Karl Leonhard of 3. Staffel, who survived the war

There were a number of losses too. Feldwebel Christian Hansen of 2. Staffel crash-landed on the Isle of Wight and was captured, and in II. Gruppe Gefreiter Karl Schulz of 6. Staffel ditched south of the Isle of Wight and was rescued unhurt (his second ditching, on 25 October, would result in his death). Feldwebel Fritz Dinger of 6. Staffel also ditched after being wounded, and he too was rescued. Finally, a Bf 109E-1 landed back at Guernsey with combat damage. Fritz Dinger was another ‘Pik-As’ pilot who was relatively unknown in 1940 but who later went on to do bigger and better things. His first success was apparently not until 4 July 1941 over the Soviet Union, but by the time of his death on 27 July 1943 in an air raid on Scalea, in Sicily, he had 64 victories to his name and had been awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold and the Ritterkreuz.

Another day of rest for the Luftwaffe came on 17 August, in preparation for more heavy fighting on the 18th. However, on the latter date, JG 53 was not involved in any way until the afternoon, when it was tasked with escorting Stukas attacking the airfields at Thorney Island and Tangmere, in West Sussex. Just three claims were made, all for 2. Staffel, with one of them being the last for Hauptmann Rolf Pingel (his tenth), as he was posted to command I./JG 26 three days later. This transfer came about as a direct result of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring enforcing the replacement of those fighter leaders who did not meet his ‘exacting’ standards in preparation for the move of all Jagdgeschwader to the Pas-de-Calais.

In JG 26, Major Gotthard Handrick was replaced by Oberstleutnant Adolf Galland as Geschwaderkommodore, Pingel replaced Hauptmann Kurt Fischer and Hauptmann Gerhard Schöpfel took over III./JG 26 from Galland. The only JG 26 Gruppemkommandeur to keep his job (for the time being) was Hauptmann Erich Bode, who had only taken over II./JG 26 on 17 August following the death of Hauptmann Karl Ebbighausen the previous day. There were also a number of other changes at Staffelkapitän level in JG 26. The other Jagdgeschwader, including JG 53, were similarly affected within two weeks. Pingel, who received the Ritterkreuz on 14 September 1940, was subsequently shot down and taken prisoner on 10 July 1941, by which time his victories stood at 21 in World War 2. His place as Staffelkapitän of 2. Staffel was taken by Oberleutnant Ignaz Prestele.

The rest of the month must have been an anti-climax, for there were to be just three more days of activity in August before JG 53 relocated to the east.

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