Hitler's Jet Plane (20 page)

Renne:
It was my mission to photograph the rail marshalling yards at Munich. I had taken off from San Severo in Italy with fighter escort, had completed the task and was just turning for home when I saw about 500 feet below and ahead of me the silhouette of an Me 262. As it started to climb towards me I radioed a message to the fighter escort requesting assistance. As I did this, I watched the faster Me 262 get above me in a turning manoeuvre and set himself on my tail.

Sinner:
After taking off from Lechfeld I climbed as quickly as possible and headed for Munich on a converging course with the contact. Suddenly I saw the Long-nose Lightning above me flying in the opposite direction. I was intending to attack out of the sun, but because of our relative heights this was not possible and so I made a long climbing turn to get on the enemy’s tail.

Renne:
I discarded my supplementary fuel tanks, gave full throttle and banked as tightly as possible in the attempt to get to grips with my opponent. He fired his first burst when we were at the same altitude and on a collision course.

Sinner:
Initially I was not able to get into a good shooting position because the enemy aircraft made a very long drawn-out turn. The ‘Indian’ saved himself banking steeply to the right, I could not follow because the radius was too tight for my jet. I put both engines to maximum throttle but even then I failed to get the target in my sights. By now one of the escort fighters had appeared. He appeared hesitant and this allowed me to get in close to him. At the last moment he cut his speed back and made a clever turn-away to get clear. My immediate reaction was to attempt a tighter turn while climbing under reduced throttle but this did not achieve the required effect. During this manoeuvring duel the Long-nose had put distance between us, and I saw the other two escort fighters turning towards me from the north east. I had reduced my speed substantially and made a turn of large radius, and believing that the two Lightning fighters would now attack I decided to refuse combat and dive. I was hoping to catch up with the Long-nose during the dive, but it was so steep that my speed was soon approaching Mach 1 and I had to pull out at once. I watched the Lightnings regroup and turn towards the south.

Renne:
After the Me 262 fired his burst, I went into a steep dive to the right, saw my opponent flying a wide semi-circular course and received instructions from the fighter escort to make a left turn and leave the bandit to them. I did this and made contact with the escort which had not been able to get at the Me. I lost them to sight in a cloudbank and as they were anxious to return for shortage of fuel, we grouped up for this purpose.

Sinner:
I lost contact with the Lightnings for a short while by flying through cloud. Up to that time I had never been in a favourable shooting position and had not fired. [Leutnant Renne must therefore have mistaken the reflection of the sun against the perspex canopy of the German jet for machine-gun fire as Renne flew on a collision course with the sun at his back towards Sinner.] Despite my low fuel reserve I turned towards the enemy group at full throttle. Their condensation trails were easy to make out. After about twelve minutes’ pursuit I caught up with the four Lightnings. They were not flying in any kind of formation and I aimed for the two inner machines in the hope of hitting whichever was the Long-nose. I got a hit instead on the escort fighter flown by Lieutenant Julius Thomas.

Renne:
We were flying south and were almost over the Alps (he probably means the Hohe Tauern mountain range south of Kitzbühel.
Translator’s note
) when we noticed a pursuing Me 262 which was closing fast. The escort banked to engage while I maintained a southerly heading to get the films home. When the fighter rejoined me, I saw that the machine piloted by Lieutenant Thomas was missing. The Me 262 had followed Thomas down.

Sinner:
I saw that my fire had hit the tailplane and right wing of the enemy machine and as he fell away in a steep dive I made a sort of angled dive to the left to follow. During this manoeuvre I overtook the disabled enemy but then abandoned the chase for shortage of fuel. I learned later that Lieutenant Thomas had baled out and landed safely on a slope of the Füllsteinhorn near Kitzbühel where he was taken prisoner by the mountain guard squad.

Following this successful encounter under the directions of the same controller who had nipped in the bud the earlier chase after the two Berlin-bound bombers, ruffled feathers were smoothed and the two officers now enjoyed a better working relationship. Sinner made it home safely on his last drop of spirit, while the radar officer learned the lesson that second rate was sometimes better than first when it came to interpreting Sinner’s orders.

Despite his success against the Lightnings, Sinner had not forgotten the escape of the two bombers. He had now switched his priority to attacking heavy bombers on air-raid missions but found himself without his jets. The two borrowed Me 262s had had to be returned to JG7, to where he was himself transferred after Nowotny’s death.

The conditions he discovered at Brandenburg-Briest were worse than at Lechfeld. There were few aircraft, the weather was miserable and operational flying was not generally possible. Nobody knew when the first jet aircraft would arrive and in what numbers. ‘Loafing’ was writ in larger letters here than at Lechfeld, where at least the flight training courses had been functioning, and at Brandenburg everyone did more or less as he pleased. Somebody hunted hares regularly, another cared for a kennel of greyhounds abandoned by their former owner for lack of food. There was a flourishing skat school and others rambled in the country. Most pilots – used to almost daily operational missions with their former units – hated nothing more than this inactivity, waiting in uncertainty for X-Day.

On his transfer Major Sinner had been given to understand that at Brandenburg-Briest, group and squadron commanders had already been appointed. Sinner would not have minded flying as a simple pilot without an office, but here there was simply no flying. It was little consolation to discover that Erich Hohagen and the others were no better off.

Thus it came as a relief to receive the summons from Gollob to attend a large Jägerstab conference in Berlin. The Jägerstab had been set up in early 1944 on the suggestion of Director Schaaf of the Speer ministry, established by Milch and approved by Hitler. Its purpose was to get the heavily damaged aircraft industry into bomb-proof factories, to rebuild and reverse the seriously impaired production figures. Head of the Jägerstab was Karl-Otto Saur, a fanatical Nazi, a civil servant employed at the Todt and Speer ministries whose energy and vision were excelled only by the lack of scruple he showed in forcing through his plans. In Holland he had been called ‘the scourge of German industry’.

Upon entering the great hall, Sinner came face-to-face with at least 1,500 well-known personalities from heavy industry and armaments, among them a few military people and civil servants. The agenda was wide-ranging. Coal, locomotives, waggons, steel and much else was discussed before finally the question of Me 262 aircraft was reached. Speaking with reference to the subject heading ‘Me 262 Supply’, General Thomas from the Reich Air Ministry opened with a few observations and was interrupted by Saur asking: ‘What exactly is the problem here? I have been advised by industry that a large number of Me 262 aircraft are waiting to be removed from factories, that JG7 is the only squadron due to receive these machines and is complaining that they haven’t got any.’

General Thomas indicated that a Major Sinner of JG7 was present and he could report on the state of affairs. Sinner stood to introduce himself and was commissioned at once by Saur to look into the difficulties which seemed to exist and to ensure they were removed. ‘Drive or fly to southern Germany,’ Saur said in conclusion, ‘and get everything sorted out. You have plenipotentiary powers to take whatever measures are necessary. At the end of the conference you will have your instructions and authority in writing.’

That same night, Sinner took the night train to Augsburg to consult with Fritz Wendel. The latter brought up at once a gripe known to both. ‘One of the main difficulties of flying in and out is the MYO rule. This rule states that it is absolutely forbidden to fly when MYO is in effect, and so our aircraft have to remain on the ground, and are towed away to safety. And that happens sometimes more than once a day.’ Sinner explained the point of view he had often argued at Lechfeld that aircraft were safer in the air than on the ground and pointed to the many Me 262s destroyed on airfields. ‘It is better,’ he concluded, ‘if you allow your ferry pilots to parachute out in a problem case rather than continually suspend delivery flights on the grounds of enemy operations which may come nowhere near the airfield. Moreover,’ he added, ‘at individual airfields one could operate an industry-protection non-jet fighter group to keep enemy fighters occupied while the Me 262s make their landings.’

Wendel suggested training ferry pilots in the fighter defensive role and referred Sinner to the ferry-pilot Kommando at Obertraubling. He had put out feelers there himself but had been unsuccessful.

At Obertraubling Sinner contacted an Oberleutnant responsible for the Kommando in question and who explained the great difficulties encountered in Me 262 delivery. There were endless MYO warnings and every so often the meteorological office grounded aircraft because at this time of year the Thuringian forest often experienced cloud at ground level.

Sinner was enraged. ‘Those are not plausible reasons,’ he replied. ‘There are all types of weather conditions, and it is not the meteorologist but your pilots who will decide in future whether they will fly or not after they have considered the overall situation. They can fly above the Thuringian forest because at 27,000 feet there is no cloud. You will send your best pilots to Lechfeld for Me 262 conversion training, and these will then deliver Me 262s to the operational airfields.’

After that he called on the meteorologist, scarcely believing his eyes when he saw the milk-glass windows which shielded any view of the outdoors. The duty meteorologist put up a defence. They had their instructions which had to be followed, and that was what they did, he argued with annoyance. Sinner produced his plenipotentiary authority and said quietly: ‘With all respect to your instructions, bombs fall in all weathers, and we need aircraft. As from today you will provide Me 262 ferry pilots with the current weather situation by telephone at take-off time and not supply old weather reports over which you have been deliberating for several hours. Then it is up to the ferry pilot if he will fly or not. If you refuse I am obliged to have you replaced.’

The threat was not made seriously, but it worked. The meteorologist, in civilian life a high-school teacher, went white in the face. In the gentlest Austrian dialect of which he was capable, Sinner said in parting: ‘Look at it from our point of view, Herr Professor. We in the front line simply cannot say we’re not fighting today because it’s raining.’ And with that he left.

At Augsburg Sinner resumed his discussions with Wendel about what steps still needed to be taken. Again he found himself much impressed by the expert technical knowledge and reliability of this famous Messerschmitt chief test pilot who never tried to shirk his responsibility and was always ready when needed. Sinner came to value him increasingly the longer he knew him.

Finally Sinner contacted the Fighter Division to ensure their co-operation and support for the arrangements, orders and measures he was about to take. By now it was Christmas 1944. He spent a sad and soulless holiday at Lechfeld, mostly alone in unheated rooms and houses unvisited by the least Christmas spirit. During the early hours the telephone rang. Oberst Hannes Trautloft announced himself and said: ‘Sinner, something decisive has happened which I can’t explain to you properly over the ’phone. Your commodore, Steinhoff, has been relieved of command with immediate effect. Galland and Hohagen have also gone. We have to patch up the gaps as quickly as possible. You have the choice of taking over JG300 or JG301 as commodore, or if you like, Hohagen’s Group at Brandenburg-Briest.’ When Sinner made no reply, Trautloft added, ‘Reflect on it well, but I must have your decision soon.’ Sinner answered at once: ‘I don’t need time to consider, Herr Oberst, I think I am well prepared to accept command of III/JG7.’

‘Very good, Sinner,’ Trautloft concluded, ‘I thought you would probably decide that way. So, go now to Brandenburg-Briest and take over the Group. Everything else you will learn later. Until later then. That’s all.’

11

III/JG7 – The Last Great Air-battle over the Reich

A
fresh breeze was already blowing through Brandenburg-Briest when Major Sinner assumed command of III/JG7. The new JG7 commodore, Major Weissenberger, was as determined as Sinner to make a mark, and both rolled up their sleeves for the job ahead. The first concern was aircraft. The success of Sinner’s intervention in resolving the Me 262 supply problem was plain to see. Every day Weissenberger rang Berlin and Augsburg to keep the pot on the boil. Soon the forlorn aircraft park began to expand; Fritz Wendel was more often at Brandenburg than at Messerschmitt’s to monitor the incoming deliveries and fly whenever the opportunity presented itself.

A major problem now as before was the armament of the Me 262. Despite the good success rate up to the present, it was clear that because of the much higher closing speed during attacks against enemy aircraft, the jet would be more effective with more modern weapons. On account of their limited scatter, the conventional machine-guns of the time required the shortest possible range, but close approach tactics brought a greater danger of being shot down or collision.