Flight Journal - August 2017

36 FlightJournal.com
on October 5. Led by a Malta veteran, Squadron
Leader Rod Smith, the Spitfires bounced a jet of
KG. 51 over Holland and exploded it in midair.

In July, Maj. Walter Nowotny, the 23-year-old 250-victory ace, assumed command and slowly built the unit now bearing his name. He claimed eight victories in the jet before disappearing on November 8, variously reported as the victim of P-51s or of friendly flak.

Other jet units followed, including III/KG. 51 and I/KG. 54, which followed Hitler’s mandate for jet bombers. Neither Gruppe achieved much success in that role, with KG. 54 especially taking heavy losses.

Early in the new year, JG. 7 was established as a pure fighter wing under veteran Oberst Johannes Steinhoff, a widely respected leader. He absorbed elements of Nowotny’s command, but mainly the wing operated as one effective Gruppe.

Next was JV 44, a bob-tailed “wing” led by exiled Ltn. Gen. Adolf Galland, previously chief of the Luftwaffe fighters. After repeated clashes with Hitler and Hermann Göring, Galland was sent off to die as an example to the collapsing Reich. He declined to cooperate, although he finished the war with a leg wound inflicted by Ninth Air Force Thunderpilot pilot, Lt. James Finnegan.

Recalling his last mission, Galland wrote, “Out
of the fastest fighter in the world into a bomb
crater—an utterly wretched feeling!” He cadged a
ride on a tow tractor, grateful beyond words for
the devotion of a mechanic.

Available German records indicate 175 Me 262s shot down by Allied aircraft and antiaircraft gunners versus 191 credited to American and RAF fighters. Additionally, the AAF credited fighter pilots with seven Me 163s and 13 Arados.

An accounting of the war’s most significant first jet flights demonstrates how progress shifted over a two-year period:

Me 262 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All jet flight July 18, 1942 Bell P- 59........................ October 1,1942 Gloster Meteor .................... March 5, 1943 Arado 234........................ June 15, 1943 Lockheed P-80 .................... June 10, 1944 Nakajima Kikka. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 7, 1945

Of the five operational wartime jets, only the Messerschmitt, Arado, and Gloster reached combat. With some 1,400 produced, only the 262 served in quantity. However, a shortage of engines, fuel, and trained pilots limited operational use to perhaps 200 at a time, divided between bomber and fighter units flying both in the west and east.

How would the P-80 and 262 compare in

“Rhapsody in Rivets” P-80A-

1-LO 44-85069 was assigned to the 412th FG and part of the 1946 “Project Comet,” showcasing the new AAF jet program across fighter bases in the United States. It was also utilized by Col. William H.