were Luftwaffe pilots sanctioned to bale out to avoid the P-51s in the air battles over Germany?

  In a post over on ww2aircraft.net, Jay Stout author of  'The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe' mentions that from the details given in USAF encounter reports, Luftwaffe pilots, once cornered, often abandoned their fighters even before they were fired on. Late in the war this certainly was not a bad idea from a practical perspective as it was much easier to produce a new aircraft than it was to produce a new pilot. But was this practice officially sanctioned or encouraged by the Luftwaffe leadership? From the history of JG 300, the leading Geschwader in the defence of the Reich, there is some insight into this practice, although only detailed specifically in relation to one sortie during 1945.

On 2 March 1945 a powerful American 8th Air Force formation of some 1,232 four-engine bombers protected by 723 fighters headed for fuel plants and tank factories at Böhlen, Magdeburg and Ruhland. The Gruppen of JG 300 were airborne from Borkheide, Löbnitz, Jüterbog and Reinsdorf between 09:05 and 09:40.  Over the target area weather conditions forced some 660 Fortresses of the 1st and 3rd Air Divisions to divert to their secondary targets, Chemnitz and Dresden. Shortly after 10:00, east of Dessau, numerous German fighters were sighted converging to mount an attack on the B-17s of the 3rd Air Division. The 42 Mustangs of the 353rd FG, escorting the two leading groups of the 3rd AD, were able to fend off some of the Bf 109s but were unable to prevent II./JG 300 from closing with the bombers. Led by Ofw. Rudi Zwesken, the Sturmjäger flew a massed formation pass against two boxes of B-17s at 7,000 meters altitude between Wittenberg and Jüterbog. Unhindered by enemy fighters, the 31 Focke-Wulf 190 A-8s and A-9s closed on the Boeings with a slight height advantage, peeling away under the bombers following their firing passes, some of them having exhausted their munitions. Three B-17s were shot down, three more were eventually listed as missing.

Ofw. Rudi Zwesken, Verbandsführer 6. Staffel, knocked down two Boeing B-17s in less than five minutes. He lined-up on a third but broke off after exhausting his munitions. Over the radio he instructed his wingmen to avoid combat with American fighters. Although no more than hearsay, at this stage of the war  Zwesken followed one golden rule during this late war period which he often repeated to his young comrades  - “better to be a live parachutist than a dead pilot”. On this sortie he followed his own advice. As he saw Mustangs slide in behind his fighter, he baled out of his Fw 190 A-8 before the P-51s had the chance to open fire and plummeted several thousand metres before pulling the ripcord. Two of his 6. Staffel pilots took similar action. Abandoning a still intact fighter aircraft a year previously would have rendered its pilot liable to an immediate court martial charge. But during the last months of the war in the Defence of the Reich the circumstances behind a bale-out no longer warranted any form of investigation. Thus Ofw. Rudi Zwesken, Uffz. Erich Weisbrod and Fw. Ewald Preiß (6. Staffel) did not have to explain away their actions. And of course in Zwesken's case there were practical considerations - he had no ammo left after flying a firing pass against three B-17s, claiming two of them shot down. In fact this sortie would see the last II./JG 300 victories achieved against 8th Air Force four-engine bombers.

Below; Fw 190s of 6. and 7. Staffeln at Löbnitz in early 1945. Note the blue/white/blue Reichsverteidigung or Reich's defence bands which appeared on II./JG 300 Fw 190s during December 1944. An analysis of wrecks retrieved in Czechoslovakia indicates that the blue/white/blue bands were adopted between the raids of 14 and 21 December 1944.

Fw 190 & Bf 109 Emil - Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection Luftwaffe Day August 2011

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spookythecat/6022687921/in/photostream/

"...Saturday, August 6, 2011 was a historic day in aviation history as the worlds only flying original Focke-Wulf 190 flew in formation with one of only two airworthy Messerschmitt Bf-109 E-3s. The Focke-Wulf 190A-5 features its original BMW motor and was restored to the exact condition it was in during its service in World War Two. This was the first time these two aircraft were in the sky together since WWII. Both of these aircraft belong to Paul Allen's Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington, home of the flying warbirds.." 

A single click to view these great videos here

The full story of Fw 190 A-5 WNr. 1227 'white A' is here

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/02/flying-heritage-collection-fw-190-a5.html

Fw 190 profile artwork Paint Simmers Workshop

A sample of some of the excellent work produced by  'Jesters Ink' from the Paint Simmers Workshop

http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/f29-aircraft-profile-painting/closing-fw190-anton-3353/index2.html

Note the colour photo of the Fw 190 horizontal stabiliser retrieved from a JG 1 wreck in France reproduced at the link above is taken from this blog..more here

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/05/fw-190-colours.html

Fw 190 A-4 'brown 8' of 3./JG 54 on the Russian Front in the field applied two-tone green upper surface 'splinter' scheme favoured by this unit during the spring/summer 1943. From Fw 190 Aircraft in Detail SAM 24/09 Nov 2002 article by Neil Page

Walter Loos successful Ta 152 pilot JG 301 and Sturmjäger JG 300 - the case of the 'smoking' log book. Fw 190 Defence of the Reich

It is very difficult to do an accurate write up on Walter Loos' war time career- the basic stuff you can get off Wikipedia, although even that short entry contains a certain amount of dubious information. After flying training he was sent to III./Jagdgeschwader 3 in January 1944. He achieved his first victory in the huge aerial battle over Berlin on 6 March 1944, when he claimed a USAAF B-17 Flying Fortress shot down. Later he was transferred to IV. (Sturm)/JG 3 and was apparently posted to Jagdgeschwader 300 in June 1944 and flew as Walther Dahl's wingman in the Geschwaderstab from July 1944 to early December 1944. On 29 September was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold, an award that was usually the precursor to the RK. In early December 1944 Loos was posted to undertake instructing duties with Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost. Loos then returned to combat duty in early 1945 with JG 301.With this unit he flew the FW Ta 152 for the first time at Soltau-Hannover. And according to photocopies of his Flugbuch in circulation, Loos  claimed four victories over Russian Yaks around Berlin in the last days of the war flying the Ta 152. On 20 April 1945 Walter Loos was awarded the Ritterkreuz for 36 victories. Walter Loos flew 66 combat missions and is credited with 38 confirmed victories and 8 unconfirmed. 30 aircraft were claimed on the Western Front, including 22 four-engined bombers. He himself was shot down nine times.
One of the leading authorities on Loos' units, JG 300 and JG 301, is French historian J-Y Lorant who interviewed many former pilots and personnel of both Geschwader during the 70's and 80's. Re-examining the documentary sources that he has collected over the decades for JG 301 a few years ago he concluded that there was some discrepancies concerning 'claims' and 'victories' obtained at the controls of the revolutionary late war Ta 152. This is perhaps not at all surprising given the chaos and confusion at war's end. For the record Reschke in his 'history' of JG 301 states that on 24 April 1945 engagements with Yak 9's during the final throes of the Battle of Berlin resulted in four Yak 9's being shot down. In poor visibility, two were claimed by himself and two by Obfw. Walter Loos (in "Green 4"). The Stabsschwarm lost Hptm. Hermann Stahl and his Ta152 that day. However the point of this is that when interviewed in the late 1970's Walter Loos stated that he had no victories - not a single enemy fighter claim - while flying the Ta 152. In the context of the combats that supposedly took place on 24 April 1945 this is a startling piece of info - at least for readers of Reschke's account. However Loo's claim is apparently supported by reference to the personal diary of Fhr. Ludwig Bracht written during March-April 1945 and the letters of Uffz. Rudi Driebe. Incidentally other thus-far-unpublished JG 301 documentary sources indicate that Stahl was shot down and killed on 11 April 1945. Ofw. Josef Keil was flying as his wingman that day. And despite Jeff Ethell's account in his Monogram Close Up - Archie Hagedorn never flew the Ta 152 in combat. The 'problem' with Loos may lie with versions of his Flugbuch that are in circulation - a version of the final page of his logbook that has circulated only shows flights 860 to 880 and also shows amendments in the form of sections pasted over each other. However there does apparently exist an 'untainted' copy although I have not personally seen it. As to his Ta 152 claims, they can only be described as 'unsubstantiated'.

Another 'problem' with Loos's Flugbuch is that Loos does not appear to have flown with JG 300 after 4 December 1944. This is problematic because Loos figures prominently as a witness in many of Kommodore Dahl's claims from late 1944 to early 45, when Dahl was supposedly still flying with Stab/JG 300. Evidence perhaps that many of Dahl's claims during this period were bogus, or he flew alone and had no witnesses! Considering the questionable nature of some of Dahl's "victories", such as on 5 December 1944, it would seem that the former was more likely. On 5 December for example, Dahl listed Loos as a witness, but Loos' last flight with JG 300 was the day prior, 4 December, before he was posted out as a flight instructor. His logbook shows no flights on 5 December 1944 and indeed, none between 4 December and 16 December 1944.

Of course most Flugbücher contain errors and omissions. It is not my intention to 'slander' Loos. Not only was he there, he has earned his place in aviation history as a rare front-line pilot to fly combat sorties at the controls of the Ta 152. As a small tribute - despite the factual errors therein - I offer a previously untranslated wartime newspaper report which was reproduced in a 1988 issue of Jägerblatt;

" War reporter Walter Henkels spent 11 April 1944 with the Sturmgruppe Udet  - the date of Walter Loos 21st birthday and recorded his impressions under the title 'Pauke-Pauke '.......... 

"..Feldwebel Walter loos is 21 years old today. Reason enough to open up a bottle of Oppenheimer Goldberg. Because in Oppenheim am Rhein, his home town, they know about fine vintages and you are only 21 once! But he won't be telling his comrades about this important day - because the Staffelkapitän has ordered that no one flies on their birthday and the weather forecast already seems to suggest that there will be a sortie today. The sky is the only invitation on offer today ...barely an hour has past before news of an incoming raid is announced. The Gruppen get airborne, form up and then climb to meet the enemy as ordered. Below them through the morning haze lies their land, where their parents, wives and children live ..in among the bombed out towns and cities. Have Feldwebel Loos parents not been bombed-out in Oppenheim? A voice through the headset,  " Four-engine bomber formation to our left.." Feldwebel Loos has seen them too, glinting in the sunlight, bomber Pulks drawn up in tight formation. Nobody will mention that their hearts are now beating a little faster or talk of that feeling in the pit of their stomachs or that their knees have started to tremble. But Feldwebel Loos can not forget that today is his birthday - today will be his lucky day. Suddenly, but as expected, the Kommodore's voice comes over the radio " Pauke, Pauke " The order for the Sturm attack .. the combat lasts just seconds, fractions of a second and just one word "him or me". The Fortress IIs loom up in the windshield like giants. It may be  - since he no longer recalls exactly - that he shouted the hunter's cry 'Horrido' into the throat mike. Nor does he know how he managed to fight off the "Mustang" with which he was caught up in a wild dogfight at 8,000 metres altitude. Soaked in sweat, limbs still trembling, he climbs down from his trusty Fw 190. " My birthday was a day of good fortune" he smiled inwardly as he was congratulated by his comrades and his Staffelkapitän. And the bottle of Oppenheimer that he had brought back from home for this very purpose - well, that was opened after all..." 

Owinni28 Ebay sales Me 109 Emil Jabo JG 52 Gilze-Rijen Holland

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/0winni28/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

Luftwaffe modelling - 1/48th DML Ju88 G-1 nightfighter

First posted on britmodeller.com and completed just in time for the US IPMS Nationals in Nebraska is Jim Root's superb 1/48th DML Ju 88 G-1 nightfighter finished in the markings of the 7./NJG 2 Ju 88 G-1 that landed at Woodbridge, Suffolk, England on 13 July 1944. More on this at the following link

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/02/karcher-de-icing-equipment-fitted-in.html


Jim's model was built with the addition of Eduard seat belts, Master Model Radar Antenna, Royale Resin Wheels and Master Model Machine Gun Barrels.  My thanks to Jim for kindly allowing me to post his pictures here.
 
Elsewhere a recently restored Junkers Ju 88 G-1 night fighter fuselage WNr 714628 has been put on display in Berlin’s Deutsches Technik  museum.
 
http://falkeeins.blogspot.com/2011/02/junkers-ju-88-g-1-nachtjager-on-display.html
 
 
 

Sturmjäger of JG 300 - Hubert Engst 6./JG 300 - edit

The following images were furnished exclusively for this site via Jean-Yves Lorant, author of the two volume history of JG 300 published by Docavia in France during 2005 - 'Bataille dans le Ciel d'Allemagne'. This series of photos shows Hubert Engst of 6./JG 300 preparing for a spell of cockpit readiness during November 1944. The first photo shows Engst with his wife Elisabeth (and comrade Norbert Graziadei) in front of the pilot's FW 190 Sturmbock 'Yellow 2' W.Nr 682181 and provides a super view of his Lederkombination leather flying suit with the Luftwaffe armband. 

Seen here from left to right, Elisabeth Engst (wife of Hubert Engst), Lt. Norbert Graziadei of 5./JG 300 and Fw. Hubert Engst. Löbnitz airfield, autumn 1944. (Engst via Lorant)

In the third picture below Engst is seen climbing up into the cockpit -note the EZ 42 gyroscopic sight above the instrument panel. Some background info on Hubert Engst might be of interest. The following of Petr Kacha's claims at the Luftwaffe aces web site would appear to any readers of the Lorant/Goyat JG300 history to be highly unlikely - that Engst achieved some twenty victories (there is no evidence for this), that he claimed a Mosquito shot down (no evidence for any Mosquito claim submitted) and that he was awarded the DKiG at the end of the war (he does not appear to have been).

Not unnaturally I will have upset the Czechs and Wolfgang Engst with that ;
http://hloubkari.cz/forum/index.php?topic=1484.135

Note that Wolfgang furnished his father's personal journal to the authors of the JG 300 history along with other papers and an unpublished magazine article written by Hubert Engst during the mid-1960s for East German magazine "Welt der Flieger - Aerosport" - all that is known of Engst is drawn from these sources. Claims at the end of his text that he witnessed Ta 152s flying out of Ainring at the end of WWII are indication enough that it is wise to be cautious with some veteran statements.

Engst was born on 10 November 1921 in Krauschwitz and completed his flying training at JG 110 at Altenburg in late July 1943 prior to being posted to JG Herrmann in late July 1943. Established expressly to take the war to the British bomber streams, Herrmann's Wilde Sau fighters were based at Rheine and Uffz.Engst flew his first combat mission three hours after his arrival at the unit, claiming his first victory, a RAF Stirling four-engine bomber shot down near Wüppertal. The victory was not recognised as his since Engst had not been 'officially' assigned to a Staffel. Engst's own account of his sortie that night appears in Volume I of the JG 300 history and was extracted from the pilot's personal journal. By June 1944, Feldwebel Engst was serving with 5./JG 300. On 21 June, he claimed two USAAF four-engine bombers shot down, recognised as the 20th and 21st victories of 5./JG 300. In June 1944, Engst was transferred to 6./JG 300. On 24 August 1944, he attacked a formation of USAAF B-24 four-engine bombers over the Neuhaus region (Jindrichuv Hradec area) of Bohemia. Engst shot down one B-24 to record his "sixth victory", but his Fw 190 A-8 (W.Nr. 681 361) 'Yellow 7' was damaged by return fire and he was wounded. Once again this victory was never officially ratified. Engst claimed his second 'double' on 27 September 1944 high over Eisenach - however the first of these was also claimed by a flak unit and there is no official trace whatsoever of the second. On 24 December, Engst was shot-down and wounded in aerial combat near Hersfeld whilst flying Fw 190 A-8 (W.Nr. 682 181) 'Yellow 2'. He parachuted clear with a round in his backside and had the scare of his life as he jumped clear of his blazing Focke-Wulf: the left-hand strap of the parachute harness, damaged by the round that had caught him, snapped under the force of the chute deploying. Suspended under the canopy by a single harness strap, Engst endured a terrifying and agonizingly slow descent....

Engst rejoined his Staffel during 1945 and flew sorties to the end of the war. He describes in his journal the rearguard retreat of II./JG 300 through southern Germany during March and April 1945 - an almost ceaseless round of Tiefangriffe strafing sorties against American tank spearheads. He has harsh words for his superiors including his Kommandeur who rarely flew during this period due to 'sickness'. On 9 April 1945 Engst was shot down by US fighters as described by Ernst Schröder in Volume II of the JG 300 history;

" We set out on a heading for Adlholz tucked in alongside each other, a “Rotte” with Hubert leading. Not far from Bayreuth, while we were progressing through a relatively misty sky at one thousand meters altitude, we were set upon by several P-51 D Mustangs. Hubert had not detected them at all. I saw them first, as often happened in such situations. For some reason unknown to me, my comrade did not hear my warning shout in his earphones and continued calmly on track. I saw a well positioned Mustang open fire on Hubert Engst’s 190 as I peeled off to be able to take up the fight without colliding with my Rottenführer! I straightened up and the 190 and its pursuer re-appeared in my field of vision. Hubert took to his parachute, unharmed, in front of my eyes. For a few seconds the Mustang that had just brought him down was framed in my windscreen. A perfect target but I could hardly open fire... my comrade had just bailed out of his 190 a few hundred meters ahead of me and was swinging in my sights as I bore down on him... not a pleasant position to be in! As far as I know, Hubert got off lightly, since all he lost was his 190 and his personal belongings left in his ship..".

Engst was present at Salzburg Ainring during the first days of May 1945 as the rump of JG 300 was ordered to fall back to Prague - Engst personally witnessed the unit's Fw 190 Doras get airborne for the last Verlegung - airfield transfer - of the war. He erroneously describes in his journal the aircraft he saw taking off from Salzburg on 3 May as the latest Ta 152 fighters ! There is no suggestion anywhere in his papers that he was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold. With the kind permission of Wolfgang Engst and Jean-Yves Lorant we hope to bring more from Hubert Engst's journal here soon.. it is perhaps worth bearing in mind that although he might not have achieved more than six or seven confirmed aerial victories Engst was nonetheless an ace - a night fighter and heavy bomber killer caught up - like so many of his comrades - in the terrible drama of bloody battles of the summer of 1944 who - unlike many of his comrades - survived to the end of the war, having witnessed some terrible sights and having lost virtually everything.