Major Wilhelm Herget was an old-timer ZG-76, NJG-3, JG-7, and JV-44, scoring seventy-three victories, fifty-eight as a night fighter, finishing the war flying jets. He received the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves. Ray Toliver
Oberst Hajo Herrmann was already a legend as a Spanish Civil War and World War II bomber pilot when he became a night fighter, creating the Wilde Sau in July 1944. He spent a decade in the Soviet gulags and became a successful attorney following his repatriation. He was awarded the Knight’s Cross, Oak Leaves and Swords. Hajo Herrmann
Captain Urban L. “Ben” Drew following his two Me 262 kills. He received the Air Force Cross and ace status four decades later, thanks to Georg-Peter Eder. The two became close friends until Eder’s death from cancer in 1986. Ray Toliver
Group Capt. J. B. Wray, who was an established killer of Me 262s flying the Hawker Tempest. Ray Toliver
General Benjamin O. Davis, the founding commander of the 99th Pursuit Squadron and later the 332nd Fighter Group, better known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Benjamin O. Davis
Major Donald Bochkay, commanding officer of the 363rd Fighter Squadron, 357th Fighter Group, during the period of his jet encounters and two jet kills on February 9 and April 18, 1945. Ray Toliver
Joe Peterburs as a P-51 fighter pilot. His greatest day was when he shot down one of Germany’s premier aces and jet pilots, Walter Schuck. Peterburs and Schuck became friends following a meeting organized by Kurt Schulze. Joe Peterburs
First Lieutenant (later Colonel) Edward R. “Buddy” Haydon of the 357th Fighter Group, who shared the kill of Walter Nowotny on November 8, 1944, with Capt. Ernest Fiebelkorn of the 20th Fighter Group. Edward R. Haydon
Hauptmann (later Major) Walter Nowotny receiving the Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross, Oak Leaves and Swords from Adolf Hitler in 1943. Rudolf Nowotny
Me 262 in the Air Museum in Chino, California. Norman Melton
Adolf Galland welcoming the new recruits into JV-44 while shaking Krupinski’s hand. Oberst Hannes Trautloft is behind Galland’s left. Adolf Galland
Galland during one of his meetings with Hitler following his receiving the Diamonds in 1942. Adolf Galland
Major Erich Hartmann, a recipient of the Diamonds, was the world’s highest-scoring fighter ace. By the end of the war he had shot down 352 aircraft. He test flew and qualified in the Me 262, but decided not to join JG-7. His return to his unit JG-52 was a decision that would see him spend ten and a half years in Soviet captivity. Erich Hartmann
Oberst Hajo Herrmann was a bomber pilot in the Spanish Civil War and in World War II until June 1943. He created JG-300, the Wild Boar night fighters, and ended the war with the Knight’s Cross, Oak Leaves and Swords. He would join Hartmann and many thousands of others in the gulag system. Hajo Herrmann
Leutnant Jorg Czypionka spent most of the war as an instructor pilot before joining Kurt Welter in Kommando Welter/10./NJG-11. He was one of the few Me 262 night fighter pilots to shoot down an RAF Mosquito bomber, which was the most elusive aircraft in the Allied inventory. Jorg Czypionka
Unteroffizier Eduard Schallmoser with his mother after he parachuted out of his damaged Me 262 and landed in her garden, becoming tangled in the clothesline behind them. Although recruited into JV-44 by Steinhoff due to his natural abilities as a fighter pilot, he lost more jets than any other member of the unit by ramming enemy aircraft, earning him the nickname “Rammer.” Ray Toliver
Major Erich Hohagen flew with JG-51, JG-2, and JG-7 and finished flying jets with JV-44. He earned the Knight’s Cross and scored fifty-six victories, of which thirteen were four-engine bombers. After Steinhoff’s crash he took over as the unit’s operations chief. Hohagen returned to the military and became a Brigadegeneral in the postwar air force. Erich Hohagen
Oberfeldwebel Helmut Baudach flew jets with Kommando Nowotny and later JG-7, and scored twenty-one victories, including four four-engine bombers and five victories scored in the jet. He bailed out of his Me 262 (WNr. 110 781), striking his head against the vertical tail section, and died of the injury later the same day on February 22, 1945, while flying. Ray Toliver
PRIMARY SOURCES
Bundesarchive/Militärarchiv (collectively at Koblenz, Freiburg and Berlin-Lichterfelde)
Doc. N 179-Literischer Nachwass vom Generfeldmarschall Erhard Milch.
Doc. RH 2/2196-Air Organization and Service Office (Luftamt)
Doc. RH 2/2197-Air Organization Office, Various Studies and Evaluations. Doc. RH 2/2200-Weapons Office Rearmament Program and Development.
Doc. RH 2/2206-Weapons Office Report on Foreign Equipment.
Doc. RH 2/2273-Air Organization Office Reports.
Doc. RH 2/2291-Weapons Office, German Training Programs in the Soviet Union.
Doc. RH 2/2299-Air Organization Office, Various Studies and Reports.
Personal letters, data, information and documents from Hannes Trautloft, Erich Hartmann, Adolf Galland, Johannes Steinhoff, Eduard Neumann, Erich Hohagen, Wolfgang Falck, Georg-Peter Eder, Walter Krupinski, Dietrich A. Hrabak, Hermann Graf, Erich Rudorffer, Edward R. “Buddy” Haydon, Robert S. Johnson, Robin Olds, Franz Stigler, Raymond F. Toliver, Kurt Schulze, Ursula Steinhoff Bird, Günther Rall, Hajo Herrmann, Walther Dahl, Herbert Ihlefeld, Wolfgang Schenck, Dietrich Pelz, William F. Reid, John Cunningham, Hans-Joachim Jabs, James H. Doolittle, Rudolf Nowotny, Wolfgang Späte, Jorg Czypionka, Hans “Specker” Grünberg, Klaus Neumann.
SECONDARY SOURCES
17th Bomb Group. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1995.
Angelucci, Enzo, and Paolo Matricardi. World Aircraft: World War II, Volume I (Sampson Low Guides). Maidenhead, UK: Sampson Low, 1978.