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

WALTER SCHUCK You will instead be busy touring the Reich and holding lectures on your great military deeds.” Jockel Norz looked him straight in the eyes, and then said very slowly, on his broad Bavarian accent, with strong emphasis on each word: “Listen here, when the war is over I will go home and mind my farm. What concerns the Reich and all that crap, it can just kiss my ass!” The shocked NSFO stared at the war hero, totally perplex, and then left without a word. Jockel Norz turned to Schuck: “Man, everything is going backward everywhere, and then comes such a clown with such rubbish!” The Germans were in no hurry to evacuate their posi­ tions in northern Finland, and Soviet air attacks com­ plicated the whole operation. On 14 and 15 September Soviet fighter-bombers attacked Vardo and Kiberg, and a German convoy between Petsamo and Kirkenes, sink­ ing two German ships. Pouring rain hampered German air operations on the former date, but on the 15th the skies cleared. That day, Schuck led seven pilots of his 10./JG 5 to attack twelve Kittyhawk fighter-bombers from 78 IAP, but the Germans were instead involved in a difficult clash with the escorting Airacobras from 2 GIAP. The subsequent fight cost each side a loss of two aircraft. Injured by shrapnel from a Soviet cannon shell, Unteroffizier Heinz Lork bailed out of his burning Me 109 G-6, “Black 11,” over the sea, while Leutnant Gunther Fuhrmann was lised as missing. What the German fighter pilots did not know was that the operation by 78 IAP and 2 GIAP was a diver­ sion, aimed at tying JG 5 into combat while a formation of twenty-seven four-engined Lancaster bombers flew against the German battleship Tirpitz in the Alta fiord. Led by Wing Commander “Willy” Tait, these bombers were from RAF 9th and 617th Squadrons - the latter the legendary “Dam Busters” - were temporarily based at the Soviet airbase at Yagoda. Twenty-one of the Lan­ casters carried one each of the new 12,0001b “Tallyboy” bombs - specially designed by Dr Barnes Wallis for both accurate precision bombing and great penetration of the Tirpitz’s armour. While the Soviet airmen succeeded completely in diverting the Luftwaffe, their British allies managed to inflict serious damage on the battleship. Shortly before noon on 16 September, Schuck and his wingman “Fritz” Wollmann scrambled together with Major Ehrler, Jockel Norz, Oberleutnant Rudi Gloeck­ ner, Oberfeldwebel Heinz Arnold and two other pilots. They were vectored towards a formation of Soviet air­ craft which flew to attack Kirkenes. The Soviet attack formation consisted of twelve 11-2 Shturmoviks from 46 ShAP. This time they were escorted by 20 IAP with not only Airacobras, but also ten of the much more danger­ ous Yak-7B fighter planes. The Germans arrived too late to prevent the raid, and a huge smoke cloud could be seen rising from the port of Kirkenes, where the 3668-ton ammunition ship Wolsum had been caused to explode. The two aircraft formations clashed south of Kirkenes. Schuck selected one ofthe Il-2s, which tried to escape at 1,200 feet altitude. This aircraft was piloted by Mlad­ shiy Leytenant В. V. Titov, and it was his third combat mission. But as Schuck positioned himself behind the Shturmovik, the rear gunner sent a stream of fire against him. The Me 109 shivered as a series of bullets slammed into Schuck’s right wing. For maybe a half second, fear overwhelmed Schuck: Was he getting shot down him­ self this time? Should he break off and call it a day? But then the fear gave way to fury and he squeezed both fir­ ing triggers. The distance between Schuck and the rear gunner was less than a hundred yards, and the two men looked each other into the eyes as they hit each other’s aircraft. The shells from Schuck’s guns slammed against the armoured fuselage while the red bullet flares from the Soviet rear gun kept buzzing past Schuck’s cockpit. Schuck sideslipped to reduce speed, and was about to glide into position for a new salvoe - he was about sixty yards behind the 11-2 - when he saw a brown­ ish object get released from the cockpit. The object slammed against the Il-2’s large fin. Schuck did not fire again. He turned his Messerschmitt slightly to the right and watched the pilotless 11-2 as it dropped downward. The dead body of the bailed out pilot slid off the fin and fell out into the open space, overturning several times as it fell towards a dismal grave in the tundra. Schuck banked to attack another 11-2, but was inter­ rupted by “Fritz” Wollmann’s cry in the radio: “Achtung, Herr Leutnant! Six Indians behind us!” Turning his head, Schuck could see six Airacobras diving to attack the two Me 109s. A stiff turning combat ensued, during which Schuck and Wollmann shot down one Airacobra each. Suddenly Norz was heard in the radio: “Here is ‘Yellow 8’! I’m hit in the engine. Smoke is emitted! “ Schuck turned and saw the heavily smoking Me 109. It looked really bad, so he switched the radio to trans­ mission and called out to his friend: “Aussteigen! - You have to bail out!” “No way,” replied Norz. “I will try to reach the air­ field!” Everyone broke off from the Soviet aircraft and joined Norz’s shot up Me 109 to escort their comrade back to the airfield. They were fifteen miles from the airfield, and it was possible that Norz would make it. Schuck sent a radio message to the airfield so that they would prepare to receive the damaged aircraft. Five miles from the airfield, Norz - markedly exhausted by the smoke which entered the cockpit - cried out: “Damned! The rudders . . . out of control.41 “Jockel, what’s up, man?” Schuck asked anxiously. By that time, the Me 109 was far too low to permit a successful bailout. T