Rybin, Y. Luftwaffe ace Walter Schuck researched / Christer Bergstrom, Yuriy Rybin. - Sweden : [s. l.], 2019. - 190 p. : ill.

WALTER SCHUCK О AIR BATTLES OVER THE CONVOYS In May 1944, the air battles over the German coastal convoys intensified further. The fighter pilots of III./JG 5 fought fiercely, knowing that the battle was over their own supplies. But each time, the Soviets arrived with stronger formations in the air. On 11 May, Soviet North­ ern Fleet’s 9 GMTAP attacked a convoy with six Il-4s and five A-20s, all carrying torpedoes. While the Ger­ man fighter pilots clashed with the Soviet fighter escort and 46 ShAP’s Il-2s, claiming fourteen shot down - five by Major Ehrler - the torpedo planes hit and sank the Gote. Also, the missions on that day cost III./JG 5 a loss of five Me 109s and two pilots. On 13 and 14 May the Soviets conducted ten raids, involving altogether 217 aircraft, against the ships in the port of Kirkenes. They set the steam ships Pernambuco (4121 BRT) and Patagonia (5898 BRT) burning, and also hit the Zeebriigge and two escort ships. The German antiaircraft guns and III./JG 5 managed to shoot down only six of the attackers. III./JG 5’s only claim during those raids was the Airacobra bagged by Oberfeldwebel Rudi Linz. The Soviet aircraft returned on 15 May, sink­ ing the freighter Johann Faulbaums (2928 BRT). On 16 May, the entire III./JG 5 was airborne and managed to involve the attacking Soviet aircraft in two successive large-scale air battles. When the day was over, the “Eismeerjager” had claimed twenty-one Soviet planes shot down. The day’s most successful pilot was Oberleutnant Franz Dorr, who now was 7./JG 5’s Staf- felkapitan; he was credited with six victories. In return, III./JG 5 lost three own aircraft and one of the pilots in the 9th Staffel was wounded. In addition, the escort ship U J1210 was destroyed by the Soviets. The supply situation in Petsamo was growing seri­ ous when the next convoy approached on 25 May. In the evening, Schuck and eighteen other JG 5 pilots took off to cover the ships against an expected Soviet air attack. At half past nine in the evening, the Soviets appeared. The impact was so great that the Germans afterward estimated their numbers to as many as a hundred air­ craft. The actual number was less than half of what the Germans thought, forty-three. The main attack force consisted of 9 GMTAP with six Il-4s and three Doug­ las A-20s, escorted by twenty-two Airacobras of 20 IAP and 255 IAP, and twelve Kittyhawks from 78 IAP. The Il-4s dropped torpedoes in parachutes from six thousand feet altitude, and one of the torpedoes hit and sank the Norwegian 3502-BRT steamship Solviken. The A-20 “Bostons” attempted to perform their torpedo attack at low altitude. Schuck raced straight through the Kittyhawk formation and positioned him­ self behind a “Boston”, which he rapidly destroyed. On his side, Oberfeldwebel August Liibking destroyed a second “Boston”. Some Kittyhawks which tried to inter­ fere were rashly dealt with by Schuck and Liibking, who claimed one each in less than a minute. During the next ten minutes, Schuck warded off interception attempts