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

WALTER SCHUCK О FIRST BLOOD Among much else, the absence of darkness was a great trouble to the unaccustomed Germans. This was the region of the midnight sun, and from the middle of May until the third week of July, the sun never sets. During their first period in the Far North, this made it almost impossible for the newcomers to get any asleep. In early May 1942, more snow fell and covered the ground for a few days. When it thawed, the reindeer moss which covered much of the ground was turned into a swamp, and this brought forward a new scourge: mos­ quitos and gnats in huge numbers. These phenomenons were highly present in the evening of 15 May 1942, when Schuck and five other pilots were in cockpit alert. The sun shone high in the blue sky, and Schuck was “free hunting” mosquitos with his hands as he sat in his Me 109’s cockpit. However, enjoying a substantial numerical superiority, the mos­ quitoes held the upper hand in this “air combat”, and the number of itching red spots from bites increased in Schuck’s face, his neck and his hands. Graf von Sponeck’s Staffel had been instructed to escort a group of KG 30 Ju 88s to Murmansk. The pilots were in cockpit alert, prepared to take off when the Ju 88s flew past Petsamo’s airfield. Gefreiter Rich­ ard Steinbach, who had been placed as Schuck’s wing- man in the case of take off, was impatient. Schuck saw how nervous Steinbach looked, an impression that was reinforced through Steinbach’s chain smoking. But the smoking also had the benefit of keeping the mosqui­ toes at bay. Suddenly the releasing sound of the Ju 88 engines was heard, and the shout: “Scramble!” The Daimler Benz engines of the Me 109s came afloat, canopys were closed, and the little fighter planes raced out on the runway. Walter Schuck felt excited when his Messerschmitt 109, call code “White 6”, lifted from the ground. Six Me 109s set off towards the Ju 88s, which headed southeast, towards the front line and Murmansk. Graf von Spo­ neck, who led the formation, had placed Schuck in the lead of the cover Rotte. Top cover was performed by 8th Staffel’s Oberfeldwebel Franz Dorr and Unteroffizier Kurt Philipp. About ten minutes after take off, Graf Sponeck reported that the oil pressure was going down in his aircraft, so he assigned his wingman, Leutnant Ltiders, to lead the formation, and returned to base. In that moment, Schuck noticed that he too was nervous, or at least excited. Although it was ice cold in the cockpit, he felt sweat pouring down from his forehead and down into his eyes. By this, the Soviet aviation in the Far North had received a new fighter type, the American-designed Airacobra. In April 1942, the Guards fighter regiment 19 GIAP became the first Soviet unit to be equipped with this aircraft. Just as the five Me 109s of 7./JG 5 crossed T