majority of its units were airborne. Its 401 Squadron was readying for take-off when JG 6 appeared. Most of the German pilots had failed to notice the airfield, concentrating on keeping formation at low altitude. 401 Squadron scrambled. Some of the German fighters were authorised to engage, while the main body continued to search for Volkel. Stab., and II./JG 6 stumbled on another strip at Helmond, which contained no aircraft. Several German pilots believed it to be Volkel and attacked, losing several of their number to ground fire. II./JG 6 suffered severely from Spitfire and Tempests based at Helmond. Very little damage was done at Heesch or Helmond. All four Gruppen failed to find Volkel and its Hawker Tempests remained untouched. The only success JG 6 had was I./JG's erroneous attack on Eindhoven, which claimed 33 fighters and six medium bombers. Like Volkel, Helmond and Heesch had escaped damage. In the dogfights over Helmond, JG 6 claimed six victories. In fact, only two Spitfires were shot down and one badly damaged. Only one further fighter, a Hawker Typhoon, was shot down. Stab./JG 6 lost the Kommodore, Kogler, as a prisoner of war. Of I./JG's 29 Fw 190s, seven were lost and two damaged; of II./JG 6's 25 Fw 190s, eight were destroyed and two damaged; III./JG 6 lost 12 out 20 Bf 109s. In total, JG 6 lost 43% of its strength and suffered 16 pilots killed or missing and seven captured. As well as Kogler, one other commanding officer was lost—Gruppenkommandeure Helmut Kühle. Three Staffelkapitane were lost: Hauptmann Ewald Trost was captured, Hauptmann Norbert Katz was killed and Lothar Gerlach was posted missing, presumed killed. Commanding officers Geschwaderkommodore Oberstleutnant Johann Kogler, July 1944 – 1 January 1945 Major Gerhard Barkhorn, 16 January 1945 – 10 April 1945 Major Gerhard Schöpfel, 10 April 1945 – 17 April 1945 Major Richard Leppla, 17 April 1945 – 8 May 1945 Gruppenkommandeure; I./JG 6 Hauptmann Willi Elstermann 1 November 1944 – 2 February 1945 Major Otto Bertram, February 1945 – May 1945 II./JG 6 Hauptmann Willi Elstermann July 1944 – 31 August 1944 Hauptmann Johannes Naumann 1 September 1944 – 30 March 1945 Hauptmann Günther Weyl – May 1945 III./JG 6 Hauptmann Theodor Weissenberger, 14 October 1944 – 24 November 1944 Major Helmut Kühle, November 1944 Hauptmann Kurt Müller, 21 January 1945 – 4 April 1945 References Citations Bibliography See also Organization of