Category Last Days of the Luftwaffe

As defeat loomed in the spring of 1944, a wave of changes was introduced into the structure of Luftwaffe armaments. These changes were accompanied by a major reorganisation in personnel. The Reich Aviation Ministry (RLM) ceded most of its influence in the sphere of aircraft development and production and other aerial weapons to the Reich Minister for Armaments and War Production. Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch, General – Luftzeugmeister (QM-General for Aircraft Supply) at RLM, was replaced in

that capacity by Dipl. Ing. Karl-Otto Saur, Speer’s head of planning, as Chief of Staff. Saur s influence on the Jagerstab, the fighter emergency programme and the later Riistungsstab was very considerable. Nobody by-passed him, and he became the eminence gris of Luftwaffe armament.

It came as a surprise that, despite the Allied air bombardment of Reich territory and occupied western Europe, aircraft production was not only not weakened to the extent that the Allies expected, but actually expanded on a scale considered impossible. This was achieved by the Jagerstab (Fighter Staff) which had been introduced for a six-month trial period on 1 March 1944 by Reich Minister Speer.

This significant sector of the armaments economy was stripped of all bureaucracy, and industry received binding instructions in accordance with the Fiihrer-principle, often being subjected to radical and energetic controls. The Jagerstab was also responsible for carrying out immediate repairs to aircraft factories damaged by enemy action, and where necessary for relocating them in forests or underground facilities. For this purpose the Jagerstab had absolute authority over the workforce to the exclusion of all other authorities. This factor, and a tightening of aircraft production by reducing the number of types being produced to the most efficient standard versions, led to a rise in the monthly output of completed machines from the beginning of 1944.

The management of the Jagerstab was in the hands of Speer and Milch. Dipl. Ing. Schlempp was responsible for ‘building measures’. SS-Gruppenfuhrer Dr. Ing. Kammler administered ‘special production measures’, and Dr. Ing. Wagner the planning stages. It was thanks to these leaders that within a very short time the Jagerstab was able to force through the planned production programme at a fierce pace.

Hitler’s edict of 19 June 1944 called for the comprehensive concentration of armaments and war production, and provided Speer with a considerable growth in his personal powers. This led to the Jagerstab not only having independent production responsibility for everything from individual parts to whole warplanes, but also being involved in the procurement process. Accordingly, from the summer of 1944, the hitherto long drawn-out decision processes since time immemorial the tradition at RLM were abolished and the heavy hand introduced to obtain desired decisions in the shortest possible time. The Jagerstab was now also able to lay down the requirements in personnel and to call upon all conceivable resources to meet production targets.

On 1 July 1944 the jurisdiction of the Jagerstab was made manifest for the first time during a conference with Reichsmarschall Goring when it was laid down that with immediate effect 3,800 fighters, including 500 Me 262 jets, must come off the lines monthly. Consideration was also given to building 400 heavily-armed fighter-bombers (Jabos) and 500 night fighters. In order to

reduce the endless flood of applications for changes to prototypes, on 3 July 1944 the Luftwaffe and industry were ordered to do whatever possible to curtail conversions and the redesigning of new aircraft in order to have the fewest changes.

Again, on 20 July 1944, Hitler reiterated that for German industry, in all areas of armaments including the production of new operational aircraft, the aim was the highest possible output in the shortest time. He put Heinkel director Karl Freytag, renowned for his ability to get things done, in charge of aircraft production, while the equally well-versed Dr Walter Werner looked after the piston-engine and turbine side of things. On 27 July the post of GLZM (Director of Aircraft Production and Supply) at the RLM held by Milch was abolished and replaced by the Office of Chief of Aviation Technical Equipment (Chief-TLR). This shortened the command chain, got decisions made quicker and was intended to bring improved weapons and aircraft to operational readiness within the shortest possible time. The Chief-TLR reported direcdy to the Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff.

By 1 September 1944 the numerous test centres were under uniform control and development tasks were better distributed. Test Centre Command (KdE),

the Luftwaffe Technical Academy and the research organisation and all its associated centres were subordinated to Chief-TLR. Aircraft production was to aim for a tightening of all industrial processes throughout for the highest possible quality. The rigorous measures introduced to raise production brought at first only partial success, and, despite turning out new aircraft at an unprecedented tempo and scale, Speer and Saur were not satisfied.

In another discussion between Goring and Saur on 12 December 1944, the Reichsmarschall set out his ideas for a programme to be realised in the coming months involving the future monthly production of 1,500 He 162s and Me 262s. The Bf 109 G-10 and K-4, and the Fw 190 A-8, A-9 and D-9 would make way for 2,000 Та 152s monthly, while a further 150 Me 163s and Me 263s were planned for air defence. From January 1945 besides 300 Do 335s, 100 Ju 388s were to be produced monthly as Jabos, night fighters and for long-range reconnaissance. The Ar 234 B-2 was to be the standard jet bomber. The hope was that 500 of these machines might be sufficient not only to equip several bomber squadrons, but also for reconnaissance and as night fighters. In all, from January

1945 it was intended to produce 6,000 aircraft monthly for front-line service and up to 400 training machines.

Saur spoke out in favour of giving the Me 262 and He 162 the highest priority in production and delivery to squadrons, the planned supply of materials, equipment, transport to the manufacturer and transfer to the front. Night fighters were to be given a lower priority. Their production should fall to 200 machines monthly by mid-1945 and then rise slowly to 380 again. All Jabo production would be superseded by jet fighters and replaced by the twin-engined Do 335 in due course. Future bomber production would be cut back. In place of 600 Fw 190 F aircraft, only 350 Та 152s were now being considered for offensive missions. That was not enough: jet aircraft, especially the Me 262 A-la and the single turbine He 162 A-l (MK 108 30-mm guns) and A-2 (MG 151/20), were to replace all piston-engined aircraft. Because of the prevailing fuel situation, aircraft such as the Ar 234 or Ju 287 were to play only a minor role from the beginning of 1945. The remaining jet or rocket models, for example the Go 229 or Ju 248 (Me 263) never reached series production. Although the attempt was made, the endeavour failed because many fuselages lacked equipment or engines.

Soon after the appointment of the first Chief-TLR and the later Piihrer edicts to concentrate production, the former Jagerstab was seen as obsolete. A more influential body was to be introduced in which Speer, building on the positive experience gained with the Jagerstab, planned an armaments staff (Riistungsstab) omnipotent in every respect and responsible for equipping the entire Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. Under its control the Luftwaffe would have a comprehensive aircraft and flak programme at the earliest opportunity. Speer would head the Riistungsstab with Saur as his deputy and chief of staff: General-Staff Engineer Roluf Lucht was responsible for the day-to-day decisions. SS-Gruppenfuhrer Kammler remained in charge of special planning measures such as building bomb-proof aircraft and engine factories. The Riistungsstab would not only coordinate individual units better, but even handle assembly and transport to smooth the way, and on 1 August 1944 Speer cancelled his directive of 1 March 1944 establishing the Jagerstab.

Amongst the Riistungsstab’s surprising early decisions was an order to series produce the Ju 287 and expand Ar 234 production. At least 1,000 fight jet fighters (He 162 A-l and A-2) were now projected monthly, together with the highest possible number of Me 262s, presumably at Hitlers intervention. In the remaining months, these very incisive measures by the Riistungsstab made possible a reasonable output of completed aircraft despite Allied air raids, although the lack of fuel and destruction of communications had an unfavourable effect on overall production.

Only from January 1945 did orderly production come closer each week to coming apart at the seams, yet armaments planning was not to fall apart

completely until Reich territory began to be lost. Even in April 1945 Bf 109s, Me 262s and He 219s were still emerging from underground centres, but those in charge were by then heading for an uncertain future. The Rechlin test centre s personnel, for example, ended their war at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, while surviving parts of the RLM and the Riistungsstab had been dispersed and lost contact. For them the war was over: the time of captivity had begun.

EHK was basically interested in proven concepts. What was required was new ideas such as variable-wing geometry as applied in 1945 to all projected German

fighters in the ‘high performance range’, and research on high speeds, which Messerschmitt was conducting into several developments based on the Me 262 A-la. Apart from a prototype with larger wings and swept-back tailplane at the beginning of 1945, Messerschmitt had no possibility of introducing significant modifications to Me 262 series production.

New wing shapes with critical profiles, such as swing-wings, remained purely theoretical since even the most minor modification to series production would interfere seriously with the rate of output. From December 1944, ideas were exchanged between DVL and the development bureau at Oberammergau on a supersonic fighter. There were at least three studies of the Me PI 106 in hand. This was a small jet with HeS Oil turbine and swept wings. Besides this project, later variants with a TLR (Turbinen-Luftstrahl-Raketen: turbine—rocket combination) or pure rocket engine were calculated to be capable of 1,500 km/hr (930 mph). Whether the Me PI 106 could have exceeded Mach 1 is unproven, however.

Professor Alexander Lippisch was also very interested in supersonic aircraft, for which he developed his P-13 design, a ramjet fighter with additional rocket propulsion. According to surviving calculations this aircraft could have flown at 1,650 km/hr (1,025 mph). As with the bulk of all project studies, the P-13 was never realised. Only DM 1, an experimental machine for subsonic speeds, was captured by Allied forces at Prien/Chiemsee.

When American scientific teams went to a cellar at Wetach/Allgau to recover the files of the Oberammergau research institute, they discovered that the French Army had been quicker and already spirited away 23 metal cases and eight watertight sealed steel tubes of drawings. The Me PI 101 files were not made available to the Americans until much later. The American team made two other finds in the Oberammergau district, while a fourth fell into the hands of a British Army captain. Eventually everything was confiscated bar four metal cases. Files in central Germany and Austria, captured mainly by Russian troops, were a rich harvest not to be shared with allies. This was also the case for projects described here, where British and American teams gathered the majority of the spoils.

In place of the Me 163, and to fill the void until the appearance of the Но IX (later Go 229), the He 162 Volksjagerwzs considered. A telex dated 15 September 1944 from OKL to Generalmajor Galland, General Adolf Dickfeld of Luftwaffe recruitment, the Reich Youth leader Artur Axmann and Oberst von Below, Hitler’s Luftwaffe adjutant, suggested that Hider Youth pilots should fly this single-jet fighter.

On 25 September Hitler became aware that Himmler was proposing to form the first Waffen-SS fighter unit with the Volksjager. Unlike Goring and the RLM experts, Hider had no objection in principle. The situation came to a head when it became known that the Waffen-SS was attempting to recruit Luftwaffe officers and specialists in development and air armaments for the formation of an SS-Luftwaffe. Inducements were being offered in the form of quick promotions. Reich Youth leader Axmann was interested in the plan. On 1 October 1944 he had a long conversation with Generaloberst Alfred Keller, the influential NSFK leader, and Major Werner Baumbach regarding the use of Hitler Youth to fly the He 162 and so give the Reich air defence a new impetus. Keller felt that the NSFK should be involved in the great Gewaltaufgabe 162 (perhaps best translated as the ‘He 162 Extreme Measures Programme’). He was intending to conscript an entire Hider Youth year of entrants immediately after their glider training. There would be no intermediate training with motorised aircraft and aerial gunnery could be practised on the ground, Keller asserted. The fact that these young ‘pilots’would have no tactical knowledge or formation flying experience seemed neither here nor there.

It was in this way that growing fanaticism replaced reality, while vulgar solutions were pursued and postulated as problem-solving based on logic. The NSFK had not only argued for basic aviator training but also for the preparation of fighter pilots for the Me 163. Now came new objectives. The NSFK would not only support the building of the He 162 trainer but also the training of young pilots to man it. This did not seem right to the RLM. High-ranking decision­makers doubted that the youthful qualities of these young aviators stretched as far as handling the He 162, and particularly not in the heat of combat. Saur only accepted this position later and then decided against having Hitler Youth as
fighter pilots at all. But both the NSFK leader and the SS were sufficiently fanatical to argue for underage pilots and finally use them.

In order to prevent worse, the Luftwaffe undertook the training of the applicants. All volunteers were concentrated in Oesau Company for training but they were not told what kind of machines were to be trained for. Aviation training for young pilots would economise on fuel by using gliders which looked like, and to some extent flew like, the He 162. Winches with a pull of 700 hp were made for getting the first ten two-seater gliders up. If the training machines proved their worth, another 200 were to have been produced with a corresponding number of extra winches.

To produce the training aircraft in the shortest possible time, on 25 October 1944 the NSFK asked the management of Heinkel-Siid for three of its most experienced aeronautical designers. Kurt May would order the materials for 10-40 training machines from the SS to ensure there were no delays. Thanks to the increasing involvement of the SS in Luftwaffe affairs, its influence on the NSFK also grew, the purpose in the medium term being to incorporate it eventually into the SS. Goring, apprised of the details, insisted that training in motorised aircraft was essential in the Luftwaffe. Only in that way could later operations be mounted with some prospect of success. The Luftwaffe high command attempted to make up the deficit in the extremely short training period by the use of special equipment. During the OKL conference on 16 November 1944 the main item on the agenda was the conversion training of pilots for the

He 162. This would start with a practice unit using a full-scale cabin simulator with mock-up basic instruments. Next there would be a simulator with working instruments, and then a true He 162 cabin with electrically-driven BMW 003 turbine and a sound unit to provide realistic take-off and in-flight noise. These devices were to be available both to Luftwaffe pilots and Hitler Youth scheduled for the Volksjager. Slow progress had been made by the beginning of 1945, however, and only parts were ever completed and delivered.

In December 1944, OKL produced new plans to use the V-l Reichenberg, a piloted version of the V-l flying bomb, and the Chief-TLR was soon pressing for the early development of the Re 5 version. This had a shorter forward fuselage than the Re 4. There was an option for 250 Re 5s dependent on the flight test results of the first ten prototypes, and then the Re 5, together with the Re 2 for flight instructor training, would be produced as a training machine for the He 162! This new idea came about because no suitable Volksjager-type practice machine was available to provide future pilots with flying experience in a jet. The fifth Reichenberg variant was never completed, however. At the latest by April 1945 OKL had realised that although light and cheap to turn out, it did not match up adequately to the operational demands or the tactical possibilities.

The German Research Institute for Gliding (DFS) was investigating a similar project meanwhile. Under the designation Ebery a small fighter was built which could be towed by an Fw 190 or Me 262 to within a few kilometres of the target and released. A primitive rocket-propelled aircraft in wood, the So 344, designed by Heinz Sombold, was armed with rockets enabling it to attack a bomber formation. Similar designs were the Rammer and Fliegende Panzerfaust built by the airship firm Zeppelin in the late summer of 1944. Besides the Me P 1103 Rammjager, the Messerschmitt design bureau evolved the Me P 1104 variant which could be armed with either a fixed MK 108 or an R4M rocket battery. As with the Ar E 381, these designs were unsuccessful even though they could scarcely have been simpler. Even the Me P 1104 project had easily manufactured Fieseler V-l flying bomb wings. The engine plant was an HWK 109-509. Willy Messerschmitt recommended the machine himself since to turn out 1,000 monthly needed only 650 man-hours labour per aircraft from start to finish, distinctly less than for the Me 163 B-l, while the investment in the Me P 1104 was substantially below that of the Bachem Ba 349 A-l.

A disadvantage of all these ‘midget fighters’was the tactical range. A ramp or catapult launch from a fixed position was one thing, using a tug aircraft quite another, for in the approach to an enemy bomber force the yoked pair was at risk for its lack of manoeuvrability and being substantially under-powered. At the end of 1944 OKL therefore urged the creation of a powerful rocket-propelled local-defence fighter able to reach the operational area without assistance.

Another project was the brainchild of the Focke-Wulf design office. This was based on a suggestion of 21 September 1944 for a manned V-l for ramming aerial targets. Instead of a warhead the variant would have an armoured nose to destroy the tailplane of enemy bombers. The pilot, seated in an armoured cockpit amidships, would separate his fuselage section by means of explosive bolts and use an ejector seat to save himself. The standard V-l ramjet would be replaced by a more efficient Walter HWK engine. As the machine could not take off from the ground to reach the enemy bomber fleets, a tug would have been required to get it up to altitude which, in view of Allied air superiority, was out of the question.

In response to an RLM enquiry whether a highly aerodynamic, fast, wooden flying bomb could be made cheaply to replace the Ju 88, in 1944 Junkers prepared various ideas including Mistel combination 5, an He 162 with a BMW 003 E-l turbine as the cheap, manned upper part, a Ju 268 below. This is detailed in files dated 12 May 1945 and compiled for the occupation powers at Dessau. The Mistel 5 was to have been powered by two BMW 003 A-l and one BMW 003 E-l turbine. The Ju 268 was of wooden construction and had a wingspan of 11.5 metres and was 14.5 metres long (37 ft 9 in x 47 ft 7in). Wing area was 22 square metres (237 sq. ft). The undercarriage was not retractable and would have been jettisoned after take-off. The combination weighed 6,030 kg, the Ju 268 4,300 kg. Together with 4,200 kg fuel, a 2-tonne explosive payload plus the He 162 with 1,270 kg fuel atop the fuselage, the take-off weight was 13,500 kg. Supplementary tanks were necessary for the He 162 in the turbo or ramjet variants because the standard He 162 A-2 range did not allow for the return flight. Top speed was estimated at 840 km/hr at 6,000 metres (520 mph at 20,000 ft).The range was 1,000 km at 11,000 metres (620 miles at 36,000 ft).

The lower component would have had nine separate fuel tanks in the fuselage in the basic configuration. An SC 2000 was to be carried in a makeshift bomb –

bay. A variant had room for an SHL 3500. This combination would have needed a lot of fuel and was thus only suitable for shorter range missions. In the third, trainer version the pilot could fly the lower Ju 268 unit from a perspex cockpit in the nose; 400 kg ballast was needed in the nose to fix the centre of gravity if no extra fuel tanks or payload was carried.

According to a document of 18 February 1945, OKL was interested principally in the 3C variant with 2,500 kilometres range, but other suggestions were being investigated by the various aircraft manufacturers. According to the Chief-TLR War Diary, Mistel 5 was at the final drawings stage at the beginning of March 1945, and the new SHL 3500D (a land mine with shrapnel) first tested on 2 March 1945 was included in the later drawings. None of the designs being worked on at Dessau in April 1945 was ever realised and the occupation forces for whom the project had been committed to paper also showed little enthusiasm for it.

A mysterious chapter unclarified to the present day concerns Hitlers uranium project worked on by several groups of researchers during the Second World War aimed at the production of material from uranium for weapons purposes. These seem to have been small SS or Reichspost groups, as for example Baron Marfred von Ardenne, who specialised in particle research in his Reichspost-fiinded laboratory at Berlin-Lichterfelde. The Reichspost had an interest in nuclear physics. On 27 March 1945 at a meeting in Thuringia, Speer, Himmler, Kammler and other important personalities discussed the question of using a ‘miracle weapon to change the course of the war at the last hour. Eyewitness reports of small scale, but very destructive explosive tests at Ohrdruf and elsewhere in central Germany in March 1945 remain to be confirmed. No documentary evidence regarding such a miracle weapon project has so far come to light.

he coming collapse of the Luftwaffe could be seen relatively early, although at the highest level, in particular for Reichsmarschall Goring, this was not accepted. After the disaster at Stalingrad, the overall war situation deteriorated and with it the general situation for the Luftwaffe. Offensive capacity declined as a result of the heavy losses over the Eastern Front and the aircrew losses sustained during the attempts to supply encircled troop conglomerations. During the fighting in the East and Italy, the Allies found it increasingly easy to win territory and so force the Wehrmacht completely to the defensive.

From the summer of 1943, the US Eighth Air Force demonstrated that the Allies could successfully attack important ground targets everywhere in Europe with high precision even by day and in unprecedented numbers. RAF four- engined bombers attacked one major German city after another, mosdy by night, their purpose being to demoralise the German people, particularly the labour force, and bring about the greatest possible war weariness in the medium term.

The increased use of long-range escort fighters and ever better protected four – engined bombers such as the B-17 and B-24 was decisive for the course of the air war. In this way the Allies forced the squadrons of the once ‘invincible’ Luftwaffe step by step onto the defensive, even over Reich home territory. The fire storm at Hamburg showed the Luftwaffe leadership the strength of the enemy against which it was pitted, and more and more towns disintegrated into ash and rubble. The beginning of the end had been reached.

As 1944 dawned, large enemy bomber formations were attacking the production centres of the German aviation industry even by day. Heavy bomb- loads were dropped on shipyards, power stations and above all fuel refineries so important for a war effort in which all had been wagered on mechanisation. Nevertheless the number of completed fighters still rose noticeably. The monthly increase in production from 1,000 to 3,000 single-engined machines was intended eventually to force the Western Allies to abandon their bombing policy.

Aircraft Production Programmes 223 and 224 had this aim but increased production of fighters was not possible at once. One difficult problem was the

shortage of aluminium and other necessary raw materials for aircraft manufacture. Fuel production and the adequate training of aircrews also declined from 1944. The decrease in training flights was proportional to the lack of operational successes experienced later. An infrastructure disintegrating under constant bombing and a gradual flattening out of fuel production provided little prospect of cheer from mid-1944. Lines of communication, particularly the railways, were the constant target of air raids and low-level attacks, while attacks on inland shipping and other traffic, especially in the West, ensured delays to raw materials and other supplies.

Operation Steinbock, the resumption of the bombing offensive in the West, proved little more than a flash in the pan over England. In comparison, the ever­growing enemy air forces were so superior that they could strike with great precision wherever and whenever they chose. On account of the shortened training schedules, losses during tactical training rose. This was partly due to the lack of flying instructors and training aircraft with dual controls. In the summer of 1944 the training period of Luftwaffe fighter pilots was only 35 per cent of

its former length, and the training units also faced severe shortages of fuel. Pilots newly operational were often referred to as ‘three-day wonders’ by veterans because so many failed to survive their first sorties.

The massive delays which occurred before the large-scale introduction of jets, and the numerous related technical hitches, spawned serious doubts in the possibility of final victory. The advent of a miracle weapon was a factor even amongst a section of the Reich government which provided hope for a favourable change in the situation, and became important in evaluating the military situation to the very end.

A final attempt to realise an all-weather jet aircraft besides the Me 262 was made at the beginning of January 1945. Apart from the 1 TL aircraft already mentioned, of which many designs exist, for the first times guidelines were established for an equally powerful 2 TL fighter.

On 27 January Chief-TLR issued his first instruction for the planning of such an aircraft. By early February the decisive specification for the later development, worked out with members of the EH К Flugzeuge, were notified to individual manufacturers. The result was to be a heavy fighter and destroyer armed with at least four, or if possible six MK 108s, and 160 rounds per gun. The fixed, forward­facing weapons were to be housed in a sealed turret. In place of the MK 108, the installation of up to six MG 213s was considered, of which four would have been located in the turret, but this was reduced to two to save weight. Two 30 mm MK 108s were planned as upward-firing weapons. This powerful armament was to be supplemented by a trainable gun firing to the rear. All machine guns had extremely efficient automatic aiming devices. This was extremely important because OKL proposed to deploy the heavy fighter, and the fighter-bomber version, in all weathers and at night. The installation of two HeS Oil A-ls or TLR engines would make the machine into a long-distance fighter with a fast rate of climb.

The turbine-rocket combination would climb steeply to the ceiling of 10,000 metres (33,000 ft) with good endurance at that altitude. Propulsion and an offensive radar system with automatic solution finding were to be situated forward and a target-finder in the rear was to be used to detect attacking enemy aircraft. The most important elements were to be well armoured and resistant to 20-mm hits; 4,500 litres (1,200 Imp gal) of fuel was to be carried. Wing loading worked out at 300 kg/sq. metre (7,100 lb/sq. ft). Speed was to be at least 1,000 km/hr (620 mph), adequate for engaging all known enemy aircraft.

Focke-Wulf, especially from 1944 onward, developed numerous studies for a two-seat heavy fighter with up to three turbines. Starting from the ‘two- propulsion system TL fighter with the HeS Oil’of 23 November 1944, various studies were completed by the end of the year. Their aim was an all-weather night fighter with two HeS 011 turbines. At the conclusion Focke-Wulf could put forward five different designs, the last being completed on 19 March 1945. The almost 20-tonne aircraft with three HeS 011 turbines could operate at 14,000 metres at a top speed of 900 km/hr (46,000 ft; 560 mph).

Dornier had also given thought to a multi-engined heavy all-weather fighter with mixed plant such as As 413 with Jumo 222 C and D, or two DB 603N and two BMW 003. This kind of thinking was too cosdy to build having regard to the war situation, and for this reason Dornier went over to a three-seater operational aircraft with two HeS Oils. Even then, none of the designs was possible at that time. Nevertheless EH К was still duty-bound – with the greatest optimism – to announce that it would soon be possible to turn out 100 2 TL fighters monthly. On 9 March 1945 OKL completed its previous specifications for the 2 TL project, now known by its final designation ‘2 TL All-Weather and Night Fighter’. Besides improved oblique armament the

machine would have a tactical brake (a special flap designed to reduce flight speed rapidly) from the start. On 2 April the equipment for the later operational aircraft was debated at Bad Eilsen. Although nobody knew where the next tank of fuel would be coming from, EH К was now considering even more complicated additions such as blind-firing processes and other advanced electronics for the concept. Discussions included a four-turbine long-range bomber to replace the Ju 287.

On 12 April 1945 all work on the new fighter was given up. There had been no possibility of the project being realised; the only result was to offer the victorious powers plenty of opportunity to catch up to the level of development achieved by the German aircraft industry.

The heavy Luftwaffe losses led to ever younger pilots filling the gaps in the ranks. Both the NSFK and the Hitler Youth could not remain inactive. New operational pilots, especially for the He 162, were to be trained at the Reich Glider School at Trebbin, and also at Laucha and Brno from the end of January 1945. At all three aerodromes, training was arranged for the Me 163 and other types kept secret from the novices, perhaps the Natter.

The ‘total mission had been rejected by Hitler in principle, but from the beginning of the year had numerous advocates, amongst them the famous female aviator Hanna Reitsch. What the young candidates were actually being trained for seems to have been a mystery to all involved. Ever greater importance, as was obvious, was being attached to the He 162. A whole Geschwader was to be equipped with it. The idea of giving the second formation the name HitlerJugend was received with enthusiasm in the ranks of the boyish heroes and their promoters. It was necessary to press ahead as soon as possible but as neither the required infrastructure nor airworthy He 162s were available for the planned training, instruction tended to be mainly theoretical.

From the end of November 1944 therefore, life was breathed into Recruitment Group Oesau by accepting volunteers born in 1928 for training in theory at Luftkriegsschule 1, Dresden-Klotzsche, from where they would be drafted to Oschatz in central Germany for continuation training as fighter pilots. A training company and supply unit were set up from the various recruitment groups. In February 1945 Kompanie Oesau was spread between Celle and a holding camp at Goslau instead of Dresden. This was a unit whose personnel were to be used as ‘fighter pilots recruited for special purposes’ and then – depending how things turned out – as infantry. Once aviator training was dissolved, many of the pilots went to recendy formed anti-tank commandos.

Most of the barely 17- or 18-year-old pilots still believed, on the basis of assurances given by their superiors, that there would be a chance to fly the Natter, over which the SS had great influence, or the Volksjager if things changed. Behind the scenes the power struggle between the Party (that is the SS, NSFK and Hider Youth) and the Luftwaffe raged on. The Reich Youth leader attempted to shrug off NSFK influence by making a deal with the SS. Meanwhile Himmler had accepted the Natter, successfully test flown by Oberstleutnant Siegfried Knemeyer, despite Luftwaffe objections that it was included in their projects classified as ‘manned flak rockets’. The machine was a ‘disposable’ unit from which the pilot would bale out after firing his Fohn rockets. The idea of a ‘Luftwaffe Suicide Division’, openly proposed by Generalmajor Walter Storp during his stint as General der Flieger to 31 January 1945, also found a reception at the RLM. Most at OKL, and Hider himself, were opposed to suicide missions of all kinds, but could not always prevent them, although they remained few.

As development of the Natter and other aircraft needed time, the NSFK attempted to conjure up at least a couple of He 162s. In mid-February 1945 work had barely begun on the first two planned training machines with an engine. The He 162 training glider built by the NSFK at Dresden was flight- tested for the first time at Trebbin on 1 March 1945. In the provisional judgement of veteran airmen the aircraft was unsuitable for Hitler Youth pilots, being so unstable that the planned run of prototypes had to be halted while attempts were made to improve the design. Time was lacking in which to turn out a useful glider tug after production centres in the Erzgebirge came under threat from the Red Army sooner than expected.

Besides the single-seater with normal surfaces (as a glider), work on a two-seat trainer with greater wing surfaces began. The fourth variant in preparation at the beginning of 1945 was a two-seater with BMW 003 E-l turbine at DLH Oranienburg. Due to under-capacity the prototype engine for the two planned experimental machines was never completed at Heinkel-Siid Heidfeld/Vienna, as was the case with all other mixed-construction He 162 trainers. In the end, none left the works. So long as it remained possible, training and instruction was given in the hangars, but youthful dreams of the aviator’s life now faced an imminent end.

On 19 March training for fighter pilot recruitment in Bohemia was abandoned upon the approach of the Red Army, and as a result the NSFK agreed with OKL to concentrate practical flying training mainly in central Germany. After even the meagre requirements for two geographically separate training institutions could no longer be met, the best candidates from each of the three

schools were assembled at Trebbin. The Reich Glider School belonged to 4. Group NSFK Berlin/Mark Brandenburg. In comparison to the unit at Brno, the school was relatively well equipped at the beginning of 1945.The last course began at the end of March, some of the trainees having been transferred in from Laucha and Brno.

According to the diary entry of instructor Georg Cordt, in the second half of March there was at least one He 162 training aircraft in its component parts in one of the hangars at Trebbin. On 26 March construction of the machines began and two days later several flying instructors attached to the course for ‘Fighter Pilot Recruitment for Special Purposes’ made at least seven flights in the unpowered school glider, an especially powerful winch being used for the take­offs. On 29 March an aircraft was used as a tug. On 8 April the famous aviator Hanna Reitsch arrived unannounced in her Bii 131 and flew for the first and probably only time over Trebbin airfield in the He 162 S. Meanwhile motorised training flights at the Reich Glider School had been ordered severely restricted. Constant air alarms made any useful work on the ground or in the air extremely difficult and although some flying was done it could not be called very useful.

From 15 April flying routine gave way to Panzerfaust training. This involved firing the weapon at a wooden mock-up of a T-34 and at targets set up in the terrain. That their future role in the war, whether trainee or instructor, would be as ground troops became ever clearer. A few days previously Oesau units at Celle and Goslar with a total strength of 1,500 men were ordered to prepare for the

front. On 1 April 1. Kompanie Oesau at Celle was raised to Bataillon Oesau of three companies. On 6 April 2. Kompanie Oesau, also of battalion size, went direcdy from Goslar to the front. Only two weeks later, on 21 April at the hamlet of Michelstein, the battalion had been reduced to 65, all others being dead, wounded or missing in action. The survivors served as ‘paratroops’ on the so – called ‘Innermost Line’.

Numerous weapons for pin-point bombing, such as this ‘Special Machine with Bomb – Torpedo 1400’were projected from 1944 onwards. They would have demanded kamikaze tactics from the pilot.

On 20 April the Special Course at Trebbin was dissolved and all personnel at the Reich Glider School were attached to the newly formed Division Friedrich Ludwig Jahn of Twelfth Army, for the defence of Berlin. During the heavy fighting around Potsdam, the unit was encircled for a while but reached German lines after sustaining heavy losses. Casualties rose. One of two Hitler Youth companies was reduced to 14 boys, the other, including its company commander, fell in the field. Shordy afterwards the surviving unit broke up and its members sought refuge in flight.

The midget fighters such as He P 1077 Julia developed from the summer of 1944. The Bachem Natter was another midget fighter intended to assist jet

fighters such as the Me 262 to regain mastery in the air. These and all similar projects arose from the stated desire of the RLM on 15 July 1944 for a light fighter for local defence. By mid-November 1944 it was evident that it had poor tactical potential, contrary to the assessment of the light fighter with BMW 003 engines given in September 1944. For this reason, on 15 November a ‘single – seater special aircraft in wood’ suitable for anti-bomber work in the local protection role was demanded. Simpler than ‘midget fighters’, the new fighter generation would fire rockets of great destructive power into the enemy bomber formation.