A PAIR OF ACES.
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Hauptmann Johannes Gentzen, 
Kommandeur of JagdGruppe 102, 
equipped with a Messerschmitt Bf109D at Opeln Airbase, September 1939.

While based at Opeln airbase they were to launch the September offensive against Poland.
By the end of that month the Luftwaffe were to claim as many as 90 Polish aircraft destroyed with JagdGruppe 102 responsible for a huge 72 of them, 28 air to air and the remainder on the ground. Of these, 'Hannes' Gentzen claimed 7 which put him at the top of the list of air to air kills in that month, 

In February of 1942 JagdGruppe 102, now based at Bonn, was re-equipped with the new Bf110c and was renamed to 1/Zg2. Gentzen received a promotion to Major and shot down his 2nd enemy aircraft since the Polish campaign, the much tougher and better aircraft, the Curtis H75A.

By the 26th of May 1940, with his tally at 18, Gentzen and his Fahrenjunker, Oblt Domeier, were scrambled to intercept a flight of British bombers from their base at Neuchateau when they experienced an engine failure in one of their Bf110's engines. Both men were killed on impact. Thus bringing to an end the career of the first Luftwaffe 'ACE' of WW2.


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Edgar James "Cobber" Kain. DFC.
73 Squadron - Metz Aerodrome, France. September 1939.

E.J. Kain, from Hastings in New Zealand (YAAY! My home town!) Joined the RAF in late 1936 and began his training in 1937.
Four days after war was declared, Kain along with fifteen other hurricanes of 73 squadron were moved to France to help delay action by the invading German army. 

 On the 8th of November, he shot down a Do17 reconnaisance plane. He got another on the 23rd and then 3 months of bad weather saw little air activity by either side. On the 1st day of March 1940 Kain was in a dogfight with 2 Bf109's, he shot down one and the other put a cannon shell into his engine, he was forced to GLIDE without power for 30 miles, back to Metz.
He got another Bf109 in late march, and a Bf110 in April. After the 10th of may, with the Blitzkreig in effect, Kaine shot down another 5 enemy aircraft and probably destroyed or damaged another 5.

Again on the 25th of May he shot down a Do17 and an HS126 the next day and then another  Do17 on the 27th.

His last kill came on the 5th of June, a Bf109. On the 7th he was ordered back to England immediately and, on the morning of 8th of June 1940 he took off for the return journey. For some reason he decided to perform some low level aerobatics before departing the area, and during one low pass, he crashed into the ground and was killed.

His final tally was a confirmed 14 kills, but it seems more likely that it was between 15 and 20.

So ended the career of the first Allied 'ACE' of WW2.

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It's fascinating to see the similarity in the glorious careers of these two airmen, who have written their own pages in the history of aireal warfare, and also the apparent similarity of their ignominious demise'.

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This pack is made for EAW using the original HR Hurricane Mk1 from the hand of Col.Gibbon, Moggy took on the challenge of splitting the underside to be painted with the correct black and white colourings. I think they have both done a brilliant job.

The Me 109d was based on the original HR Me109e from Steve T along with his HR cockpit. Once again Moggy took on the challenge of making the 'Emil' into a 'Dora' Messerschmitt by removing the side air intake and creating the lower oil cooler /radiator underneath the nose.

The zip included called D3Dwings.zip, contains the wings for non-glide use, just drop the contents into the same place as the rest of the files, and overwrite any that request it.

I thank all of those who made these great models, they're bloody brilliant!!

Oh, and the painting was done by me!

Any comments and praise is always welcome at SimHQ EAW BB.

Hope you enjoy!  8?)

DeanH
