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

WALTER SCHUCK Major Gunther Scholz, Gruppenkommandeur o f III./ Unteroffizier Walter Schuck between missions. JG 5, in the cockpit o f his Me 109 E, Petsamo summer 1942. ing effect. Through repeated strikes against Pontsalen- joki, during which five Bf 109s were knocked out, the Shturmoviks eventually forced the Germans to a speedy abandonment of this airbase. It was the German attempt to reinforce the fighter force at Pontsalenjoki which led to the loss of the three pilots of 7./JG 5. Oberstleutnant Gotthard Handrick, JG 5’s Geschwaderkommodore, ordered 7./JG 5 to trans­ fer to Pontsalenjoki. On 5 August, the first four pilots took off from Petsamo for the transfer flight - Leutnant Helms with the Unteroffiziere Werner Schumacher, Kurt Philipp and a fourth pilot. (Several accounts hold that the fourth man was Obergefreiter Kurt Scharmacher, but Schuck is absolutely positive that his wingman Schar­ macher was together with him in Kirkenes. According to Schuck, the fourth man was an Austrian Unteroffizier.) They made an intermediary landing in Rovaniemi to refuel, but at that place they could not have their drop tanks refuelled. Despite the protests from the pilots, they were told that nothing could be done about it - the order had come from XX Army Corps’s C.O., General Schorner, known as “Iron Fredinand.” At Rovaniemi, the “fourth man’s” Me 109 lost its tailwheel, so only three pilots took off. Flying over the endless fur forests, they became lost. After a while, Schumacher’s Me 109 was hit by ground fire which also injured the pilot. He had to belly-land in a glade. His comrades could not leave him there, so Leutnant Helms also landed in the glade. He provided Schumacher with first aid and prepared a walk towards the east through the forest, with the aim of reaching Finnish troops. Slightly afterward, Kurt Philipp decided to belly his Me 109s, which was running low on fuel, in another glade. All three were captured by Soviet troops. Bodo Helms, who returned from Soviet captivity only in November 1948, later described the whole story in detail in his memoirs, Von Anfang an dabei. + Major Scholz apparently was quite impressed by Schuck’s qualities as a fighter pilot. Major Scholz arrived with his Fieseler Storch at Kirkenes at six in the morning, and found Schuck’s detachment already in high alert. Scholz decided to test Schuck. Scholz asked Schuck how long time he needed to get into the air during a scramble. “Herr Major," Schuck said, “three minutes, accord­ ing to instruction.” “Really?” Scholz said and looked interested. Then he changed the subject. As the two men sat talking in the command post barrack, Scholz suddenly looked down and said in a very low and neutral voice, just as in pass­ ing: “Scramble.” Schuck immediately understood. In fact, he had expected a scramble test from Major Scholz. So in a moment when Scholz had not been present, he had told Scharmacher to “happen” to be close to his aircraft. T