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

WALTER SCHUCK Of course, in a whirling dogfight where men are fighting for their lives, it is difficult to ascertain whether an attacked aircraft is shot down or not. Quite often, two or three pilots saw the same aircraft crash, and thus the number of shot down enemy aircraft could be inadvert­ ently doubled or tripled. On other occasions, a damaged aircraft could crash, as we have seen, without the pilot who shot it down seeing it crash. Soviet loss records indi­ cate that in some of his engagements, Schuck reported more victories than he actually had shot down, but in other cases he managed to destroy more aircraft than he was credited with. Early on 31 December, another German air strike against the Soviet artillery positions was being pre­ pared. But with the arrival of stocks from the two JW-51 convoys, the Soviets could assume a more offensive stance in the Far North. Before the Junkers bombers had taken off, the German fighters at Petsamo were alerted because a formation o f approaching Soviet bombers had been spotted. Schuck and six other 9./JG 5 pilots, led by Oberleutnant Wulf-Dietrich Widowitz, were scram­ bled. Due to the darkness they failed to detect the enemy bombers before these had attacked their target, Ger­ man supply ships in the port of Liinahamari where the Petsamojoki River flows into the Barents Sea. Kapitan Semyon Lapshenkov of 29 BAP/VVS SF led his nine Pe-2s into a dive bombing and saw hits on a 6,000-ton ship which was claimed sunk. The flames and AAA flares directed the Me 109s onto the Petlyakov bombers, which were trying to escape at low altitude. Schuck was first to spot them, and in his first attack his bullets tore into one of the Pe-2s. Then he pulled the stick, made a steep climb, and made another diving attack from above. Four minutes later he registered his next victory against another unfortu­ nate Pe-2. Slightly belated the Soviet fighter escort - 255 IAP with five Yak-ls and three LaGG-3s - appeared and engaged the Messerschmitts. Although the Soviet pilots Leytenant Kharlamov and Starshiy Leytenant Sosnovs- kiy claimed one Me 109 shot down, the fighter combat was inconclusive, and soon both sides disengaged and returned to their respective bases. The Messerschmitts were rapidly refuelled and had their guns reloaded, and then the whole III./JG 5 took off - altogether twenty-three ‘109s - to escort Stukas and Ju 88s against the Soviet artillery positions. The Ger­ man aircraft split into several small groups. Schuck led his Schwarm to escort three Ju 87s. They flew at 3,000 metres altitude. Top cover was, as so often, provided by Oberfeldwebel Franz Dorr and his wingman. When they had reached about half-way between the frontline and Murmansk, eight Soviet fighters appeared. These were from 2 GIAP/VVS SF, and there were four each Kittyhawks and Hurricanes. They were reinforced by three Hurricanes from 768 IAP. A violent clash broke out, and shortly afterward these Soviet pilots were joined Walter Schuck together with an engineer o f the ground personnel, Petsamo, winter 1942/43. by eight Hurricanes from 78 IAP/VVS SF. Dorr blew one of the Kittyhawks out of the sky at 4,500 metres alti­ tude. Fifteen hundred metres below, Schuck positioned himself behind a P-40 which was pursuing a Stuka, and sent the Soviet fighter blazing towards the ground. Thus, Walter Schuck had achieved his first triple victory in one day. In total, the Germans reported four Soviet fight­ ers shot down. In reality, 2 GIAP’s Leytenant Sokolov was killed while Starshiy Serzhant Shvariyev bailed out of his stricken Kittyhawk, and 78 IAP’s Serzhant I. A. Mikhailuk was injured (but succeeded in making it back to base). In 768 IAP, the Hurricane piloted by Leytenant N. V. Lobanov was shot down. Walter Schuck lost yet another of his 7th Staffel friends in that mission. South of the small Kilp Lake, 7th Staffel’s Unteroffizier Dietrich Gathmann had been seen bailing out of his stricken Me 109 F-4. Gathmann landed in hostile territory and was taken prisoner. Eight days later, a mission against Murmansk resulted in the loss o f 8./JG 5’s Unteroffizier Friedrich Rennemann. His Me 109 F-4, “Yellow 2”, was shot down by the Airacobra piloted by 19 GIAP’s ace Kap­ itan Konstantin Fomchenkov. Rennemann joined the growing number of JG 5 pilots in Soviet captivity in the POW camps around Murmansk. It was obvious that things were getting rougher to the Germans. T