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

WALTER SCHUCK side. A burst of fire, and the Mustang half-rolled and dived into a cloud, leaving a thick trail of smoke behind. Schuck turned sharply, attacked the next Mustang, shot and saw this one too disappear. When he looked around, he could see no other aircraft. As through magic, all other aircraft had disappeared. Schuck decided to call it a day and returned to base. This would prove to be Walter Schuck’s last victories attained with an Me 109. A few days later, Schuck received his order to trans­ fer to the 1st Staffel of I./JG 7. He packed his belongings into the car which he had been given by Terboven, paid farewell to the men in JG 5 - of which most were new faces - and went to Oslo. At three o’clock the night he took a Lufthansa flight to Berlin, while his driver took the car with the ferry across Skagerrack to Denmark. Unfortunately, the car was left unattended in a store in Denmark, and it was completely looted - probably by German soldiers. Schuck reported at the RLM in Berlin, and was instructed to go to the air base at Brandenburg-Briest, on the northern outskirts of Berlin. There, he received a warm welcome from Major Theodor Weissenberger, now JG 7’s Geschwaderkommodore. “I’m so happy to have you with us,” he said. “You are badly needed here!” On one of the next days, General Kammhuber showed up at the air base. Kammhuber had recently been made General Plenipotentiary of the Combat Against Four-engined Bombers. He arrived in company with a very welcome old friend - Heinrich Ehrler. He had been completely rehabilitated, and after a brief furlough was to report at JG 51 “Molders”, where Ehrler was supposed to become the new Geschwaderkommodore. When Schuck heard this, he took General Kammhuber aside. “Herr General,” he said. “I know Ehrler and what he has gone through. He and Major Weissenberger know each other. Why not place someone else as Kommodore in Geschwader Molders, and place Ehrler in Weissen­ berger’s staff?” If the Luftwaffe throughout its existence to a large extent was characterized by improvisations and arrange­ ments based on personal connections, this was more true than ever during the last months of the war. Kammhu­ ber made a telephone call, and from 27 February 1945, Oberstleutnant Heinrich Ehrler was officially assigned to Stab/JG 7. Improvisation also marked the training the new pilots received on the Me 262. Although there was a huge difference between the single-engined piston-en- gined Me 109 and the twin-engined jet powered Me 262, there were no twin-seat trainers available at JG 7. Schuck asked Weissenberger how he was supposed to learn to fly the Me 262. “Watch and learn,” was Weissenberger’s laconic answer. So for a couple of days, Schuck stood at the runway and studied the Me 262s as they took off and landed. During one of those days, Schuck was approached by Generalleutnant Galland, who had been removed from his post as the inspector of the fighters, and now instead was about to form his own jet fighter unit, JV 44. Gal­ land asked Schuck if he would like to join Galland’s new unit, but Schuck declined; he was quite happy with his old “ Eismeerjager ” friends in JG 7. Schuck and Ehrler were not the only old “Eismeer­ jager” which Weissenberger had gathered in JG 7. There also were Oberfeldwebels August Lubking and Heinz Arnold, both from the old 9./JG 5. These two NCO vet­ erans introduced Schuck to the “deeper secrets” of the Me 262. Schuck felt nervous when he climbed down into the Me 262 cockpit for the first time, but with Lub­ king standing on the wing and explaining the details and Arnold on the ground nearby, he felt some comfort. Indeed, he noticed that the cockpit of the Me 262 was quite comfortable compared with the narrow little “cell” of the Me 109. Lubking explained how to handle the Me 262 at take off and landing. He gave Schuck one particular warning: “When you land you have to take care that the engines are not run on too little power, because if you have to increase power again for some reason, the engines will get throttled and seize if you don’t have enough power from the onset!” Then Lubking jumped down from the wing. It was time for Schuck’s first take-off in an Me 262! He closed the canopy, and noted how smoothly this went compared with the old Me 109. When he put on the earphones, he could hear Arnold talking to him on the radio. Listening to Arnold’s instructions, Schuck switched on the engines. He increased power while still holding the brakes. Then he let go of the brakes. With a jerk, the heavy aircraft started rolling out on the runway. Schuck left the ground smoothly. He was studying the instruments on the control panel to see if everything was all right, and when he looked out again he suddenly discovered that he was up at an altitude of ten thousand feet. He was amazed. This really was a powerful air­ craft! He had never experienced such a fast climb, and he had not been prepared. Then the amazement gave way to worry. He became aware that he could not see the airfield anymore. A glimpse at the compass told him that he had been fly­ ing straight towards the southwest. Schuck made a 180-degree turn - noticing the very wide turning radius of the jet plane - and then he saw what must be the Han­ nover - Berlin highway. Following the highway towards the east, he soon spotted the large air base. Because of his fear not to comply with Ltibking’s warning, he did not reduce the power of the engines to one-third, but instead maintained them at 50% power, so he had to perform several wide circles before he was able to come down for the landing circuit. Then he reduced power to 25% and carried out a smooth landing as though he had been piloting an Me 109. Arnold and Lubking came running to congratulate him, but when Schuck climbed out of the Me 262’s cock»- T