Ainring was only twelve miles from Berchtesgarten and was used by Hitler and Goering when visiting the Berghof. Built as a civil airfield in 1933 Ainring was a base for the German Institute for Gliding (DFS) and had a wide variety of aircraft ranging from transports to helicopters. In early May Ainring was discovered by Americans of the 414th AFA Bn, soon the war would be over.
Jagdverband 44 or JV 44 as it was known was formed in February 1945 by Generaleutnant Adolf Galland and flew the Messerschmitt Me262A-1a. This new unit became known as 'Galland's Zirkus' (Galland's Circus) and was formed of sixty one pilots, many of whom Galland trusted and had personally selected.
The Me262 was known to be vulnerable to attack during take off and landing, Galland had seen Focke Wulf Fw190Ds of III./JG 54 provide top cover for Kommando Nowotny (the first Me262 unit) and decided that an airfield protection flight should be formed for JV44. To prevent friendly fire incidents the underside of all the Fw190D-9s were painted red with narrow white stripes making them more visible to antiaircraft batteries and recognisable to the Me262 pilots.
Initially JV44 was based at Munchen-Riem but when it was heavily bombed they moved to Ainring airfield located in the southern German Alps. |
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