Allied Jet Killers of World War 2 by Jim Laurier & Stephen Chapis & Andrew Thomas

Author:Jim Laurier & Stephen Chapis & Andrew Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472823533
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-09-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

TO THE DEATH

As the Allies on the western front pushed farther into Germany, they overran many of the Luftwaffe’s jet bases. KG(J) 51 was forced to move east to airfields in Bavaria, namely Munich-Riem, Fürth and Memmingen. General Galland also moved JV 44 to Munich-Riem, while 1./JG 7 departed Kaltenkirchen for Briest, Burg and Oranienburg, over which several intense dogfights would be fought in this final full month of the war in Europe.

The first of these occurred on 4 April, when the Eighth Air Force launched all of its fighter groups and all but one bomb group against airfields across northern Germany, the final bomb group hitting the U-boat pens in Hamburg. The latter mission would elicit the largest response yet from the Me 262s, with close to 50 jets armed with fearsome R4M aerial rockets being sortied. Over the course of an hour they fought a series of simultaneous running battles with Mustangs from the 4th, 339th and 364th FGs of the Eighth Air Force and Thunderbolts from the 1st Tactical Air Force’s 324th FG, during which nine Me 262s and a single Ar 234 were shot down. The victors from the 324th, all from the 316th FS, were 1Lts Andrew Kandis and John W Haun, who each downed an Me 262, and 1Lt Mortimer J Thompson, who shot down the Arado. These were the only jet victories scored by the 324th FG during World War 2.

On 4 April 1945, Lt Col George F Ceuleers, CO of the 364th FG’s 383rd FS, chased an Me 262 for more than 20 minutes in this P-51D-25 (44-72719) before scoring a number of hits. The jet suddenly pitched up and the pilot bailed out and went right over Ceuleers’ left wing. This final victory for Lt Col Ceuleers took his score to 10.5 aerial victories (Peter Randall collection)

On this day, 383rd FS CO Lt Col George F Ceuleers was leading A Group of the 364th FG that was escorting B-17s to the Hamburg U-boat pens. On his way back to England, Ceuleers spotted a formation of B-24s heading into Germany that were under attack from enemy fighters. He and his flight had a height advantage over the German aircraft, which turned out to be eight Me 262s, and the Mustang pilot pushed the power up to 3000 rpm and 60 inches of manifold pressure before diving after the jets. Ceuleers quickly latched on to an Me 262 and chased it for nearly 20 minutes. Finally, he closed to within 500 yards and fired a few bursts, before firing again at a distance of just 100 yards. This time he saw his rounds hitting home, shortly after which the jet pitched up and the pilot jettisoned the canopy and bailed out, sailing right over Ceuleers’ left wing. The victory proved to be Ceuleers’ last, taking his tally to 10.5 aerial victories (1.5 of them scored in the P-38).

It had been a costly day of combat over Germany for both sides, for although

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