In late July 1943, the Gruppenkomnadeur of I./JG 52 Hptm. Johannes "Bazi" Wiese fell ill and was forced to relinquish his command. Hptm. Gerhard Barkhorn was called in from 4./JG 52 to assume this position temporally on 4 August 1943.

The Gruppe was based at Charkow-Rogan and during this period Barkhorn flew in two different machines, one marked with a black double chevron and the other coded "White 5". He would claim his first victories as I./JG 52's acting commander on 4 August when he downed two La-5 within half an hour.

Barkhorn was not known as an Experte who scored in daily multiples, in fact his best mission result was four, and his best total for a day was (by Ostfront standards) a meager seven victories.

It was also typical of him to never contest an Abschuss, as several aces are known to have done. In those situations, Barkhorn always "gave away" the claim to another pilot with the laconic comment: "Give those to the poor people!"

The next day, 5 August, he would file another three victories, two Yak-1s and another La-5 all claimed close to Belgorod. One of these he would describe in his own words: "After almost an hour's flying time, in the Belgorod area I engaged a group of Lagg-5s and Yak-1s. A split-S put me in a favorable firing position behind a Yak-1, and after a long burst into its fuel tank it caught fire. The Soviet machine immediately began burning brightly and belching smoke. Seconds later the Yak-1 blew apart and the burning pieces spun down to the ground."

His next four Abschüsse followed on this day, 7 August 1943, when Hptm. Barkhorn would add another four confirmed victories, all fighters, achieved on three separate missions. The first was during the morning hours a Yak-1 downed over Melinowka. The next two, both La-5s, were shot down in the afternoon within seven minutes. The last Abschuss was claimed at 18:32 thereby reaching 149 confirmed victories.

And on 8 August he bagged two Il-2s thereby adding his 150th and 151st. When Hptm. Wiese returned to the front on 30 August, Barkhorn took over the II. Gruppe from Hptm. Kühle as their new Gruppenkommandeur. By this time, he had claimed another 11 victories while posted to the I. Gruppe, all filed while flying in his "White 5".

His other Bf 109 G-6, "Black Double Chevron", was lost on 20 August, when Obfw. Karl "Fuchs" Munz was shot down and wounded in air-combat with Yak-1s southwest of Kuibyschewo. By this time Munz amassed 28 of the eventual 63 confirmed victories he would later reach.

Major Gerhard Barkhorn would record a total of 301 confirmed victories in 1104 combat missions, including over 250 fighters, making him the second most successful fighter pilot in the world, only surpassed by Erich "Bubi" Hartmann.

Note that the side view was published in my Profile Book No 12 as profile No 67, Published in 8 May 2022

Note that the other Bf 109 G-6, "White 5", that he used during this time is to be found in Profile Book No 1, profile No 53.