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

WALTER SCHUCK ful prescence. Being over six feet tall, it seemed to be a wonder how he could fit into the Me 109’s cramped cockpit. Ochs proved to be a good-natured officer of the old stock, and he entertained his young men with sto­ ries from his wartime career. Although Ochs suffered from amblyopia, which resulted in almost no vision in one eye, he served as a combat pilot in both world wars. In the First World War, he had flown aircraft such as the Albatros С III, Albatros С V, LVG and Gotha with first Kampfgeschwader 4, Kampfstaffel 20, and later with the famous Hauptmann Kastner’s Bombengeschwader 7, Staffel 22. On 3 January 1918, Ochs’s Albatros С V was attacked by a mixed force of Spads and Nieuports, but he and his gunner, Vizefeldwebel Hermann, had the good fortune of bringing down one of the fighters. Both received the Ehrenbecher, or Goblet of Honor, from the C.O. of the Fliegertruppe, von Hoepner. The Erganzungsstaffel’s veterans taught the rook­ ies how to fly in two-plane Rotte formation and the fin­ ger-four Schwarm. Contrary to their enemies, who still flew in the inflexible three-plane V-formation of First World War origin, the Luftwaffe fighters operated in a close teamwork where the Rottenfiihrer was the sword and the wingman ( Rottenflieger ) served as shield. Two Rotten made up a Schwarm. Apart from formation flight, the rookies learned combat tactics, how to orient by watching the various ground formations, air gunnery, low-level attack, and many other things which would help them to survive in first-line. Above all, the veterans drummed into the rookies the importance of achieving and maintaining situational awareness. “You have to constantly keep watching the airspace 360 degress, both vertically and horizontally,” they said. “An air combat often is decided by whom sees the other first - you or the enemy.” Very soon it was noticed that the Gefreiter Walter Schuck had an exceptional visual perception. More often than not in mock air combats did he see the approaching aircraft in the distant before any of the veterans. The Me 109 with its narrow cockpit and canopy with relatively thick metal frames did not offer the best all-round view. In order to increase his field of vision, Schuck used to adjust the seat forward and down. He already was below average length, and in this way he almost disappeared below the lower canopy frame. His mates joked about it: “If you see a Messerschmitt with no pilot in the cockpit, then it’s Schuck’s,” they used to say. Schuck enjoyed the time at St Omer-Vizernes. Now he felt like a real fighter pilot. There was no com­ bat. Two or three times he and the other rookies even were allowed to go along with the combat pilots to the city of St Omer where they attended bars or cinemas. Since cases of typhoid had been reported among French civilians in some nearby towns, the whole unit had to be inoculated. Schuck was saved from typhoid, but an accident was close to putting an end to at least his flight career. On 24 October 1940, the combat pilots of I./JG 3 left the airfield with their Me 109s. They had been instructed to shift to an airfield in Belgium, where they were to provide the Namur area with fighter cover. None of them knew it by then, but Adolf Hitler would pass the area on his return trip from his meetings with the leaders of Spain and France, Generalissimus Francisco Franco and Marshal Philippe Petain. According to the plan, Hitler would meet the Belgian king on 25 October. With the regular combat unit gone, the Erganzu- ngsstaffel was placed in temporary combat alert. When a report arrived of British aircraft crossing the French coast, the Staffel was scrambled. The inexperienced pilots started in all directions from their revetments along the runway. The sight forward from an Me 109 which is taxing on the ground is considerably limited by the big aircraft nose in front of the cockpit. Only by carefully swerving from one side to the other is the pilot able to get a view of the field in front of him. But in the excitement during their first scramble, several of the rookies forgot this. The inevitable happened - one Me 109 got in front of the other. It happened to be Schuck who suddenly saw another aircraft roll up in front of his plane. He kicked the rudder to avoid the collision, and - bang! - his aircraft crashed onto the side. When Walter Schuck came back to his senses again, he was in hospital with a severe brain concussion. But he was lucky to have survived at all. His aircraft, an Me 109 E-3, had been turned into a heap of twisted metal. The pilot of the other Me 109 - he never found out who it was - survived without a scratch because of Schuck’s swift maneuver. On 1December 1940, shortly after he returned from his sick leave, Schuck was promoted to Unteroffizier. On 10 February 1941, he received a new assignment. A new Staffel had been formed, 10./JG 3, and Schuck was one of the pilots selected for this new unit. So he flew to 10./ JG 3’s airfield, situated at Brombos, northwest of Paris, about half-way between the French capital and the Eng­ lish Channel’s coast. T