When the war began, Uffz, "Toni" Hackl was a fighter pilot in II./JG 77. First, he saw combat over the German Bay in December 1939, and then during the Norwegian campaign in April 1940.

After being appointed Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 77 he took part in Operation Barbarossa. During the battle of Voronezj in July 1942, the Soviets amassed a large aerial force in a desperate attempt to halt the German summer offensive. Hackl shot down 37 VVS aircraft during this time and thereby claimed his 102th abschüsse on 3 August. Finally, on 19 September Hackl downed a LaGG-3 for his 118th kill, his final victory on the Eastern Front.

Thereafter his Gruppe was transferred to the Mediterranean theater. From the fall of 1943 to March of 1944, Hackl was the Kommandeur of III./JG 11 fighting in the Reich defense, facing the USAAF daylight bombing raids. During this period Hackl shot down no fewer than 25 four-engine bombers, reaching a total of 149 victories.

And in February 1945, Hackl took over as Geschwaderkommodore of JG 11 after Jürgen Harder was KIA. During the last ten months of the war, Major Hackl amassed an additional 43 confirmed victories against the western Allies, including 20 in 1945. His last 24 victories were however never officially confirmed, despite gun-camera evidence and so they were not included in his total of 192 kills.

Anton Hackl flew about 1000 combat missions and in the process was himself shot down eight times and wounded another four times. In his total score of 192 abshüssen, were 131 aircraft shot down on the Eastern Front with another 61 victories in Africa and on the Western Front. With his 34 four-engine bombers downed, he is listed as the second most successful "Veirmottöter" (four-engine-killer).

Note the 20 mm cannon gondolas attached under the wings of his G-6, perfect for dealing with the "Veirmots". Note also the 132 Abschussbalken on the white rudder of his Bf 109. The 132nd bar, another B-17, had by this time been painted on but not the 133rd, which is a little strange since he had claimed two B-17s on this date of 11 January 1944.

This profile and caption is taken from my Profile Book No 11, and this Bf 109 G-6 is the 78th profile presented in that book.