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

WALTER SCHUCK Walter Schuck with his mechanic An Me 109 B-2 with a 690-horse power Junkers Jumo Kargerhuber at JG 3 ’s Erganzu- 210 D engine and two-blade propeller ngsstaffel. Walter Schuck was declared a full grown fighter pilot and received his first assignment to a real fighter unit. On 2 September 1940, Gefreiter Schuck was posted to 3. Staffel of the Erganzungsjagdgruppe Merseburg. He was received by a veteran Unteroffizier who just had returned from combat over the English Channel, where he had attained six victories. He gave Schuck a fraternal reception. “I can see in your papers that you don’t have particu­ larly good marks from your superiors,” he said, and read to Schuck: “Personal character unsuitable.” Then he laughed and said: “’Personal character unsuitable’! Right! I know what it means - it doesn’t suit them! But I don’t mind. I didn’t either go well along with my superiors. They were all jealous because I was more successful than them! In the end, my Staffelkapitan couldn’t stand that I had six victories and the Iron Cross of the First Class, while he only had one or two victories, so he had me transferred to this detachment.” The Unteroffizier, who was just as short-statured as Schuck, commanded a temporary detachment of six Me 109s. Operating from both Merseburg and Zerbst, the task was to provide the barrage balloons which covered the gigantic Leuna synthetic oil works with air cover. In the next weeks, Schuck learned many valuable combat tricks from the experienced Unter­ offizier. After a little more than a month, the detachment was disbanded and Schuck received his next assignment. On 6 October 1940, he reported to the Erganzungsstaffel - the replacement squadron - of fighter wing JG 3 at St Omer-Vizernes in France. This was near the English Channel. Following the rapid defeat of France in June 1940, the Luftwaffe had been waging an air offensive against the British Isles. But the Brits proved to be a harder nut to crack. The Erganzungsstaffel was no combat unit. Its mis­ sion was to provide the rookies with training in combat tactics, with the supervision of pilots with combat expe­ rience. But it shared the airfield with a combat unit, I./ JG 3. The pilots of this unit were clearly marked with fatigue after strenuous weeks of combat with the RAF. Although the Jagdgruppe had attained over forty victo­ ries since August 1940, around twenty of its own pilots had also been lost. By the time Schuck arrived at the Erganzungsstaffel, the Jagdgruppe was carrying out fighter-bomber missions against London. The Erganzungsstaffel consisted of about ten newly trained fighter pilot who were supposed to be introduced into the realities of combat by three or four experienced fliers. For this purpose, the unit was provided with a dozen old and quite worn Me 109s which had been “inherited” from other elements of JG 3. The Erganzungsstaffel’s commander was Haupt­ mann Albrecht Ochs, 44 year old with a big, power­ T