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

WALTER SCHUCK О THE STAFFELKAPITAN When JG 5’s Geschwaderkommodore, Oberstleutnant Scholz, was appointed Jagdfliegerfuhrer Norwegen - commander of all German fighters in Norway - Ehrler was made his successor in the lead of JG 5. Ehrler in turn appointed Oberleutnant Franz Dorr to III./JG 5’s new Gruppenkommandeur, and on 31 July 1944 a quite surprised Walter Schuck found himself promoted to Leutnant - in effect from 1 July 1944 - and made 10./JG 5’s Staffelkapitan. 10./JG 5 was, since July 1944, the new designation of Schuck’s old 7th Staffel. But more than the StaffePs designation had changed. In fact, apart from Schuck, no one from the original 7t Staffel remained. Haupt­ mann von Sponeck, the first Staffelkapitan, was long since gone. He had requested a posting to SKG 10 in France, from where he hoped he would be better able to intervene to save his father, the general - who had been arrested in the winter of 1941/1942. Bodo Helms, Kurt Philipp, and Werner Schumacher were in Soviet captiv­ ity. Franz Strasser had been killed, and August Braun and Hans Link were on the MIA list. Kurt Scharmacher, Schuck’s faithful first wingman, was succumbing to his severe rheumatism in France. Walter Schuck, who felt like “the eternal NCO”, could not quite get used to the thought of being a Staffelkapitan. However, he noticed that he soon was embraced by the group of officers - which was not entirely a blessing. This took place at a time of deteriorating weather and a subsequent pause in the flight activity. One day when Schuck was lying on his bed in his barrack and resting, Jockel Norz trotted into his room in com­ pany with Oberleutnant Rudi Gloeckner. Norz, always self-assured, went along well with everyone - officers as well as NCOs. Oberleutnant Gloeckner was a former “Expertenstaffel” pilot who had assumed command of 8./JG 5 after the Staffelkapitan had been killed in May 1944. The two men told Schuck that they had spoken with the crew of a weather reconnaissance Ju 88 which just had landed, and these fliers had said that the whole region in the east was one huge low pressure. “There will be no flying weather for two weeks,” said Norz, “so we can relax.” After a brief pause, he exclaimed: “So bring forward your booze, Walter!” Schuck stared at Norz and then at the Oberleutnant. Both displayed an unmistaken party mood. Schuck did not feel like drinking - he rarely did, and now all he wanted was to get some rest. The idea to party with an officer like Oberleutnant Gloeckner also felt unusual. But Norz did not wait for his friend to answer. Instead he went straight to Schuck’s cupboard and opened it. To his joy, he found that there were so many bottles on the floor that they fell over each other when he opened the door. In the absence of other leisures, the pilots at Petsamo often were rewarded with fine alcohol for particular feats T