The rest of the month was not as active, and during this period, the transition into JG-7 was started. Galland still had a special interest, and with Eder once again grounded for wounds, and with the loss of jets and pilots, orders were issued. A few jets had been damaged in sporadic encounters, until October 28, when Schall and Schreiber both claimed a single Mustang, with Schall’s nose wheel collapsing upon landing. Bley was killed after his jet struck a flock of birds, blowing his engines on takeoff, causing him to impact nose first and explode. Eder described the event:
“I had been set aside by the medical officer, but I was still coordinating things from the ground. The jet was taking off, when a large flock of crows, I think, that had been feeding around the airfield were startled. The jet was almost ready to lift off when it happened. With gear down, off the ground, and then stalling, he never had a chance. That was a sad day indeed.”{17}
Erich Hohagen also gave his report on that event, as he was taking off when this occurred: “He was right ahead of me to the right, and suddenly this large flying black mass emerged, I had a few strike my jet, hitting the nose and canopy, but I did not have any go into the engine. I was lucky. I saw him go into the ground, but given that taking off in the 262 was a very tense event during those days, I could not dwell upon it. It was so easy to forget that our enemies were not just flying fighters.”{18}
On October 29, Kommando Nowotny was busy: Schreiber claimed a P-38 from the 7th Photo Recon Group, and then he collided with a Spitfire of 4 Squadron flown by a Flight Lieutenant Wilkins, with Schreiber bailing out uninjured. Feldwebel Büttner and Oberfeldwebel Göbel both claimed P-47s. The next few days saw the KG units engaged and losing jets and a couple of pilots, and even scoring kills.{19}
November 2, 1944 (ironically the date when British intelligence deciphered the Enigma code through Ultra and learned all about the unit) once again saw a maximum effort by Kommando Nowotny as the radar centers scrambled every unit due to the large numbers of enemy bombers crossing the border. This mission was to be unique, since it was the first time the underwing mortars were introduced to the jets, while they awaited the arrival of the R4M rockets. Conventional fighters attacked the main strike force of 638 B-17s at Merseberg, while the B-24 formation near Minden was hit by six Me 262s. The jets fired in unison, damaging aircraft, including a P-47 of the 56th Fighter Group. The Americans lost forty bombers, thirty-eight B-17s, and two B-24s on this effort.{20}
Büttner claimed a P-51 and a P-47, while Oberfeldwebel Baudach claimed another P-47. Eder managed to escape being medically grounded and shot down a B-17. The only Kommando Nowotny loss was Unteroffizier Alloys Zöllner, who crashed on takeoff from Achmer. KG-51 lost a jet when Hauptmann Eberhard Winker was hit by flak and wounded.{21}
On November 3, the unit took another loss when Oberfeldwebel Banzhaff was shot down by Wing Commander (later Group Captain) J. B. Wray flying a Tempest of 122 Wing, as his after-action report details:{22}
“I was airborne in Tempest JBW carrying out an air test and also doing operational trials on a pair of anti-glare spectacles that had been sent to me for that purpose. I was flying at about 18,000 feet when two Me 262s flying in a south-westerly direction and camouflaged blue/gray. They saw me and turned in a wide arc to port, then set off in an easterly direction. I had already launched an attack, opening at full throttle and diving. My speed was in the region of 500 mph.
“I closed to about three hundred yards on the starboard aircraft and opened fire, firing about a four-second burst and hitting the tail plane. The Me 262 continued on course and started to pull away, but before he got out of range, I fired again. Suddenly a large piece flew off the aircraft and he flicked over onto his back and disappeared downwards into clouds in an inverted position. I followed, but the thickness of the cloud made it impossible for me to maintain contact.” Wray claimed a damaged/probably destroyed, as he could not confirm a kill. However, he did in fact score the victory, as Banzhaff was killed when he crashed near Hittfeld.{23}
The following day Kommando Nowotny added to its laurels when Oberfeldwebel Göbel claimed a P-47 and Eder claimed a B-17. On the other side, the 356th Fighter Group claimed an Me 262 damaged, which was the one flown by Oberfeldwebel Zander, who landed due to the damage. That 262 claim was by Capt. R. A. Rann, and Flight Officer Willard W. Royer was shot down and killed by a jet over Dummer Lake, which was Göbel’s victory. One claim for a ground destruction of a 262 on Kommando Nowotny’s airfield at Rheine was made by Pilot Officer H. F. Ross of the RAF 80 Squadron.{24}
Piecing together the remnants of their unit, which was threadbare due to a multitude of problems, Kommando Nowotny managed to have eight jets operational on November 5, as Eder stated: “We had about twenty-two jets, but due to battle damage, landing accidents, and just normal usage, as well as the lack of spare parts, we were lucky to put ten into the air on any given day. On this day I jumped into one jet, it would not start. I then climbed into another, and it started, and then the left engine died.
“I climbed into a third, and saw that my rpm and pressure gauges did not work, but that was not a great concern. My concern was the fact that the crew chief waved me off, and I found out that I had a flat right tire, and we had no spares. I ordered all unusable jets cannibalized for the parts to keep the rest working, and then I jumped into a fourth jet. It was fine, and I scored a Mustang victory that day.”{25}
November 6 was a big day, with 1,131 B-17s and B-24s from the Eighth Air Force—with escort provided by the 357th and 361st Fighter Groups—hitting multiple targets, with the primary objective being Hamburg. Kommando Nowotny was active and ready. Five Me 262s from Kommando Nowotny intercepted a large formation near Osnabrück, and they were immediately sighted by the Mustangs of the 357th.{26}
American fighter ace Capt. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager of the 357th Fighter Group shot down an Me 262 near an airfield six miles east of Essen, Germany:
“I spotted a lone 262 approaching from the south at five hundred feet. He was going very slow—around two hundred miles per hour. I split-S’d on it and was going around five hundred miles per hour at five hundred feet. Flak started coming up very thick and accurate. I fired a short burst from around four hundred yards and got hits on the wings. I had to break off at three hundred yards because the flak was getting too close. I broke straight up and looking back saw the jet enemy aircraft crash-land about four hundred yards short of the field in a wooded field. A wing flew off. I claim one Me 262 destroyed.”{27}