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

WALTER SCHUCK Me 110s oJ'JG 5 ’s Zerstdrerstaffel, based at Kirkenes. Newly trained pilots arrived straightly from Ger­ many to bring the new 9./JG 5 to full assigned strength - Leutnant Gunther Fuhrmann, Unteroffizier Klaus Betz, and Unteroffizier Hans Thomann. By the same time, their old Me 109 E fighters were successively replaced with Me 109 F-4s, the “Friedrich.” However, by that time, the Me 109 F-4 had been succeeded in its position as the latest Me 109 type by the Me 109 G, “Gustav.” Thus, III./JG 5 continued to receive sec­ ond-rate equipment. This would continue for quite some time, and its pilots ironically called JG 5 “the Luftwaffe recycle bin.” Not only was the Me 109 F-4 a second-rate fighter by the time JG 5 received it, but in the first batch which arrived, not one of the “Frie­ drichs” came straight from the factory. All were used craft delivered from other units, and most of them came from repair stores where they had been patched together. However, Schuck found the new Me 109 F-4 to be a wonderful fighter plane. Not only was it equipped with a much stronger engine than the old “Emil,” its rounded shapes also gave it a nice appearance. Schuck felt that this was an aircraft he could almost fall in love with. In air combat, the single 20mm MG 151/20, firing through the airscrew, proved both more destructive and more reliable than the old “Emil’s” two slow firing 20mm MG FFs in the wings. The two 7.92mm machine guns in the engine nacelle remained. Schuck also managed to get one of the best of the F-4s. When he and Feldwebel Josef “Jupp” Kunz of the 8th Staffel test flew one F-4 each, Schuck noticed that his own craft was much faster than the one flown by Kunz. So Schuck immediately reduced the speed of his plane. Afterward, when they had landed, he exclaimed: “Jupp, you really have a fast aircraft!” The result was that one of the officers “snatched” the plane which Jupp Kunz had flown, while Schuck was able to keep the good bird. Some of the less experienced pilots needed some time to get acquainted with the stronger “Friedrich.” One of them was Scharmacher. Even if he was the most reliable wingman Schuck could imagine, Scharmacher required quite some time to learn to handle the Me 109 in all situations. On 15 September, Scharmacher was injured in a take-off accident with one of the new Me 109 F-4s. But that was obscured by the news from Petsamo which came a while afterward: Schuck’s friend in the 7th Staffel, Unteroffizier August Braun was posted missing after getting shot down over enemy territory. Braun was from Saarbriicken, and thus also was a Saarlander like Schuck, and the two young men had spent many eve­ nings talking about old times back home. Losing Braun felt like losing a connection to home. By this time, five of the twelve original 7th Staffel pilots which had flown to Norway had been lost. T