In the opening pages of “Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front” author John Weal describes the downing of a Russian Pe2 “taking with it Major Grigori Davidenko and observer Major Grashchev – ‘Heroes of the Sviet Union’ both – together with their anonymous gunner” on Tuesday 08 May 1945.

“The two fighters, Fw 190A-8s of II./JG 54, resumed their westward course for Kiel and British captivity. In shooting down the luckless Petlyakov, they had not only both claimed the last of the nearly 9500 victories accredited to their parent Geschwader, as well as undoubtedly one of the very last Luftwaffe kills of all of World War 2, they had also written finis to the saga of the Focke-Wulf fighters on the Eastern Front, a saga that had begun just 32 months earlier, almost to the day.”

It’s strange that although the names of the Russians were given, the names of the two Luftwaffe pilots were not.