Günther Josten joined the Luftwaffe in January of 1940, and after training was transferred to the Jagdgruppe Drontheim on 1 November 1941. While serving there, Josten was tasked with defending German ships anchored in the Norwegian fjords from RAF attacks, and providing escort for bombers attacking Allied convoys in the North Sea.

At the end of August 1942, he was sent to Jesau and posted to 3./JG 51, with his new unit, I./JG 51, having arrived at Jesau in the middle of the month. Here they replaced their rather worn-out and by this time obsolete Bf 109 F-1 and F-2 aircraft for the Focke-Wulf 190 A.

No less than 43 Fw 190 A-1, A-2 and A-3 types were taken over by the unit. During early September, flight training on the new type was continued in Jesau before the order to relocate the Gruppe to the Eastern Front. On 10 September the unit was moved to the east, flying over Riga and Rjelbitzi and arriving the same day at Ljuban, I./JG 51's new base of operations. A total of 36 machines had arrived by the evening.

The I. Gruppe was subordinated to the Stab/JG 54, and tasked with protecting the air-space above the northern sector of the Eastern Front. They flew their first missions on 21 September over Luga, until eight days later when the unit flew along the Newa River and conducted fighter sweeps in the Leningrad and Dubovka areas. Here I./JG 51 would claim their first victory flying the Fw 190, when their Gruppenkommandeur, Hptm. Krafft, shot down a I-16 for his 62nd Abschuss.

Uffz. Günther Josten however, would not claim his first victory until this day, on 23 February 1943 by downing a Il-2 northeast of Zhizdra during the early morning hours. Then followed another Il-2 a month later, on 22 March. His first fighter, a La-5 would fell before his guns on 28 May east of Oryol.

It was not until the summer months of 1943, that he would start to score numerous victories, four of them during June. It was not until the Germans launched their offensive Unternehmen Zitadelle, on 5 July, that Jostens scoring really took off. His first during the offensive was clammed on 10th. a MiG-3 followed by a Il-2 and Pe 2 in a later midday mission over the frontline. One more abschuss of a Il-2 followed the next day. However on the 13th he would file claims for another six VVS aircraft, five that later was confirmed.

During the rest of the month he claimed an additional 10 abschusse, thereby reaching a total of 25 confirmed victories. Promoted to Feldwebel Josten would amassed another 30 in August. In September 1943, Josten would repeat his successes by downing another 26 VVS aircraft. Among these, he was able to score several multiple victories, seven kills on the 7th and another eight on the 15th, his 71st to 78th Abschüsse.

After reaching 82 victories, Josten was posted to Furstenfeldbrück, where he served as an instructor until he returned to the Eastern Front on 5 February 1944. Oblt. Günther Josten would file his final confirmed victory, a Yak-3 on 26 April 1945 for his 178th abschuss. T

he original factory-applied camouflage with completely over sprayed with an indistinct Ostfront pattern of medium and dark green, and of top of that an wth winter overspray. Not also dirty and rundown appearance on this old Focke Wulf, surely Justen had to take over a tired machine as a newly hatched pilot.

This caption is one of the twenty written by me during the week, by others most of the Fw 190 captions for are now written. I will continue writing the first Fw 190 A-8s captions during next week. Please note this text is provisional and should be tweeked during the process of finishing this the newly renamed Profile Book No 14.

Regarding Profile Book No 14. A book I will writing the profile captions for during the following five weeks. Unfortunatly I have to pospone the Profile Book about the JG 52, and instead published book No 15 as Book No 14 as my next profile book in June this year.

Includes in the Profile Book No 14, the reader would find, Four Bf 109 A and B:s, 17 Bf 109 Emils, 27 Bf 109 Fs, 23 Bf 109 Gs, and another 13 late war Bf 109 Gs including K-4s. When it comes to the Focke Wulfs: 30 Fw 190 A-1 to A-8 would be included and seven Fw 190 Doras, another late war Fw 190 prototyp, one He 162, and another Me 163, This together with a Macchi 202 flown by Marseille. Finally, four Me 262 and a captured P-51B Mustang is included.