Allied Jet Killers of World War 2 Read online

  The area around Osnabrück was fast becoming a hotbed of jet activity, and that is precisely where 357th FG pilots Capt Charles ‘Chuck’ Yeager and 1Lts William Quinn and James Kenney each downed an Me 262 on 6 November. Leading ‘White’ Flight at 8000 ft just north of Osnabrück, Yeager spotted three Me 262s in a ‘V’ formation on a reciprocal course to the Mustangs just above a broken layer of cloud at 5000 ft. As Yeager took his flight down the jets took no evasive action, even after he had achieved one or two hits with a 90-degree deflection shot from 400 yards. Yeager felt that the German pilots were relying on their superior speed to outrun the Mustangs. It worked, as the jets disappeared into a haze layer.

  Undeterred, Yeager dropped down through the haze, and after about a minute he met the jets again head-on, with the Me 262s slightly below him at 2000 ft. He split-essed down and got the flight leader in his sights, scoring several hits on the wings and fuselage, but the jet still managed to pull away and disappear into the haze again.

  By now Yeager had become separated from his flight, and as he climbed back up to 8000 ft he spotted a large airfield, which he began to circle. His persistent hunting instincts paid off;

  ‘I spotted a lone 262 approaching the field from the south at 500 ft. It was going very slow – around 200 mph. I split-essed on it and was going around 500 mph at 500 ft. Flak started coming up very thick and accurate. I fired a short burst from around 400 yards and got hits on the wings. I had to break off at 300 yards because the flak was getting too close. Looking back, I saw the jet enemy aircraft crash-land about 400 yards short of the airfield in a wooded field.’

  The Me 262 was Yeager’s seventh victory, and he would finish his tour with 11.5 aerial kills. He was also credited with damaging two more Messerschmitt jets during this clash.

  Capt (seen here as a 1Lt) ‘Chuck’ Yeager of the 363rd FS/357th FG claimed one Me 262 destroyed and two damaged near Osnabrück on 6 November 1944 (© IWM FRE 3128)

  On the afternoon of 8 November, pilots from the 364th FG were escorting B-17s that were returning from Merseburg when they heard a call that bombers were under attack in the vicinity of Dummer Lake, ten miles north of Osnabrück. In the ensuing dogfight, 2Lt Richard W Stevens of the 384th FS, flying P-51D 44-14093, shot down an Me 262 from Kommando ‘Nowotny’. In the next ten minutes two more jets from the unit would fall to Eighth Air Force Mustangs, but the final loss of the day was one from which the unit would not recover.

  1Lt Ernest C ‘Feeb’ Fiebelkorn of the 77th FS/20th FG scored his nine aerial victories in five engagements between 14 July and 8 November 1944. This photograph was taken at Kings Cliffe just after Fiebelkorn had almost become an ‘Ace in a Day’ on 28 September when he shot down three Bf 109s and an Fw 190 and damaged another Bf 109 over Magdeburg. Although he returned home in December 1944, Fiebelkorn ended the war as the highest-scoring ace of the 20th FG (20th FW Association)

  The 364th FS/357th FG had been strafing targets west of Hanover, and during these attacks Capt Merle Allen and his wingman, 1Lt Edward Haydon, became separated from the rest of the squadron. The pair were heading west towards England when they spotted a single Me 262 and gave chase. Although they could not have known it at the time, this jet was being flown by none other than Major Walter Nowotny, who had just scored his 257th (B-17) and 258th (P-51) aerial victories. There were several other Mustangs chasing Nowotny, including Capt Ernest C Fiebelkorn of the 77th FS/20th FG, who was flying his assigned P-51D 44-11161 June Nite. He filed the following report;

  ‘I was leading “Yellow” Flight in the vicinity of Dummer Lake when an Me 262 came down by my flight. I immediately started after the jet and followed it in a dive to near the deck, where the jet levelled out. At this time there were quite a few other P-51s starting after the 262. The jet led us across an airdrome in a gradual turn and I was cutting inside just within range when two P-51s from a group believed to be the 357th cut me out before I could fire. The jet pulled up into overcast, but immediately came down again on its back and crashed into the ground about four-five miles from the airdrome.’

  ‘Feeb’ Fiebelkorn’s final victory of the war, claimed in his assigned P-51D-5 44-11161 June Nite, was a shared victory with 1Lt Edward Haydon of the 364th FS/357th FG on 8 November 1944. Their victim was none other than Major Walter Nowotny, who, just moments before, had scored his 257th (B-17) and 258th (P-51) aerial victories. Fiebelkorn went on to fly F-82 Twin Mustangs in Korea with the 4th FS/51st FG, where he and his Radar Observer, Capt John J Higgins, were killed whilst undertaking a close air support mission on 6 July 1950. After his remains were located in 1953, Capt Ernest Fiebelkorn was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia (Peter Randall collection)

  In this engagement only 1Lt Haydon actually fired on Nowotny’s Me 262. Capt Allen did not file a claim because he never opened fire, but as it can be seen in his Encounter Report, Fiebelkorn did not fire either, but he ended up sharing credit with Haydon for downing one of the Luftwaffe’s top aces. This was Haydon’s only victory of the war and the ninth, and last, aerial success for Capt Fiebelkorn, who also had two strafing kills.

  Walter Nowotny’s demise sounded the death knell for the unit that bore his name. After Hitler finally gave permission for the Me 262 to be built as a fighter instead of a bomber, General Galland moved forward with the organisation of JG 7 ‘Nowotny’. The world’s first jet fighter unit of any size and significance, JG 7 would be credited with almost 300 aerial victories during its seven-month defence of the Reich.

  For the rest of November and during December four Me 262s fell to non-aces. On 9 December Stabsfeldwebel Hans Zander of 4./KG 51 was shot down and killed by 2Lt Harry L Edwards of the 486th FS/352nd FG – this aeroplane was Edwards’ first of two victories. Then on 22 December 1Lt Eugene P McGlauflin and 2Lt Roy L Scales, both from the Italy-based 308th FS/31st FG, shared in the destruction of the first Me 262 to fall to the guns of the Fifteenth Air Force.

  1Lt John C Meyer was 24 years old when he was given command of the 34th (later redesignated the 487th) FS in December 1942. He scored his, and the 352nd FG’s, first aerial victory during the group’s combat debut on 26 November 1943. Meyer’s final victories were claimed on New Year’s Day 1945 during the famous dogfight known as the ‘Legend of Y29’, bringing his overall tally to 24 aerial and 13 strafing victories. Meyer remained in the service and saw more combat in the Korean War, where he flew 31 missions in F-86 Sabres whilst leading the 4th FIG. During his tour he shot down two MiG-15s and damaged a third. Meyer rose through the general ranks while serving in such posts as Vice-Chief of Staff of the USAF and commanding general of Strategic Air Command, eventually attaining the rank of general prior to his retirement in July 1974 (352nd FG Association)

  In an effort to build up the tactical air forces covering the frontlines, the 352nd FG forward deployed to Y29 Asch, in Belgium, on 23 December 1944 due to its close proximity to the frontlines – then, just 15 miles away. While here, the group would operate under the command of the Ninth Air Force. On 31 December, Lt Col John C Meyer, deputy CO of the 352nd, was leading the 328th FS on a patrol when fighter controllers vectored them towards a group of bogies near Viviers. When the Mustang pilots dropped below the clouds they spotted an Ar 234 bomber, which was quickly attacked by ace Capt Donald S Bryan, who stated that he got good hits on the starboard engine prior to breaking off his pursuit when Lt Col Meyer saw a second Arado closing in on Bryan’s tail.

  On 31 December 1944, Lt Col Meyer led the 328th FS on a patrol in P-51D-15 44-15041 PETIE 3rd, his final Mustang. During the mission Meyer chased an Ar 234 that ultimately escaped. He subsequently spotted a second Arado bomber near Cologne and fired several long-range bursts during an extended chase, being duly credited with the USAAF’s first Ar 234 victory (352nd FG Association)

  Meyer duly chased the second bomber in and out of the clouds until he lost sight of it near Bonn. Just as he spotted it again, he noticed another Ar 234 heading towards Cologne, and gave chase. Meyer fired
several bursts from long range, and even though he observed no hits, he claimed, and was awarded, credit for downing the first Ar 234 to fall to the USAAF. The Arado was the 22nd of 24 aerial victories scored by Meyer in World War 2 – he also claimed 13 strafing kills.

  Although not as photographed as the more famous P-51D-10 44-14151 PETIE 2nd, Lt Col Meyer scored more victories in PETIE 3rd than any of his previous Mustangs (or his solitary Thunderbolt). In this publicity photograph Meyer inspects the latest kill markings applied to PETIE 3rd by his crew chief, SSgt W N Conkey (352nd FG Association

  CHAPTER FOUR

  BODENPLATTE TO VARSITY

  New Year’s Day 1945 is best known as the date the Luftwaffe launched low-level attacks on 21 Allied airfields in northwest Europe. Codenamed Operation Bodenplatte, the Germans sent aloft more than 900 aircraft, including Me 262s and Ar 234s from KG 51 and KG 76, respectively. The pilots of JG 7 were not involved, however, as they were held back to defend the Reich from the inevitable retaliatory heavy bomber raids mounted by the Eighth Air Force.

  In January 1945 six jets, all Me 262s, were shot down by eight pilots from the 55th, 353rd and 357th FGs, but only two of them were aces – and both were from the 357th FG. During a mission escorting 2nd Air Division Liberators to Leipheim on 15 January 1945, 1Lt Robert P Winks of the 364th FS/357th FG was orbiting over Schongau aerodrome when he spotted an enemy aircraft performing aerobatics directly overhead! In his Encounter Report Winks wrote;

  On 9 February 1945, the 363rd FS/357th FG had escorted 3rd Air Division B-17s to Fulda. Seven-victory ace Capt James W Browning was leading a flight of Mustangs in P-51D-15 44-15630 JUNIOR MISS, which was usually flown by 1Lt Glenwood A Zarnke. Browning’s wingman was fellow ace Capt Donald H Bochkay in his P-51D-15 44-15422. When four Me 262s were spotted 4000 ft below their flight, Browning and Bochkay bounced them, with each pilot going after two jets. The outcome of the ensuing engagement would be vastly different for each pilot (Lt Col Clarence ‘Bud’ Anderson)

  ‘I sighted an enemy aircraft doing a series of slow rolls on the deck and immediately called it in. No one could locate it, so I went down from 15,000 ft, got on his tail and fired a good burst just as the enemy aircraft was again approaching the airdrome. I observed many strikes and the fuselage burst into flames. The enemy aircraft crashed on the edge of the field and blew up. The pilot was not seen to get out.’

  After downing the Me 262, Winks started to climb back up to altitude, but noticed his engine was strangely quiet and the propeller was wind-milling. It was then that he realised he had failed to switch to his internal fuel tanks when he dropped his external tanks as he dived after the jet. Winks was so focused on claiming his ace-making fifth victory that he had failed to notice his Mustang’s engine had stopped running! The 357th’s newest ace could not identify the aircraft he had shot down when he returned to Leiston, although he was quickly informed that it had in fact been an Me 262.

  Five days after 1Lt Winks’ victory, the 357th FG was escorting B-17s from the 3rd Air Division deep into southern Germany when again it encountered Me 262s. While the Flying Fortresses attacked the marshalling yards at Heilbronn, 15 miles north of Stuttgart, Mustangs from the 364th FS performed a sweep of the Ulm-Augsburg-Munich area some 50-60 miles southeast of the target area. By this late stage of the war in the ETO, USAAF fighter pilots had been given permission to strafe targets of opportunity. In an area between Ulm and Munich, 19-year-old 1Lt Dale E Karger and his wingman 2Lt Lloyd Zacharie were attacking a train when another pilot from the 364th spotted a pair of contrails in a slow, spiralling, descent from 32,000 ft. Despite still being a teenager, Karger already had four victories to his credit, and recounted the ensuing engagement with the jet;

  While on an escort mission to Leipheim on 15 January 1945, 1Lt Robert P Winks of the 364th FS/357th FG was orbiting over Schongau aerodrome when he noticed a jet over the field performing aerobatics. He dropped his external tanks and dived on the Me 262 from an altitude of 15,000 ft, sending it crashing in flames with a well-aimed burst. As Winks climbed back to altitude, he noticed that his engine was silent and his propeller was wind-milling. It was then that he realised he had failed to switch to his internal fuel tanks when he dropped his external tanks as he dived after the jet. Winks had scored his ace-making fifth victory in an unpowered P-51! (Lt Col Clarence ‘Bud’ Anderson)

  ‘I still had my wingman with me, and said over the radio that we would climb up and intercept. As we neared their altitude the two Me 262s headed east, towards the city of Munich, and descended slightly. By this time we were at full throttle, and they were pulling away rapidly.

  ‘As they approached the city, I could see one Me 262 – a mere speck by this time – making a left turn. I immediately turned north in order to cut him off and intercept. Apparently he underestimated me and kept on coming around at a rapid rate. He was now heading west, with me still heading north. As he closed, I started a left turn to line up for a shot. When I got him up in the computing gunsight I could see he was still slightly out of range and moving very fast at my altitude – about 3000 ft. I led him about one-eighth of an inch with the computing gunsight and opened fire. Pieces of his canopy started blowing off, so I must have hit him close to the cockpit.’

  A few seconds later Karger watched the pilot bail out of the badly damaged Me 262, which split-essed and crashed in a wooded area. After Karger’s engagement the 364th headed back in the direction of the target area, where 1Lt Edward Haydon, who had shot down Maj Nowotny on 8 November 1944, spotted another Me 262 and dived in pursuit of it along with his wingman, 2Lt Roland R Wright. In a brief low-altitude engagement, the latter destroyed the jet (for his first of two aerial victories), but Haydon’s Mustang was hit by flak and he barely survived a low-altitude bail out. The Mustang pilot spent the rest of the war as a PoW.

  On 9 February, the Eighth Air Force sent 1300 B-17s and B-24s, escorted by more than 850 P-47s and P-51s, to attack synthetic oil plants at Fulda and Lützkendorf, an armament plant in Weimar and railway marshalling yards in Magdeburg. Amongst the fighters scrambled to intercept the bombers were 15 Me 262s from 1./KG(J) 54 – an all-weather unit manned by pilots pulled from Ju 88 and He 111 bomber units. This was to be its combat debut, and for several of the pilots this would be their first, and last, combat sortie in the Me 262.

  One of the escorting pilots was 363rd FS/357th FG ace Capt Donald H Bochkay, flying his assigned P-51D 44-15422 as wingman for fellow ace Capt James W Browning, who was at the controls of 1Lt Glenwood A Zarnke’s P-51D 44-15630 JUNIOR MISS. The 363rd was escorting a number of 3rd Air Division B-17s to Fulda. At 1145 hrs, a flight of four Me 262s was spotted 4000 ft below the squadron, and Browning and Bochkay dropped their external tanks and went after the jets. The German pilots saw the Mustangs coming down and broke into two pairs, with Browning going after the pair on the left, but they eventually sped out of range.

  Bochkay, meanwhile, chased the second pair up to 28,000 ft, and just as they levelled off the German fighters made a steep climbing turn to the right. Their pursuer dived from ‘up sun’ to cut them off, the Me 262 pilots failing to see Bochkay closing on the lead jet. He duly overshot this aircraft and broke right, coming out on the tail of the wingman. At a range of just 300 yards Bochkay fired a long burst as the Me 262 began to accelerate out of range, but inexplicably the jet then broke left, which allowed him to close in and fire another long burst that shattered the canopy. Suddenly, Bochkay had to break right again to avoid colliding with the now rapidly decelerating jet. The second burst must have killed the pilot because Bochkay spotted him hanging half out of the cockpit, and when the jet rolled onto its back he fell out without opening his parachute. The Me 262 then went into a vertical dive at high speed and crashed.

  Bochkay briefly went after another jet that bounced seven Mustangs, but two of his guns then fell silent after firing less than 12 rounds, their ammunition having been exhausted. He then attempted to rejoin Browning but could not locate him, so he jo
ined up with another Mustang from his squadron.

  Elsewhere in the skies near Fulda, ace Maj Robert W Foy and his wingman 1Lt Johnnie L Carter bounced two Me 262s from 22,000 ft. While still diving on the jets, which were at 15,000 ft, Foy fired from extreme range and hit the right engine of one of them. Trailing smoke, the jet rolled over into a cloud bank below and Foy was unable to follow it – he was credited with a probable. Carter had better luck because after firing a brief burst and seeing strikes, the pilot (possibly Major Ottfried Sehrt, flying Me 262A-2a Wk-Nr 110799) bailed out and ended up as the only survivor of the four Me 262s that were lost that day. The third jet destroyed fell to 1Lt Stephen C Ananian of the 505th FS/339th FG, this being his only aerial success (he also claimed a strafing victory).

  Capt Donald Bochkay, flying his P-51D-15 44-15422 on 9 February 1945, chased two Me 262s up to 28,000 ft, where he had to break hard to the right to avoid a collision when one of the jets turned suddenly. This manoeuvre put him just 300 yards behind the second jet, which was quickly accelerating. When the Me 262 turned again, Bochkay closed in and fired a burst that shattered the canopy and killed the pilot (Lt Col Clarence ‘Bud’ Anderson)

  When the pilots of the 363rd FS landed back at Leiston, Browning was not among them. The report for the mission stated, ‘One NYR [Not Yet Returned], Capt Browning, last seen vicinity of Fulda’. His fate remained a mystery for 50 years, some sources alleging he may have been shot down by 45-victory ace Leutnant Karl Schnörrer of 9./JG 7, who claimed 11 kills with the Me 262, but there was no real evidence to support that theory. The truth of Browning’s fate was finally uncovered in the early 1990s when Merle Olmsted, a former groundcrewman with the 357th and its official historian, located Browning’s Missing Aircrew Report (MACR) in the National Archives. Attached to the MACR were Army transcripts from August 1947 interviews with Adolf Keller, Burgermeister of Wörsdorf, and Wilhelm Manrer, a railway employee, both of whom witnessed a dogfight that day.