“Early in the war, I spent three years as an instructor pilot, keeping me from the sharp edge of the war until 1944. Only at that stage did I undergo fighter training, including night fighter training. Upon completing my night fighter training, I was assigned as squadron leader of the 5th squadron of NJG-11 in Jüterborg. This unit was equipped with slightly modified Me 109G6 and G14 models, featuring the high-performance DB 605A as turbocharged engines for increased speed and higher cruising altitude. The unit mission was to destroy Mosquito light bombers of the Royal Air Force, which had started to attack northern German cities, particularly Berlin, almost every night. By mid-1944 the RAF had started using their very fast Mosquito bombers in units of around sixty aircraft for night bombing raids, concentrating on the capital city of Berlin. Armed with single two-thousand-pound bombs, they were causing considerable damage. The Me 109 single-seat aircraft were flying, with no radar equipment in a modified Wilde Sau system, guided by ground control and supported by target finding searchlights. The Wilde Sau tactic essentially required that ground controlled radar officers guided us into a waiting pattern two thousand meters (about six thousand feet) above the incoming bombers.
“Each ground controller had up to six aircraft on his frequency, directing and assisting them with navigation. Our searchlight units would then try to find these bombers, which always flew as single aircraft, and hold them in their beams for as long as possible. Our aircraft were fitted with auxiliary tanks, which extended their endurance by up to one hour, or for three hours if the tank was not jettisoned.
“Because the Me 109’s speed did not exceed that of the Mosquito, conventional pursuit as used against conventional, slow bombers was not possible. Indeed, closing in on this much faster enemy aircraft was tricky. To get to the right attack position was very difficult, to the extent that it was mostly a matter of luck still requiring great skill and experience for the attack itself.
“It was one of Germany’s night fighter aces, Kurt Welter (over thirty victories in the Me 109 and Fw 190s), who actively worked to replace his unit’s Me 109s with a faster aircraft. There were indeed two potential candidates whose speed easily surpassed that of the Mosquito: the Me 262 and the Ar 234 turbojets, which had just become available for operational use for this purpose. Welter tested both at the Laerz/Rechlin (research) air force base for night combat. The Arado Ar 234 was rejected, partly because it had a cockpit with glazing all around, which generated too much glare during landing, and also because the exposed cockpit canopy in the front of the aircraft offered no protection from debris of decomposing aircraft after a hit. By contrast, the Me 262 in single seat and two-seat versions proved to be very well suited to this task.
“In January 1945, Kommando Welter was created as a unit of NJG-11. A Kommando, or Kdo, was a special command or detachment usually named for its commanding officer. It was assigned about ten aircraft. This particular unit operated from Burg bei Magdeburg air force base and, after initial difficulties which caused several fatalities due to pilot error and engine failures, it became quite successful indeed. The small Kommando Welter scored almost forty victories in a short period of only three odd months, in the face of equipment and materiel shortages and later, even without an airfield. In March 1945 I was asked to join the Kommando Welter.
“I remember my introduction to the Me 262 fondly. I had arrived at Burg Airfield on a March afternoon. ‘My’ aircraft stood on the start runway, and I was overwhelmed by emotion and admiration when I saw it. It looked as though it had jumped out of future. It was sleek, with a triangular fuselage, nose wheel, and wide stance. The aircraft seemed to have slight forward tilt and two striking nacelles with propellerless engines under its wings. The unit’s chief mechanic instructed me how to start and control the engines with regard to temperatures and which engine revolutions had to be maintained, as well as how to master the fuel tank scheme and switches, undercarriage management, flaps, etc. This instruction lasted all of forty-five minutes! After a brief questioning by Welter about aspects of theory, how I would fly the aircraft, handle speed, climb rate, ascent/descent, touch down, and how to handle emergency situations, I was told to go get on with my first flight in this revolutionary aircraft.
“Hajo [regarding Herrmann’s ambivalence in using the jet as a night fighter] probably had in mind the [262] fighter against bombers, but we had to have it against the Mosquitoes, to be faster than the Mosquitoes and we were. So, in this short time of Kommando Welter and from January to the end of March, or beginning or mid of April [1945] Welter shot down more Mosquitoes than the whole task force had shot down in the year before.{2}
“I approached this task in a very concentrated manner, using all of my previous experience. Everything was a little different from the conventional aircraft of the time. The engine-starting procedure and running the engines was quite different, particularly its whining sound, compared to the roar of a piston engine. Also, I had to stand on the brake with engines revving high. This could be done easily because of the existence of the front wheel. The takeoff run was exceptionally easy, because the aircraft was running in a perfectly straight line, with no torque, and at a high rate of acceleration. The front wheel lifted at one hundred sixty kilometers per hour (about one hundred miles per hour), with a takeoff velocity of some two hundred kilometers per hour (about one hundred twenty-four miles per hour).
“By the yardstick of the day, the climb rate was astonishing. There was literally no noise, the flight being almost glider-like, with the engines running with no vibration behind the cockpit and under the wings. Visibility was unrestricted all around, because of the cockpit’s position high on top of the fuselage. The g force in my first turn at speed was significantly higher than I had experienced in traditional propeller aircraft, and this forced concentration. I knew that I had to be careful. Then what followed was a smooth go-around and landing approach.
“One operational fact which had been impressed upon me specifically; ‘Never move the accelerator (throttle) fast, or a flameout might be the consequence.’ This meant one had to reduce the engines early and judge and adjust the altitude, distance and descent rate early and precisely.
“I was glad that I managed these tasks well on my first flight with the Me 262, but it had been a true challenge. Another lap and the same concentrated procedures resulted in another perfect touchdown and landing. I had fallen in love with this aircraft. After my first two flights of the day at dusk, I flew my first sortie that same night.
“I was returning from this sortie, and was flying home, and my fuel reserve lamp was already on, so I wanted to go home straight. I was about ten or fifteen minutes from our airfield when all of a sudden a Mosquito crossed my way, just in front of my nose, less than ten meters away. He came from the right side in a diagonal angle and passed in front of my aircraft. It was pure coincidence. He was at exactly the same height, at the same time, so I followed him, and so I just decided to fire a burst into him as he came into my Revi. With a very strong armament of four [30mm] cannons, he went down.”{3}
Pilots soon learned that the Me 262 was in fact quite maneuverable at high speed, but not a dogfighter, despite its heavy wing loading, lack of low speed thrust, and inability to adjust throttle speed as in the 109 or 190, although it was not designed nor expected to be a dogfighter. It could be out-turned by everything within the Allied inventory. Only its dive and climb rate were insurance policies. However, as Jon Guttman chronicles, even having altitude was not a guarantee of survivaclass="underline"