PISTON ENGINE AIRCRAFT JET KILLS

[Erich]

drop tanks were used by the NF unit 10./NJG 11. As the KG (J) 51 and 54 boys plus JG 7 did not fly far from home there was no reason to carry the extra weight considering that it was most likely they would meet up with Stangs sometime during the days operation

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Thought so. I remember seeing pics somewhere of Me-262s with droptanks.

[Erich]

two seaters and boy did they slow those jets down. later in 45 had it been so the fuel tanks would of been internalized or so on the drawing board

[Henk]

Yep, they slowed them down right. Here are some pics of the thread I opened on the Me-262s a while back.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...ants-3228.html (The Me-262 variants.)

I did mostly on the Me-262 at the Johannesburg Military Museum South Africa.

[Erich]

back to chronological order // who says this cannot be done ?

Janaury 13, 45 Lt. Walter Konantz of the 55th fg shoots down a KG(J)51 262 flown by Unteroffizier Alfred Farber just taking off from his airfield and he was kia.

A photo-recon Mossie from the 25th bg was attacked at random by two 262's of JG 7 evidently not too experienced as the Mossie flew tight turns and evaded their rounds. the two jets came along side of the Mossie and waved to the Mossie pilot and then flew off

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Good pilot, but I can really see a Mossie tangeling with 262's.

[Henk]

That is funny, they waved at the pilot and then flew off, that is good.

[hooter]

I watched a discovery programme on the mustang p-51 battles over germany-one of the americans said he had just shot down his opponent-and after he had bailed out, before he pulled his ripcord,as the american flew past, there was the german pilot saluting him at terminal velocity-I think the american pilots remark was something like 'here was a real professional'

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Intersting, never had heard of that.

[Henk]

Well you do get professional pilots and then you get guys who just do there job.

It is like Adolf Galland who shot down a South African fighter pilot during the battle of Briton, everyone thought the SA guy was dead but they found him burnt all over his body and after the war the Adolf Galland went back and searched for him and they later became great friends and when the SA guy died, Adolf Galland said he lost a great friend. They were best of friends. They say that Adolf Galland looked for the people he shot down if they survived the war or not.

[hooter]

i think that it must be remembered that the air war, because it was often 1 on 1, did allow personal decisions on a greater scale-the last of an age of chivalry, that rarely existed on the ground-and due to information technology is even rarer now

[hooter]

and i have to say my father (with 23 squadron and the RAF since 1940)thought galland was a 'good egg'-and thought he had been given a bum deal at the end of the war

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Galland was a very good pilot and very good man. I actually find that some of the most couragous and kind acts of the war were done by men of all sides who flew in the war.

[Nonskimmer]

Originally Posted by hooter

I watched a discovery programme on the mustang p-51 battles over germany-one of the americans said he had just shot down his opponent-and after he had bailed out, before he pulled his ripcord,as the american flew past, there was the german pilot saluting him at terminal velocity-I think the american pilots remark was something like 'here was a real professional'

That sounds like Maj. Richard "Bud" Peterson of the 357th. I saw an old interview with him where he said basically that.

[Twitch]

hooter- I'd heard that slaute story for years and wondered if it was akin to an urban legand or not. Do you remember who the American pilot was?