The Prowl of Jutta depicts Josef “Pips” Priller in the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the fighter with which he became closely associated on the Western Front. Priller flew more than 1,000 combat missions and was credited with 101 aerial victories during the war.
The Fw 190 Relic
The relic associated with the artwork was recovered near a former Luftwaffe airfield in the Frauenburg area, today Saldus, Latvia. No identifying markings have been documented that tie the fragment to a specific aircraft. Based on the location and period, it has been associated with Fw 190 operations in the region, including those of JG 54, but the individual aircraft remains unknown.
Recovered Focke-Wulf Fw 190 material associated with The Prowl of Jutta.
Priller and the Fw 190
Priller spent most of his combat career in the west, fighting RAF and later USAAF aircraft over France, the Channel and Germany. He became an early operational pilot of the Fw 190 and later commanded Jagdgeschwader 26, one of the Luftwaffe's principal fighter units facing the Western Allies.
Josef “Pips” Priller with a Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
D-Day
Priller is particularly remembered for flying a sortie over the Normandy invasion area on 6 June 1944 with another Fw 190. The attack became one of the most frequently retold Luftwaffe episodes of D-Day, although later popular accounts have sometimes embellished its details.
The title The Prowl of Jutta refers to the personal name Priller used on aircraft associated with his wife, Jutta, connecting the artwork to one of the most recognizable Fw 190 pilots of the Western air war.
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