On April 25, 1945, JV-44 was vectored to intercept the B-26s of the 17th Bomb Group, their old nemesis, and both units were very familiar with each other by this time. Despite the three waves of JV-44 and I./JG-7 jets closing in on the bombers, the escort fighters proved effective in keeping them at bay. However, Unteroffizier Franz Köster just arrived from JG-7 (one of the men begging for a transfer from Weissenberger’s command) just behind Neumann and Wolfgang Späte, another refugee. Köster had already scored two P-51s, and later would claim a P-38.
CHAPTER 22
Galland’s Last Mission
Flying the 262 was the only thing that could lift my spirits after my experiences. I would have preferred death to having to hear Göring’s voice again.
On April 26, 1945, the first five of twelve jets lifted off from Riem, followed within a few minutes by the last four jets, possibly led by Bär. The Munich radar control station directed them toward Ulm. Once again, the 17th Bomb Group had been dispatched to bomb an airfield, this time at Lechfeld, the home base for the remnants of JG-7. They were a French B-16 unit and sixty other B-26s from the 42nd Bomb Wing. Their escorts were sixty-three P-47s of the 27th and 50th Fighter Groups of the 64th Fighter Wing.
The first four Me 262s of JV-44 intercepted the B-26 formation containing twenty-four aircraft dead ahead from a twelve o’clock high approach, the closing speed so fast that neither side had time to fire. Galland led his flight into a wide arcing turn to attack from the eight o’clock stern position. Galland was the first to engage:
“I immediately had a bomber in my gun sight, I was closing fast. I fired right away, every round struck, and the bomber blew up in a great blinding flash, and then I fired the rockets, but I had forgotten to release the safety catch. I then fired on another bomber with my cannons. I saw some hits, and smoke, pieces flew away, but I did not have time to observe. I then felt many hits in my jet, like stones thrown against a metal wall. The aircraft shuddered. I had been hit by the fifties from the bombers. My jet still flew, no great problems, but I was losing fuel. I decided it was time to break off, and I radioed the flight of my situation.”{1}
Robert Forsyth recorded the eyewitness account of Staff Sgt. Albert Linz, a gunner on the B-26 My Gal Sal, piloted by 1st Lt. Carl Johanson. Linz described his engaging the three jets, one in particular that failed to fire its rockets, which was undoubtedly Galland approaching at an altitude of 12,000 feet. Although Galland was unable to use rockets, his cannons blew up the neighboring B-26.{2} My Gal Sal did manage to return despite being damaged, landing on one engine at Luneville, France. The crew was uninjured.
Galland and his two wingmen, Schuhmacher and Kammerdiener, streaked under the bombers and attacked the formation. It is recorded by 1st Lt. Howard P. Husband, a navigator on the mission: “As we approached our target for the day in southern Germany, German jet fighters came at us from almost head-on at twelve o’clock. I was in the leading B-26 as they shot past without firing, two going right under our ship. A few seconds later I heard explosions and two Me 262s shot past our B-26 very close. One jet looped in front of us and our crews saw him shoot down one of our P-47 escort fighters. Also a total of three B-26 bombers were seen to go down from the formation. We were in bad weather at the time the jets appeared, about to turn back to base in France.”{3} A fourth B-26 already damaged by Galland’s second pass managed to return to base, but it was so badly shot up it crashed, killing all on board.
Once again Schallmoser was busy, this time flying “White 14” and blowing a Marauder out of the sky with his rockets. Feldwebel Otto Kammerdiener flew “White 10” and attacked a B-26, while Oberfeldwebel Leo Schuhmacher flew through the bombers unable to fire due to a weapons system failure. Kammerdiener had a victory with the B-26, but had to land his damaged jet on one engine. As this was happening, Galland had taken .50 fire from several gunners. The one gunner who probably was the most effective at slowing him down enough to be jumped later was Technical Sgt. Henry Dietz of the 34th Bombardment Squadron, whose account is chronicled in JV-44.{4}
Galland recalled: “I was shot down by a [Republic P-47D] Thunderbolt as we took off to intercept a bomber force. The fighter was flown by a man named James J. Finnegan, whom I met some years later and we became friends.{5} When large fifty-caliber bullets strike your fuselage, it makes a very interesting sound, unlike cannon fire or small-caliber .303-inch British bullets. It packs a heavy punch, and when several hit you, it shakes the aircraft. Once I felt I was out of range of the bombers’ defensive fire, I tried to climb slightly and bank around for another pass, but my right engine began flickering and sputtering, then it caught again.
“Suddenly my instrument panel disintegrated, my canopy was shattered, and my right knee was struck by a bullet that grazed me. I had seen some P-51s in the area, and figured one caught me. I was losing power and in great pain. My right engine suddenly started losing thrust rapidly and then died. I thought about parachuting out but realized that might be dangerous, as some of our pilots had been strafed upon exiting their jets. [The practice had a quiet acceptance in the USAAF, since it was believed that jet pilots were premium, highly trained pilots and could not be allowed to return to the air.]
“I was also at a high rate of speed, perhaps five hundred miles per hour after I dropped the nose, then my airspeed bled off. What had happened, as I banked above and around for another attack, I was hit, apparently as I banked and bled off airspeed. I thought at the time, and for some years afterward, that it was one of the Mustangs that shot me, as I saw a few on escort duty. Later I learned it was Finnegan in a P-47. I had previously radioed for [Leutnant Heinz] Sachsenberg to get his fighters in the air. He was an outstanding and very reliable fighter pilot, and we trusted him with our lives. [Sachsenberg commanded the Fw 190D unit that protected the jets as they returned to the airfield.]
“I flew for the deck and headed for this field at the air base, which was also under attack. I cut the power to my good engine as I leveled out, and since I still had aileron and rudder control, stabilized my jet into a level attitude, and thumped across the field on the engines. My gear would not come down, and later I found that my nose wheel had been flattened, and smoke was pouring from my plane. The first thought I had was of Steinhoff and remembering what had happened to him. I also knew that it was not beyond reason and experience for pilots to strafe a downed jet, or the pilot, and I did not want to be sitting in it or even be anywhere around it. I opened the canopy, climbed out to get away, in case it should explode, only to find aircraft dropping bombs and firing rockets at me. Well, our mission netted five victories total, and none of the pilots were killed.”{6}
Finnegan wrote to Galland after the war that he was pleased to have removed a great ace and German general from the war, but he also wrote to Galland: “However, as you are most aware, I also consider the experience one of a very lucky circumstance and realize that if the roles were reversed, I might not be writing to you today.”{7}
Galland’s response was interesting, and in the typical dry humor of the General of the Fighters: “Even today, I still have a little splinter in my right knee which is the property of the United States government…”{8} The state of JV-44 minus its commander was explained by Galland: