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

WALTER SCHUCK 7./JG 5 at Petsamo, spring 1942. behind. Schuck identified them as Hurricanes. He knew that an Me 109 E-7 could fairly easily outclimb a Hurri­ cane, so he pulled the stick slightly and gave full speed. But these were no Hurricanes, they were two Airaco­ bras, and that was Schuck’s luck. The dreadfully under­ powered Airacobra was an even slower climber than the Hurricane. While the Airacobra I had an engine which was just as powerful as the Me 109 E-7, it was around fifty per cent heavier. On average, the Me 109 E-7 had an initial climb rate of more than three thousand feet per minute - compared to the Airacobra’s only barely more than two thousand feet. The Daimler Benz engine roared at the top of its performance as it pulled the fighter upward. Schuck had it rotate in a corkscrew maneuver as it gained altitude. Below and behind, Mayor Aleksandr Zaytsev and his wingman, Mladshiy Leytenant Vladimir Gabrinets, accepted the challenge and climbed after him. It was tempting to climb even steeper, but Schuck knew exactly at which angle the Me 109 would be able to maintain the climb before the speed dropped to the stall limit. His pursuers shot after him, but their bullets fell way astray from the Me 109’s tailfin. Slowly, slowly the distance between hunters and hunted increased. In frustration, the two Soviet pilots rose the noses of their aircraft even more, to get at least one deflection shot at the evading Messerschmitt. That was exactly what Walter Schuck had planned. For a couple of sec­ onds, the two Airacobras - or “Hurricanes” in Schuck’s view - seemed to hang completely still in the air. Then they tipped over as they both stalled. Just as the horizon had passed upward in front of him as the nose of his Airacobra helplessly went down, Zaytsev caught sight of another lonely Me 109, flying straight ahead below, presenting a much more prom­ ising target. He pushed the stick forward and immedi­ ately gained speed again, closing in on the German pilot who apparently had not discovered the threat. Feldwe- bel Franz Strasser, who had passed three thousand feet below the climbing planes, had forgotten to keep a watchful eye behind. Above, as Schuck hurled his Me 109 around, he immediately discovered the new situation. Calling out a warning, he dived after the two Airacobras. Zaytsev’s attempt to shoot down the lower Me 109 before the higher German fighter came down to hunt himself was a complete misjudgement. He lost speed by turning to the left in order to reach a better angle to shoot down Strasser, and in the meantime Schuck’s Me 109 came roaring down behind his wingman. A short burst with all guns and Gabrinets’s Airacobra was neutralized. Without caring to check the fate of the first Aira­ cobra, Schuck turned after the Zaytsev, who banked to the left. Schuck reduced speed in order to follow the sharp turn, and that was a mistake. The Soviet pilot put the nose of his Airacobra down and dived away at high T