On 31 August 1943 the Kommandeur of II./JG 52 Hptm. Helmut Kühle left the Gruppe for new assignments. His place was filled by Hptm. Gerhard Barkorn who had arrived to the stab JG 52 already on the 26 August when Hptm Wiese returned to duty taking over the first Gruppe from Barkhorn.

By that date Barkhorn had amassed a total of 162 confirmed victories after string of successes during the month when he managed to increase his tally from 138 to 162, a total of 24 victories.

Arriving to the second Gruppe he had three very experience Staffelkapitäns, Lt. Heinrich Sturm (41) of the 4th, Oblt. Wilhelm Batz (15 kills) of the 5th and Oblt Heinz Schmidt (169 Kills) commanding the 6th.

Included in the II./JG 52 we also find other high scoring pilots like Fw. Waldmann (84), Fw. Fönnekld (49), Fw. Sachenberg (32), Fw. Hoffmann (30), Lt Kurz (22), Uffz. Düttmann (18), all formidable adversaries, or as the Soviets called them "flying wolfs".

The Gruppes first major action under their new commander was on 5 September when the pilots manage to file claims for a total of 14 victories. Barkhorn taking off in his "Double Chevron 5" shot down a La-5 at 10:55, followed by another at 11:05, they were his victories no 165-166.

However the day was also filled with tragic as the Gruppe top scorer, Lt. Schmidt after downing two adversaries, thereby reaching 173 victories was shot down and killed in his "Yellow 7" by one of his own pilots.

To sum up the month battle of September the Kommandeur Gerhard Barkhorn would increase his score by another 15 Soviet aircraft reaching a total of 177 Abschuss.

This Erla built Bf 109 G-6 that Barhorn battle out in during September is one of the best documented aircraft in the Luftwaffe, the high quality images taken by a photographer from Luftwaffe War Reporter Company 8 on 8 September 1943.

Please note that during the last week I have been able to make six new profiles, all of them should be included in one of my upcoming Luftwaffe Fighters Profile Books Numbered 16 to 19.