When 243 Liberators hit oil refineries near Hitzacker on 25 March 1945, they were met by Me 262s from JG 7 and KG(J) 54. These aircraft duly shot down four bombers and damaged ten more. After a futile 15-minute chase in pursuit of a jet fighter, Capt Raymond H Littge of the 487th FS/352nd FG broke off and began circling the Me 262 airfield at Rechlin instead. Just five minutes later, the jet flown by Oberleutnant Schatzle attempted to land, and Littge set its right engine on fire. The pilot pulled up and bailed out, but his parachute did not open. This final victory made Littge a double ace (352nd FG Association)
The jet fighter was Bostwick’s sixth aerial victory, and he would claim two more kills on 7 April (as well as damaging another Me 262) to finish the war with eight – plus six strafing victories. During this same engagement on 25 March, 2Lt Edwin M Crosthwait Jnr, who was flying as Bostwick’s No 4, scored his only victory of the war when he downed Oberfähnrich Günther Ullrich of 9./JG 7, who was flying Me 262A-1b Wk-Nr 110796. Ulrich had also claimed a B-24 destroyed just prior to his own demise, taking his tally to five victories.
On 30 March, the Eighth Air Force launched a massive raid on the U-boat pens and oil storage tanks in Hamburg, Bremen, Wilhelmshaven and Farge. More than 1300 bombers, escorted by nearly 900 fighters, participated in the operation, and JG 7 scrambled 30 jets to meet the raid. At 1330 hrs over Hamburg, Leutnant Kurt Schnörrer shot down two B-17s and one-armed 64-victory ace Leutnant Viktor Petermann claimed a probable. However, Schnörrer’s fighter was hit by crossfire from the bombers’ gunners, forcing him to bail out. As he left the cockpit Schnörrer struck the jet’s tail, breaking his leg and putting him out of the war for the duration. Schnörrer was a Knight’s Cross winner with 35 victories on the eastern front, and after he took command of 2./JG 7 he became a double jet ace with 11 kills, including nine four-engined bombers.
Pilots from of all three squadrons within the 56th FG pose with one of their beloved Thunderbolts in June 1944. Known as ‘Zemke’s Wolfpack’, the 56th was the only Eighth Air Force fighter group not to convert to the Mustang. During the war, nine pilots from the 56th shot down 5.5 Me 262s and 2.5 Ar 234s, although Maj George E Bostwick, seated fourth from the right, was the only ‘Wolfpack’ jet killer to ‘make ace’ (Peter Randall collection)
Over the next 30 minutes a number of clashes took place between the Me 262s of JG 7 and Mustangs from the 55th, 339th, 352nd, 361st and 364th FGs. The P-51 pilots claimed six jets destroyed (again, none of these aviators were aces) for the loss of a single Mustang, and its pilot, from the 339th.
Approximately 30 minutes after the main action over Hamburg, the 78th FG had just cleared the target area when the group was released to look for targets of opportunity. By this point in the war 14 pilots from 78th’s 82nd and 83rd FSs had shot down ten Me 262s and two Ar 234s, with several falling to the guns of junior officers. Conspicuously absent from the jet victory list was the 84th FS. The group’s CO and veteran ace Lt Col John D Landers led the 78th north towards Kiel, his wingman on this occasion being 2Lt Thomas V Thain Jnr from the 84th. The latter had a single Bf 109 to his credit. Just after 1400 hrs, as the prowling Mustangs neared Rendsberg at 7000 ft, Landers spotted an Me 262 down on the deck. As he bounced the jet, its pilot made a gentle left turn, and as Landers closed the distance the Me 262 completed a 180-degree turn to drag the Mustangs over the flak defences of Rendsburg airfield. As he flew through light and inaccurate flak, Landers fired a burst from 700 yards that struck one of the jet’s engines. When the German pilot attempted another turn, Landers fired again from 400 yards;
‘The ME 262 made a steep left bank and my next burst hit him in the cockpit area. As I overshot, the jet levelled out and started a gentle glide. My wingman, Lt Thain, pulled in behind, hit him solidly with a long burst and overshot. The enemy aircraft continued in this glide, then crashed and burned. The pilot did not get out.’
This shared kill was Landers’ final aerial victory of the war. He had claimed 14.5 aerial and 20 strafing victories whilst flying with three fighter groups – one in the Pacific and two in the ETO. The Me 262 was also the final victory credited to 2Lt Thain, and the only jet downed by the 84th FS.
Maj George Bostwick was already a five-kill ace when he shot down an Me 262 that was taking off from Parchim on 25 March 1945 while flying P-47M-1 44-21160 “Devastatin Deb”. During the same engagement, Bostwick’s No 4, 2Lt Edwin M Crosthwait Jnr, scored his only victory of the war when he shot down an Me 262 from 9./JG 7. Bostwick finished the war with eight victories (Peter Randall collection)
The following day (31 March) four more Me 262s were lost to USAAF fighters, one of which fell to future ace 1Lt Harrison B Tordoff of the 352nd FS/353rd FG over Dessau. He had claimed two aerial and two strafing successes in the P-47 in August-September 1944, after which his unit transitioned to the P-51. Tordoff would ‘make ace’ on 7 April, ending the conflict with five aerial and 4.5 strafing victories.
Two lesser-known units were also credited with single Me 262s on 31 March, namely the P-51-equipped 2nd Scouting Force (1Lt Marvin H Castleberry) and the Ninth Air Force’s 406th FS/371st FG (Capt William T Bales Jnr), flying P-47s.
The final kill recorded on this date went to 1Lt Wayne L Coleman of the 82nd FS/78th FG. On 9 September 1944, then-2Lt Coleman had shot down three Fw 190s in his very first engagement. By 31 March, he been promoted and was now leading ‘Surtax Red’ Flight on an escort mission to Derben. At 1000 hrs, Coleman’s flight, sweeping the target area at 15,000 ft ahead of the bombers, spotted two Me 262s flying on parallel course, but they flew out of range and disappeared. Coleman then saw another jet fighter and went in pursuit of it. After a lengthy chase, during which several flights fired on the Me 262 without effect, the jet disappeared into smoke and haze. Shortly thereafter, Coleman spotted it again at his ‘low ten o’clock’. Performing a split-s manoeuvre, he rapidly closed in on the jet. ‘I fired and observed a great many strikes on the canopy and right jet unit. The Me 262 pulled up slightly and I broke to the left. The jet did a roll to the right and went straight into the ground and exploded’. This was Coleman’s fourth, and final, victory of the war.
CHAPTER FIVE
TO THE DEATH
As the Allies on the western front pushed farther into Germany, they overran many of the Luftwaffe’s jet bases. KG(J) 51 was forced to move east to airfields in Bavaria, namely Munich-Riem, Fürth and Memmingen. General Galland also moved JV 44 to Munich-Riem, while 1./JG 7 departed Kaltenkirchen for Briest, Burg and Oranienburg, over which several intense dogfights would be fought in this final full month of the war in Europe.
The first of these occurred on 4 April, when the Eighth Air Force launched all of its fighter groups and all but one bomb group against airfields across northern Germany, the final bomb group hitting the U-boat pens in Hamburg. The latter mission would elicit the largest response yet from the Me 262s, with close to 50 jets armed with fearsome R4M aerial rockets being sortied. Over the course of an hour they fought a series of simultaneous running battles with Mustangs from the 4th, 339th and 364th FGs of the Eighth Air Force and Thunderbolts from the 1st Tactical Air Force’s 324th FG, during which nine Me 262s and a single Ar 234 were shot down. The victors from the 324th, all from the 316th FS, were 1Lts Andrew Kandis and John W Haun, who each downed an Me 262, and 1Lt Mortimer J Thompson, who shot down the Arado. These were the only jet victories scored by the 324th FG during World War 2.
On 4 April 1945, Lt Col George F Ceuleers, CO of the 364th FG’s 383rd FS, chased an Me 262 for more than 20 minutes in this P-51D-25 (44-72719) before scoring a number of hits. The jet suddenly pitched up and the pilot bailed out and went right over Ceuleers’ left wing. This final victory for Lt Col Ceuleers took his score to 10.5 aerial victories (Peter Randall collection)
On this day, 383rd FS CO Lt Col George F Ceuleers was leading A Group of the 364th FG that was escorting B-17s to the Hamburg U-boat pens. On his way back to England, Ceuleers spotted a formation of B-24s heading into Germany that were
under attack from enemy fighters. He and his flight had a height advantage over the German aircraft, which turned out to be eight Me 262s, and the Mustang pilot pushed the power up to 3000 rpm and 60 inches of manifold pressure before diving after the jets. Ceuleers quickly latched on to an Me 262 and chased it for nearly 20 minutes. Finally, he closed to within 500 yards and fired a few bursts, before firing again at a distance of just 100 yards. This time he saw his rounds hitting home, shortly after which the jet pitched up and the pilot jettisoned the canopy and bailed out, sailing right over Ceuleers’ left wing. The victory proved to be Ceuleers’ last, taking his tally to 10.5 aerial victories (1.5 of them scored in the P-38).
It had been a costly day of combat over Germany for both sides, for although JG 7 had suffered substantial losses to USAAF P-47s and P-51s, the Me 262 pilots had claimed eight Flying Fortresses, two Mustangs, a Liberator and a Thunderbolt destroyed.
JG 7 had claimed nine bombers and three fighters destroyed on 4 April 1945, and the following day JG 7 was credited with the destruction of six more USAAF heavy bombers for the loss of just one Me 262. The latter was claimed by Capt John C Fahringer of the 63rd FS/56th FG, this victory – his fourth and final – being scored at the controls of P-47M-1 44-21160 “Devastatin Deb”. This was the same Thunderbolt that Maj George E Bostwick had been flying when he scored a solitary Me 262 victory on 25 March (Peter Randall collection)
There were far fewer Me 262 sorties flown on 5 April, but the few jets that were up again wreaked havoc on the heavy bombers – no fewer than six B-17s and B-24s were shot down for the loss of just one Me 262 in aerial combat. That morning 53 Thunderbolts of the 56th FG were escorting formations of B-17s to Regensburg when a solitary Me 262 made a pass from ‘three o’clock’ to ‘nine o’clock’ and shot down a Flying Fortress from the 401st BG. The pilot then started a right turn almost immediately in front of ‘Blue’ Flight of the 63rd FS, led by the unit’s Operations Officer, Capt John C Fahringer, in P-47M 44-21160 “Devastatin Deb” – the same Thunderbolt used by Maj George E Bostwick to shoot down an Me 262 on 25 March.
The P-47 pilots jettisoned their tanks and headed down in pursuit. 1Lt Phillip Kuhn fired first, before overshooting, after which Fahringer rolled in on the Me 262’s tail and let it have several bursts to no effect. However, the German pilot then made the fatal mistake of tightening his turn, which allowed Fahringer to close in to lethal range. At 500 yards, he opened up again with his Thunderbolt’s eight 0.50-cal machine guns, and as the smoke began pouring from the jet Fahringer saw something go down the right side of his P-47. It was the pilot of the Me 262. The jet’s demise gave Capt Fahringer his fourth victory, and, frustratingly for him, he would not have the opportunity to ‘make ace’ before war’s end.
A force of nearly 1300 bombers was launched against the jet airfields and marshalling yards in northern and central Germany on 7 April, and although it had been badly battered three days prior, III./JG 7 launched 44 Me 262s and I./KG(J) 54 put up 15 jets. The 479th FG was one of the fighter groups assigned to protect the B-17s and B-24s, its pilots being tasked with escorting bombers to the Duneberg area. 2Lt Hilton O Thompson of the 434th FS was flying as ‘Newcross Purple Three’, his squadron being positioned high and to the left of the lead box of bombers and ‘Newcross Purple’ Flight protecting the northernmost side of the formation farthest away from the lead bombers.
At 1220 hrs Thompson saw six Me 262s, flying in three elements, coming in from ‘nine o’clock’ and heading for the bombers. He attempted to engage the jets but they were quickly out of range. Somehow, Thompson then became separated from his flight and found himself alone over central Germany. As he searched for his squadron at 26,000 ft, he spotted a lone Me 262 in a gentle climbing left turn about 2000 ft above him. Thompson also began climbing in pursuit of the jet, his Encounter Report describing the high altitude action that subsequently transpired;
‘By cutting inside his turn I closed to within about 800 yards after having chased him up to 31,000 ft. Upon firing two short bursts I saw a few strikes on the left wing of the Me 262, and at the same time he increased his turn to the left, finally rolled over and went straight down. I fired several bursts during this time and saw many hits on and around the cockpit. After following him down about 5000 ft I saw large pieces fly from his aircraft, so I pulled out of my dive since my speed was becoming very high. I did not see that Me 262 again.’
After 2Lt Thompson fired his last burst he saw three or four other ‘Newcross’ Mustangs below him chasing the same jet. Nevertheless, he was awarded a full credit for destroying the Me 262 with 596 rounds of armour-piercing incendiaries.
Whilst 2Lt Thompson and the rest of ‘Newcross Purple’ Flight went after the first six Me 262s to target the bombers from the northern side of the formation, the 479th FG’s 435th FS (covering the rear of the formation), including Capt Verne E Hooker, engaged a pair of jets that attacked the bombers from ‘seven o’clock low’. In two brief but deadly dogfights Hooker claimed his only two aerial victories (he also had four strafing kills) of the war – a Bf 109 and an Me 262.
Despite not officially destroying a jet on 7 April, the most successful 479th pilot to emerge from this mission was the 434th FS’s 1Lt Richard G Candelaria, who engaged a pair of Me 262s that were making head-on passes through a formation of Liberators southwest of Lüneburg. His Encounter Report read in part;
‘I came at the leader head-on, trying to make him break, but he avoided my head-on pass by diving, and not altering his course, making it very difficult for me to hit him. I tried to drop my tanks on him, but missed completely. I half-rolled and lined-up on his tail as he opened fire on the bombers. I opened fire on the jet, observing hits on both sides of his cockpit and wings, then large puffs of smoke spat from the fuselage and wings.
‘In the meantime, the second jet had positioned himself on my tail and opened fire on me. I saw white and red shells, like golf balls, going past me. Looking up into the rearview mirror, I saw him firing away. A moment later, he hit me in the right wing. Then, the first jet I had engaged broke away to the left in a lazy half-roll and went straight down, trailing smoke. I broke hard into the jet behind me, but he went off in a shallow dive towards his buddy, going much too fast for me to ever hope to catch.’
Candelaria was only awarded a probable, despite flight-mate 1Lt Floyd W Salze reporting that the jet rolled over into a dive from 17,000 ft and was still in the dive when it entered the clouds at 2500 ft, making it unlikely that the pilot recovered in time. Later in the mission Candelaria shot down four Bf 109s, and these victories, when combined with the two Fw 190s he destroyed on 5 December 1944, gave him a final tally of six aerial kills. On 13 April Candelaria’s Mustang was hit by 20 mm and 40 mm flak while strafing the airfield at Rostock, and although wounded in the head and left arm, he managed to bail out of his stricken fighter. He evaded detection for ten days before being captured, thus spending the final weeks of the war as a PoW.
Only a handful of Me 262s were encountered on 8 and 9 April, resulting in just three victory claims being made by USAAF pilots. The solitary kill on the 8th fell to 1Lt John J Usiatynski of the 367th FS/358th FG, this proving to be the only confirmed jet victory credited to this Thunderbolt-equipped group from the Ninth Air Force. 1Lt Leo D Volkmer of the group’s 365th FS claimed a Me 262 probable later in the month.
On the 9th the 361st FG was credited with its final Me 262 victory when 374th FS pilot 2Lt James T Sloan, flying P-51D 44-15323, shot one jet down and damaged a second while escorting bombers of the 2nd Air Division that were targeting airfields known to be used by the aircraft. Five days earlier, pilots from the group had escorted B-24s from this division to Parchim airfield, the bombers being attacked several times by defending Me 262s while en route to the target. In a series of engagements, the yellow-nosed Mustangs claimed 11 jets damaged, but no victories. Sloan’s kill on the 9th also proved to be the 361st’s last aerial success in World War 2.
The final Me 262 vic
tory on 9 April was claimed by the CO of the 343rd FS/55th FG, Maj Edward B Giller, who was leading his unit as part of the group-strength escort for bombers from the 3rd Air Division that were targeting the airfield at Oberweisenfeld, near Munich. Whilst patrolling near Ingolstadt, four Me 262s attacked the bomber stream and then fled the area. Shortly thereafter, Giller spotted a lone jet fighter descending through 20,000 ft with two P-51s vainly attempting to overhaul it. Using his height advantage, Giller joined the pursuit;
‘I followed him for ten minutes, with the 262 doing a very gentle turn to the left and losing altitude. We were now over the southern edge of Munich, with the German jet at 1000 ft and me still at 7000 ft. Going balls out, I caught him at 50 ft just over the perimeter track [at Munich-Riem airfield]. He was going west to east about 100 yards to the right of the runway. I fired several bursts and observed strikes on the left wing root and fuselage. Looking back, I watched him crash-land on the field 100 yards to the right of the runway in a large cloud of dust and flying pieces. He didn’t burn, which I assume was due to the fact he was out of fuel.’
Minutes later, Giller found a large number of aircraft hidden in the woods on either side of the main autobahn south of Munich. In the ensuing melee more than 50 enemy aeroplanes were claimed to have been destroyed by the 55th FG, with Giller being credited with three strafing victories – including an Me 262. By VE Day his tally stood at three aerial (two in the P-38) and six strafing kills.
Allied Jet Killers of World War 2 Page 8
