FAST COMPANY BY NICOLAS TRUDGIAN

In the closing months of the war, the Allies on the Western and Eastern Fronts forced the Germans back towards their homeland. The Luftwaffe, despite dreadful odds, continued to fight with great tenacity.The fighter pilots were mostly young and barely trained, but were led by the few surviving more experienced ‘experten’ pilots and were often fortunate in the quality of the aircraft they flew. The most numerous and feared by the Allies was the Fw190D-9, or ‘Dora’ as it became known. It was more than a match for all Allied fighters, including the magnificent P-51D Mustang. This fact was brought home on March 19, 1945, when Mustangs of the illustrious 78th Fighter Group lost four of their aircraft to the Dora fighters of IV/JG26.The Mustang pilots had been flying a patrol over Germany from their base at Duxford in England and had first encountered Me109K fighters of IV/JG27. In the frenzied dogfight that ensued, the Mustangs downed twelve of the Messerschmitts. However, they then had the misfortune to run into the path of the Doras of JG26 led by the formidable Oberleutnant Hans Dortenmann in his distinctive yellow-tailed ‘Black 1’. Dortenmann shot down two of the four Mustangs, and a further two were also lost before the 78th could make for home. It was a stark reminder of the D-9’s supremacy and the threat the Luftwaffe still posed.Dortenmann continued to lead his young pilots to the end of the war by which time his total of victories in the D-9 had risen to eighteen, thereby making him the top-scoring ‘Dora’ Ace of the war.THE WARRIOR EDITIONSigned by the artist  Nicolas Trudgian: Erich Rudorffer Knight’s Cross Oakleaves and Swords, Hugo Broch, Knight’s Cross, and Heribert Koller, German Cross in Gold.THE DORA EDITIONSigned by the artist Nicolas Trudgian and eighteen outstanding Luftwaffe Knights Cross Holders and Fw190D-9 AcesHans-Ekkehard Bob Knights Cross, Hugo Broch Knights Cross, Hugo Dahmer, Knight’s Cross, Adolf Dickfeld, Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves, Hajo Herrmann, Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, Heinz Lange, Knight’s Cross, Walther Loos, Knight’s Cross, Maximilian Mayerl, Knight’s Cross, Hermann Neuhoff, Knight’s Cross, Günther Rall, Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, Willi Reschke, Knight’s Cross, Edmund Rossmann, Knight’s Cross, Erich Rudorffer, Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves and Swords, Walter Schuck, Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves, Otto Schultz Knight’s Cross, Günter Seeger, Knight’s Cross, Fritz Seyffardt, Knight’s Cross, and Walter Wolfrum, Knight’s Cross.