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Bf 109G-4/R-6 W.Nr.14997 KJ+GU Erich Hartmann 7./JG 52
East Front. Kuban. May 1943


Почему-то не вставился весь текст на английском. Поэтому прошу именинника или кто там ещё этим заведует, если возможно, вставить в страницу с загрузкой линк на это сообщение. Может западным комрадам интересно будет, как наши прикладывали «рыцарей» с небес на землю.

«At this time a rare event occurred in the corps, one seldom repeated throughout the war. The deputy commander of the 812th IAP, Kapitan Pavel Tarasov, managed to lead a Bf 109G-4/R6 (Wr. N 14997) to Soviet lines and force it to land. The operational summary of 4th Air Army on this day notes:
"A group of Yak-1 pilots formed a ring around a Bf 109 and forced it to land near Mayskiy, south of Slavyanskaya. The pilot was taken into custody."
Here is what happened. After accomplishing the mission for covering ground troops, Kapitan Pavel Tarasov noticed that a single Bf 109 was below and to the right of his group. Deciding to attack the enemy, Tarasov and a Yak with a black prop spinner quickly came up behind the Messerschmitt. He crowded the German fighter toward the ground, and both fighters led the German toward Soviet territory. Kapitan Tarasov wanted to deliver the captured German fighter to his own airfield, but the Bf 109 attempted to escape several times with energetic maneuvers. On the approach to the Kuban River, in the Slavyanskaya area, the Messerschmitt deviated toward the west, ignoring Tarasovs instructions, conveyed by way of machine gun tracers. Carefully approaching the German fighter so that the pilot could see him, Tarasov instructed him where to land with arm and hand signals—to the left and below. For complete clarity he drew his hand across his throat and gave another warning burst. The German ignored him and Tarasov fired one burst at his tail, after which the German force-landed south of Slavyanskaya in the area of Mayskiy village.
As Tarasov observed, a large crowd of people gathered around the grounded Messerschmitt, while the Yak with the black spinner disappeared in the direction of Novotitarovskaya. They never managed to determine whom it belonged to. Because the spinners of the 812th IAP aircraft were white, it was presumed that it belonged to a 278th IAD regiment.
The captured German pilot turned out to be Uffz. Herbert Meissler from 7./JG52. But the most interesting thing was that the aircraft that had fallen into the hands of the 812th pilots had belonged to Leutnant Erich Hartmann, who by the end of the war had become the leading ace among all warring powers. Just two days before this episode, on 25 May, Hartmann made a forced landing in this aircraft—his fifth over a short period of time. His commander sent him on leave and his fighter, after repair, was given to Meissler. He was captured on his first flight in this aircraft! After the war, returning from captivity, Meissler stated that he made his forced landing because of a "navigation error." But, as they say, "after a fist fight, don't mouth off.»
©Vlad Antipov and Igor Utkin. Dragons on Bird Wings: The Combat History of the 812th Fighter Air Regiment. Kitchener, Ont: Aviaeology / Sky Grid, 2006