On 30 September 1941, the day when the Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 54, Hptm. Arnold Lignitz was shot down in combat with I-153 over Leningrad and listed as MIA. The next day on 1 October Hptm. Reinhard "Seppl" Seiler took over the Gruppe, transferred as the Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 54.

Arriving to his new unit "Sepp" with his 33 confirmed victories under his belt he was one of the most successful Jagdwaffe pilot in the third Gruppe, only followed by Lt. Max-Helmuth Ostermann and Hans-Ekkehard Bob both with 37 kills.

He would start his score in the III Gruppe on 5 October, downing a I-15. And during the winter fighting in the Leningrad area based at Siwerskaya he would add another eight abschusse, the last two was filed on 1 December in two separate missions.

The first a R-10 as downed north of Kobona at 09.55, the next was filed in the afternoon at 14.25 hours, when he downed a I-180 (probably a I-16) southwest of Koretschi for his 42 confirmed victory, thereby leading the Experten race in the Gruppe.

Later during the spring of 1942, he developed and then excelled at hunting at night. During a number of moonlit nights, he scored 16 victories between March and June of 1942.

After a spell on the Channel Front with JG 26, he was back to I./JG 54 and the Eastern Front just in time for the upcoming Kursk battle. On 5 July, the opening day of the offensive, he scored five victories to take his tally to 97.

The following day he scored another two kills. Eager to reach the magic 100, he chased and shot down a P-39 Airacobra of the 30th GIAP. Immediately afterward however, he was himself hit and forced to bail-out over enemy territory badly injured.

He was again lucky, being rescued by German troops and then sent back to the Reich for hospital treatment. Thereafter he was declared unfit for further combat duties.

When the war ended Major Reinhard "Seppl" Seiler had been decorated with the Ritterkreuz with Eichenlaub for his 100 victories, not including his nine in Spain in approximately 500 combat missions.

Seilers machine is interesting, in white winter camouflage and definitely taken over from another pilot in the Gruppe. One could clearly see an overpainted No 1 in front of the fuselage cross and with the 12 black abschussbalken on the rudder, the best guess would be that this machine was previously the crate of Lt. Erwin Leykauf.

This profile was one of five newly made profiles made this week. This machine would be included in one of my upcoming Profile Books.