Franz Goetz FW 190 D-13 JG 26 May 1945 1/48 Scale Airplane by Carousel 1

Franz Goetz FW 190 D-13 JG 26 May 1945 1/48 Scae Airplane by Carousel 1. Each Airplane comes with a history card of the pilot.

Franz Gb'tz was an enlisted man and fighter pilot in the pre-war Luftwaffe. He began the war with lll./Jagd Geschwader (Hunting Wing) 53 "Pik-As" (Ace of Spades). He gained his first victory in May 1940 during the invasion of France, when he had the rank of Oberfeldwebel (Master Sergeant) and JG 53 was commanded by the Werner Molders (101 victories). Gotz served with JG 53 through their Western European, Russian, Mediterranean, and Home Defense campaigns. He received the Ritterkreuz, or Knight's Cross, and served as Kommandeur of III./JG 53 for two years. On 28 January 1945, Gb'tz's 32nd birthday, he was assigned to replace Josef Priller as Kommodore of JG 26, based at Fiirsternau. Missions v/erefreie Jagd (free hunting) against roaming Allied fighters or strafing attacks on advancing Allied columns. Pilots became exhausted, with no hope but to survive and perhaps do their duty. Replacement airplanes were available until the final weeks, but serviceability was low because of parts shortages and sabotage by slave labor in the factories. With training schools closed, hospitals and disbanded units were the only source of replacement pilots. As JG 26 retreated, each new airfield tended to be more primitive. At war's end, Gotz's D-13 was surrendered to the British at Flensburg, in Northern Germany. The airplane bore a Pik-As emblem from Gotz's service with JG 53, his lucky number "10" painted irregularly, and non-parallel black and white Defense of the Reich bands on the rear fuselage sides and lower surface, but not the top. An unusual mottle pattern was applied over the upper surfaces in two colors of green, probably by JG 26 crew. Undersurfaces have unpainted metal panels resulting from paint shortages at the factories and grauviolett (gray-purple) paint along the lower leading edges to help conceal the airplane on the ground from low flying Allied fighters. This rare Dora-13 differed from the more common Dora-9 in having a 20mm cannon firing through the propeller hub, replacing the pair of cowling-mounted 12.9mm machine guns, as well as a number of different details, the most obvious being a larger supercharger intake. Gotz's airplane became one of only two Doras known to survive the immediate postwar period, and eventually it was acquired by current-owner Doug Champlin. The airplane was restored recently, and is displayed in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.