Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Dear Gruppe,

After the end of the war, on the 3rd of October 1945, an Arado 234 made an emergency landing at Eelde airfield in the Netherlands. This Ar 234 was on a transfer flight from Sola Norway, via Denmark to Farnborough. It was accompanied by another Ar 234 flown by (the late) Capt. Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown.

The aircraft became separated over the IJsselmeer due to heavy fog and Brown made an emergency landing at Nordholz (Germany) in failing light.

The other Arado was flown by a German pilot. Up until now it was assumed that this was Hauptmann Helmut(h?) MIERSCH. It was reported that he originated from I./FaGR 5 and that he was presumably a “maintenance test pilot”. Nothing further is known about Hauptmann Miersch other than that he was working for Capt. Brown for two years afterwards.

Triggered by the current 'Werner Altrogge' thread on this great forum, I wondered if Hauptmann Miersch could have been a Hauptmann (Ing.) and that he was attached to I./FaGR 5 in a technical role.
I contacted Chris Goss because we had discussed Hauptmann Miersch some 15 years ago. He pointed me to the “Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries” and mentioned that (now) a Hauptmann Karl MIERISCH (with an ‘I’ between the ‘R’ and the ‘S’) was mentioned as the pilot of the Ar 234. (Thanks for this important pointer Chris!)

I checked the Summaries I found the following entries:

A. MIERISCH, Karl. 01.09.41 promo to Hptm. 03.10.45 Hptm. and POW, assigned to fly an Ar 234 to Farnborough.
B. MIERISCH, Karl. 16.04.42 Hptm. in Abt. Qu 4/Italuft Rome.
C. MIERSCH, ? . Summer 1941 Lt., 1.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 22 MIA - Ju 88 shot down behind the lines but evaded capture for 14 days and escaped.

Regarding these entries I have a number of questions partly based on some (wrong or bold) assumptions:
1) Where does the information come from that Hauptmann Karl MIERISCH was the pilot of the Ar 234?
2) Could the entries A and B be referring to the same officer?
3) If A and B are referring to the same officer, what does the posting to Abt. Qu 4/Italuft Rome entail? Could this be a posting in a technical role?
4) Is there additional information available regarding the activities, roles and postings of Karl Mierisch? How did he end up in Norway?
5) Could the entries A, B and C be referring to the same officer? In entry C a posting to 1.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 22 is mentioned and that could be a qualification to fly an Ar 234 later in the war?
6) Could Karl Mierisch have been a Hauptmann (Ing.)?
7) Is there any information available about Hauptmann (Ing.?) Helmut(h) Miersch?

I hope that these questions make sense and that someone has some additional information available that might shed some light.

TIA,

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

The entry C is probably the following:
1941-07-12, 1.(F)/22, Ju 88 D-2, 0880799, 4N+FH, (Newel - Welikie Luki - Toropez - Ostaschkow - Bologoje - Tschudowo - Tosno - Luga - Pleskau)
Flugzeugführer Uffz Müller, Karl, vermißt
Beobachter Lt Franke, Helmut, vermißt
Bordfunker Uffz Miersch, Herbert
Bordschütze Gefr Schulze, Gottwald, vermißt
1942-03-23, 1.(F)/22, Ju 88 A-5, 0880601,4N+HH, Beahcegeal-háldi bei Tromso
Flugzeugführer Olt Braun, Oskar, +
Beobachter Hptm Beuter, August, +
Bordfunker Fw Miersch, Herbert, +
Bordschütze Uffz Höhner, Heinz, +
Bodenberührung. Bruch 100 %.
Unbekannt. Bruch 100 %.

Matti

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Huib,

Wow, this is going to take a couple of hours of research in my 18 rolls of Smithsonian/National Air and Space Museum’s Captured German & Japanese Air Technical Documents collection, NASM Archives Accession No. 0431, and even that will not turn up much in the way of helpful information.

However, some of your questions I can answer or attempt to answer now.

This October 1945 Farnsborough transfer question would have been something found by my colleague, Doug. I will contact him and see if he can find the source he used.

Yes, that is entirely possible.

No, Abt. Qu.4 was Flakgerät und Munition. He would have been the Abteilung-Chef of this department or office and he would have belonged to the Flak Branch of the Luftwaffe rather than to the Flieger Branch.

A full answer to this set of questions would have to come from his personnel records at BA-MA Freiburg.

Quite doubtful. I see no correlation between a Feldwebel radio operator in a Fernaufklärungs unit in summer 1941-42 and an Ar 234 pilot in 1944-45. Besides, you would have to assign a higher probability to his name being spelled wrong and his first name being incorrect than not.

Yes, and that is what I will check the microfilms for.

Other than what I may come across in the microfilm, you will probably have to contact BA-MA for his full career information.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Making progress, Huib. I have some information on him and I still have one more roll of microfilm to look through.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Larry, Thanks for all your time and effort. Looking foward to the results of your research.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Huib,

Well, I found a little in the 4 rolls that I have that had any possibility at all of finding something, and I guess a little is better than none, so here we go:

MIERISCH, Kurt
Date of Birth: 29.11.1899.
01.04.42: promoted to Flieger-Ingenieur.
01.11.42: promoted to Flieger-Oberingenieur.
01.08.43: promoted to Flieger-Hauptingenieur.

[Source: Luftwaffenpersonalamt (LPA) File 1P-1; in: NASM/Smithsonian roll 7015 frame 18152.]

Sadly, that's it. No career information found. It looks like you will have to get copies of his records from BA-MA. It is also possible that his records may be on a roll of NARA WashDC microfilm, but it may be less costly to get them from Freiburg.

According to LPA documents dated 1 January 1945, there were 687 Aktiv Hauptingenieur and 738 Inaktiv Hauptingenieur in the Luftwaffe and at least 6 years of continuous service in this career field (Laufbahn) was required for promotion to Flieger-Hauptingenieur.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Larry (and Matti),

Thanks very much for this additional info and the time and effort you put into this. Highly appreciated.

I see that the surname is now 'Kurt' and not 'Karl' as mentioned in the Summary. Is this the same person?

He is rather an old guy in 1945 (45, almost 46) so he would probably not have flown operational during the war, but I geuss he was very experienced based on the fact (you mentioned) that he should have been in active service from 1937 to become a Flieger-Hauptingenieur in 1943. He must also have been an experienced Ar 234 pilot, so he would probably have been connected to the (production) testing of the Ar 234. That is the only way I think he would be qualified and allowed to fly an Ar 234 for the British?

I wonder if his promotion to Flieger-Hauptingenieur in 1943 would automatically lead to a promotion to Hauptmann (Ing.)?

Karl Mierisch was already promoted to Hauptmann om 01-09-1941, so are we talking about the same person?

Hope Doug is able to shed some light on the link between Karl / Kurt Mierisch and the 03-10-1945 flight.

Again many thanks and I hope we can positively identify the pilot.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Huib,

Kurt vs Karl: I am as mystified as you are on this. There may be no way of knowing without getting copies of all Lw. officer records from BA-MA who have the last name MIERISCH. We may be talking about 3 with this name now, 2 Karl and 1 Kurt.

Age: that struck me, too. In the lists of all Fl.-Hauptingenieure, very few of them were older than Jahrgang 1908. Hence, I fully agree with you that it is unlikely he flew operationally, provided this is the right MIERISCH.

Flieger-Hauptingenieur vs Hauptmann (Ing.): it was very clear to me from looking through the thousands of pages of documents again that these are two separate and unrelated ranks. The former belonged to the TSD (Truppensonderdienst) while the latter were active duty Luftwaffe officers. The former were civilians working for the Luftwaffe while the latter were active duty military personnel. They were not interchangeable one with the other.

Doug: I have notified him and I will let you know as soon as I hear back from him. I am guessing that he got this information about the flight from Norway to Farnsborough from one of the several English language books on the Ar 234 by authors such as J. Richard Smith, Eddie Creek, etc.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your reply and the Flieger-Hauptingenieur vs Hauptmann (Ing.) explanation.

Let's wait what Doug can add to this and if, with his information, a BA-MA investigation is the best way to proceed.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Huib,

Doug investigated and here are his findings:

So that is where we stand right now, Huib. I guess a search for the personnel records at BA-MA Freiburg will now be necessary.

Good luck and best wishes,

L.

P.S. In the event J.R. Smith was using the term "test pilot" accurately, then Mierisch or Miersch may not have been a Hptm. or Fl.-Hauptingenieur at all but rather a civilian test pilot working for the Arado firm?

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

See below the story about the transfer of this Ar 234 and it's landing at Eelde airport near Groningen, written by one who was there.

Jaap

Air Enthousiast Vol.4, Nr.2, pg.73 81.
Viewed from the cockpit by Captain Eric Brown,CBE,DSC,AFC,RN.
"Like greased lightning..."
From Sola to Farnborough.
I was able to gain far more of my Blitz flying experience during ferrying than testing, for our troops had come across a whole squadron of Ar 234B 2s on Sola airfield, Stavanger, and I was assigned the task of getting these aircraft back to the UK. For this I used a Siebel Si 204D as a communications hack and mobile workshop and, having loaded it with all metric tools, oils, greasse, spare tyres, etc, likely to be called for during the ferrying operation, set off from Farnborough with a second pilot who was to shuttle the Siebel between Sola and Schleswig while I flew the Arados between the two bases. Once at Sola I decide that the job called for some expert assistance, so I handpicked two German maintenance NCOs and took on strength the Hauptmann who had served as maintenance test pilot on the airfield. They accepted their new role with a certain inevitability tempered with the knowledge that their fate as my helpmates would be a good deal more agreeable than that of their comrades in the POW cage. It had been my original intention to use the Hauptmann purely in an advisory capacity, then the tempting thought struck me that I might use him actually to fly some of the aircraft on the ferry route. Such a course had its risks as neutral Sweden was invitingly close for a dash for freedom, but I weighed the pros and cons and decided to minimize the risk by always flying on his tail; providing him with a course and altitude at which to fly but ensuring that he had no maps and threatening to ram him if he deviated from course. Knowing the Ar 234B as he did he must have regarded my threat to ram him as pretty hollow since I would be highly exposed in that exten sively glazed nose. On second thoughts, he may really heave believed that I had kamikaze tendencies. In the event, it all worked like a charm and the task was soon completed, though the weather sometimes forced us to make an intermediate stop at Grove. Once all the Arados were assembled at Schleswig the next stage was to get them to Farnborough via, if the weather so dictated, Melsbroek, Brussels. On this leg I reckoned to let my Luftwaffe helpmate fly in formation on my wing, although I still had no intention of providing him with maps.
On such a trip on 3 October 1945 we took off from Schleswig at 1715 hours with a forecast of clear weather en route. As it was late afternoon we planned a low level flight to Brussels which, at fast cruise, would take an hour. Our endurance under such conditions was 1hr 20 min. and dusk at Brussels was 1815 hours. Our route took us down the east bank of the Zuider Zee but as we reached the south bank we ran into sea fog. I switched on my wingtip lights and saw that the Hauptmann was still with me, so I began a gentle turn to reverse course as there was no guarantee that the weather would open up again ahead of us. Furthermore, I was not at all sure that my Teutonic companion was in a good night formation flying practice; uncertainty that was to prove more than justified. On breaking clear of the fog the other Arado was no longer with me. Nor was it anywhere to been seen. I circled a couple of times, vainly searching the sky for my wingman, and it suddenly dawned on me that I had another problem, I had not enough fuel to get back to Schleswig. The only alternative was to try to make Nordholz airfield on the North Sea coast near Cuxhaven.
........The story goes on at October 4th with:
I had made anxious enquiries about the fate of the other Arado but learned nothing until late that afternoon a phone call from a British Army unit in Holland informed me that the aircraft had landed at a small airfield called Eelde, and its pilot being held in custody by the Dutch who seemingly had no intention of giving him up. Next morning I set off in an Oxford for Eelde and could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw the Ar 234B on that small grass field which was liberally pitted with bomb craters. It was obvious that the Blitz would never be flown out of there. The Hauptmann told me, after losing me in the turn over the Zuider Zee, he had headed north in the hope of striking the coast and getting his bearings. He had realised, as I had, that darkness was overtaking him rapidly, and when he spotted the pockmarked airfield at Eelde he had decided to take his chance while it was still daylight and put down there, trying to steer the aircraft in a straight line that he could see existing between the craters and using the emergency braking 'chute. He was far more grateful to me for releasing him from Dutch care than for the congratulations on bringing off a remarkable landing.
There was no change no chance of recovering the ar 234B from Eelde the splendid Dutch were delighted to have an intact example of the aeroplane on their sole and I decided to recover the Arado that I had left at Nordholz after ferrying the rest of the aircraft back to the UK.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi/Hoi Jaap,

This great and entertaining story triggered my interest for, and further research into, this subject.

The story is not totally correct:

• The Ar 234 wasn't handed over to the Dutch, but was transported by road/sea to Farnborough by a British aircraft recovering unit.

• The German Hauptmann was not detained by the Dutch but was detained by the Canadian forces stationed at Eelde.

• Eelde airfield was not covered with bomb craters because the airfield wasn't extensively bombed during the war. It was used by the Canadian forces for storage and repair of hundreds of vehicles, causing great damage to the airfields surface. Only a small strip in the south eastern part of the airfield remained operational for small aircraft.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Interesting thread

What interests me is from where the given names originate.

Huib
From where have you got the name Helmut(h) to connect with Miersch?

Larry/Doug
From where does the name Karl originate? It is clear from Doug's answer that it does not originate from any of the second hand sources quoted.
Quite probably there was (or were) one or two Karl Miersch or Mierisch, but what connects him to Arado 234 in Norway?

From Larry's further research the individual Kurt Mierisch sounds like a very plausible candidate.

I checked one other second hand source, Profiles in Norway, No 5, Arado 234B-2. It does not give us any further clues as such but it states that Miersch was a testpilot at Sola with Einsatzkommando 1./FAGr.1 and that it was probably he who had a landing accident on August 1st, 1945. It also said that previous to the flight discussed here, both Eric Brown and Miersch had flown WNr 140356 and 140141 respectively to Grove on September 23rd. Both returned to Sola with a Si 204 that same evening. The British were also rather distrustful (at least initially) about Miersch and had at one time threated him if he tried to escape.

The booklet at all times call him a Hauptmann but it could easily be a corruption of a civil title as stated by Larry.
Using testpilots who were rather old was probably legio, especially with the war now in its 7th callender year. Experience is more worth than youth! So nothing odd with a man appx 45-46 year sold used in such a capacity.

One other thing of interest (to me) is that the Einsatzkommando 1./FAGr 5 was renamed Einsatzkommando 1./FAGr 1 when it arrived in Norway.

Cheers
Stig

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Stig -

MIERISCH, Karl. 01.09.41 promo to Hptm. 03.10.45 Hptm. and POW, assigned to fly an Ar 234 to Farnborough.
MIERISCH, Karl. 16.04.42 Hptm. in Abt. Qu 4/Italuft Rome.

These are the only two I can comment on. All of the above entries, except for the Farnsborough one, are mine and taken from the Luftwaffenpersonalamt's officer assignment (and promotion) orders contained in 27 rolls of NARA WashDC microfilm in RG 242 Microcopy T-77. You can find more information on this in the bibliographic section of the Introduction of our Luftwaffe Officer Career Summaries on the Michael Holm website. But here is the rub: it is entirety possible that these two Karl Mierisch officers are one and the same. When working my way through these tens of thousands of pages of material between 1988 and 2010, I would enter a name twice if I was uncertain that a particular assignment, e.g., "in Abt. Qu 4/Italuft Rome", belonged with the first Mierisch that I had previously entered. So the bottom line is that it is entirely possible there is only one Hptm. Karl Mierisch. There just isn't enough assignment information to be certain.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Thanks Larry

Just about what I thought. Thanks BTW for doing such a tremendous job!!

Cheers
Stig

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Larry and Stig,

As far as I know the first time Hauptmann Miersch is mentioned is in the 1978 Putnam book "The Captive Luftwaffe" by Kenneth S. West (Page 13).

In 2001 I was discussing Hauptmann Miersch with Chris Goss and he mentioned that a Hauptmann Helmut MIERSCH flew with 2/FaGR 5.

In his recollections Eric Brown refers to the German pilot as 'the Hauptmann' and according to an eyewitness report the pilot that landed at Eelde was a 'Hauptmann in full uniform'.
Based on these descriptions it is in my opinion more probable that the pilot was an active duty Luftwaffe officer.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

He who lives closest to BA-MA Freiburg needs to go there!

L. :) ;)

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Thanks Huib

I get your points. Odd that Larry cannot find any Helmut.
Seems I was a bit too early to rule out Karl.
Having said that I can mentally find reasons for a civilian to carry a uniform during the transfer to Britain, but there is no need to throw in hypothethesis as well....:)

Cheers
Stig

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Still digging and exploring possibilities:

Capt. Eric Brown stated in the article in Air Enthousiast about Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch: "Knowing the Ar 234B as he did". This means that Brown considered Hauptmann Miersch/ Mierisch a very experienced Ar 234 pilot and if anyone could judge a pilot.....

Looking at the information mentioned about his possible postings FaGr.5 is mentioned. This unit was mostly equipped with Ju290's but in January 1945 Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR. 5 is formed at (probably) Quackenbrück equipped with Ar 234's.
As Stig mentioned Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR. 1 is formed/renamed in May 1945 from Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR. 5 and is stationed at Stavanger-Sola equipped with Ar 234's.

It seems therefore plausible that Hauptmann Miersch/Mierisch was an (operational?) Ar 234 pilot serving with Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR. 5 and transferring with this unit to Norway in May 1945 where it was renamed/reformed into Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR. 1 just before the end of the hostilities in Europe.

Still, as Larry already mentioned, the answer lies hopefully in the BA-MA.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Greetings Huib,

ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/dornier-do335.42696/

I am sorry I cannot add any thing about "Hauptmann Miersch"'s name. However, it seems he was not only an expert about the Ar 234 but the Do 335 as well. From the source above, he apparently made a faultless belly landing in Do 335 AM225 at Merville, France, on 13 December 1945.

Best regards,

Jim Geens

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Jim,

Thanks for this additional information.
This confirms that:

• That Miersch/Mierisch was indeed employed for a longer time by Eric Brown.

• That Miersch/Mierisch was an experienced pilot who proved himself in difficult situations. First the Ar 234 emergency landing at Eelde and then this forced-landing with a Do 335.

If he already had experience with the Do 335 during the war, this might indicate that he was not a regular pilot.

Every bit of info leads to further questions... :-)

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

1.(F)/Fernaufkl.Gr. 1
Code: (9V + )

Formed February 1945, probably at Burg near Magdeburg, but in the ensuing confusion resulting from the planned renaming of FAGr. 5 as FAGr. 1 that was then cancelled, it is exceedingly likely that this tiny Einsatzkommando equipped with two or three Arado Ar 234s retained its original designation as Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 5 (see there) until 1 May 1945, when Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 5 was renamed Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 1, this occurring at Stavanger-Sola in Norway. On 8 May 1945 Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 1 was reported at Stavanger-Sola with two Ar 234s, 7 officers and 35 men, and surrendered to the British there on 10 May.

FpN: Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 1 (L 55985 B(?)).

Staffelkapitän:
Maj. Josef Augustin (?) (May 45 - May 45)

© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress).
(1st Draft 2007)


A possible source other than BA-MA may be the records of the RAF Disarmament Wing that flew to Norway beginning 10 May 1945 to disarm all of the Luftwaffe units there. Having seen some of these records years ago, I know that they thoroughly interrogated all of the captured officers over the course of the following months. The Disarmament Wing's complete records can be found at BNA, Kew/London. Someone living in or close to London should be able to go there and examine these documents. Or, you could hire a professional researcher who is a member of TOCH (this website) to do it for you and order copies at the same time.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Interesting thread. In the RAE Flight Log (AVIA 1/18) this gentleman is clearly recorded as Hauptmann Miersch. He conducted 15 minute test flights in a Do 335 (no Air Min number given) on 9/12/45 and 12/12/45 presumably for familiarisation purposes. The transfer flight a day later is recorded as taking 30 minutes. Brown also flew from Rheims to Merville in an Si 204 (AM 28) with three POWs as passengers.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Larry de Zeng posted:I've been through a lot of the ADW material. It's incredibly patchy but every now and then you hit a gem. I've never seen any interrogation reports with this material so I'm not sure where these might be.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

ADI(K) or CSDIC had a large contingent of interrogators in Norway 1945 to early 1946, some of which were attached to the RAF Disarmament Wing. I have seen may of these reports at NARA, as a few U.S. commands were addressees for distribution. It was a long time ago (the late 1980's) and a topic such as this would not have been of interest to me at the time, so I do not recall what was included. But for those intimately familiar with Allied intelligence interrogation efforts 1945-49, any German engineer tied to the development and testing of the Ar 234 would have been interviewed repeatedly and copies of these interviews are at both BNA and NARA today. If copies are not to be found in the ADW records themselves, then they are in separate files having to do with interrogation report serials on technical matters.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Larry - Thanks. There's the rub. I've been through a heap of 'interrogation reports' of various types at Kew. A few more to go through mind you.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

what a wonderful thread.

The name/rank is Hauptmann HELMUT MIERSCH.

He was an ex member of FAGr 5. Karl Koessler writes in his well researched book (only available in German) "Die großen Dessauer, Ju 89, Ju90, Ju290, Ju390", Aviatik Verlag, on page 187, that on 26th May 1944 the Ju290, WNr. 0187, 9V+GK, with Hauptmann Helmut Miersch as "Kommandant" and Oberleutnant Günter Pfeiffer as pilot were on a reconnaissance mission west of Portugal. The Ju290 also participating on this mission, 9V+FK, with the crew of Oberleutnant Hans-Georg Bretnütz was shot down by enemy aircraft after - according to radio messages - defending for 5 hours.
The Miersch / Pfeiffer crew returned unharmed.

Karl Kössler cites Helmut Miersch as one of the many persons, who gave input to his book (see page 260).


Regards, Karl

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Thanks Karl

Nice to get a first name to this guy!
I hope your family name is not Miersch, by the way....;)

Cheers
Stig

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

So now we have 1 or 2 Karl MIERISCH, 1 Kurt MIERISCH and 1 Helmut MIERSCH? We have made some headway with this but there is still not enough information to determine which one flew the Ar 234 from Norway to Farnsborough? I hope some additional information comes along so we can track down this mystery pilot and get some career details on him.

L.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi Karl,

Thanks for pointing to “Die großen Dessauer, Ju 89, Ju90, Ju290, Ju390”.
On page 196 there is some very interesting additional information regarding FaGR.5.

"On the 10th of January 1945 FaGR.5 was withdrawn from operations and earmarked for transition to the Do 335. Only the Gruppenstab FaGr.5 remained operational as an Einsatzstab with the following operational tasks appointed by the General der Aufklärungsflieger and the OKL / Chef TLR:

• Reconnaissance with Ar 234’s for the U-boat war against Northeast England;

• Preparations for the reconnaissance of the wide sea territory as far as approximately 25° West with the Ar 234, the Do 335Z (Do 665) and other types to be taken under consideration in conjunction with the Chef TLR.

At the end of January several pilots from 1./FaGR.5 were trained at Burg near Magdeburg to fly the Ar 234. They operated from 25th of February as Einsatzkommando 1./FaGR.5 and from the 1st of March as 1./FaGR.1 from Stavanger Sola with 3 Ar 234’s. Several reconnaissance flights to the east coast of England were carried out by the Ar 234’s of Lt. Hetz and Lt. Eduard Schmitt."

This sequence of events makes it plausible that Hauptmann Helmut Miersch was one of the pilots that was trained on the Ar 234 and took part in the late war operations of FaGr.5 / FaGr.1. He is therefore in my opinion at the moment the main candidate to have been the pilot who landed the Ar 234 at Eelde (Holland) on the 3rd of October 1945.

Still no (definite) proof, but the plot thickens.... and yes it is a fun thread!

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi,

I have received information about Helmut Miersch from the Bundesarchiv Militär Abteilung (BaMA). Unfortunately I am not allowed to share information from his personal file, but from his Karteikarte (showing his postings) I can share the following information:

Hauptmann der Reserve Helmut Miersch was born in 1909 and after enlisting in the Luftwaffe he received extensive training and flew as a pilot and “Kommandant” on multi-engined reconnaisance aircraft. During the war he served with: 2./(F) Aufklärungsgruppe 121, 2./Aufklärungsgruppe d. Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe, Versuchsstaffel für Höhenflüge, Fernaufklärungsgeschwader 101, 15.(pathfinder)/Kampfgeschwader 6 and Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5. Hauptmann Miersch was specialized in high altitude and long distance flights and acted also as a Fluglehrer, Ausbildungslehrer and Ausbildungsleiter.

As mentioned by Karl in a previous post up until now only information about one operational flight is known.

In December 1944 Miersch was posted to a staff function in the Fallschirmarmee and there is no link to FaGr.5 mentioned.
So why he was at Stavanger Sola at the end of the war (with FaGr.5?) and how he managed to convince Captain Brown that he was proficient on the Ar 234 (and later de Do 335) is a big question now.

Any clues, info or suggestions are more than welcome.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi,

With the great help of Larry deZeng (thanks Larry!) a detailed study of the Karteikarte of Hauptmann Helmut Miersch brought some new (and logical) insights.

Although the last entry on the Karteikarte mentioned that X. Fliegerkorps ordered him to report for temporary duty with the Insp.d.Fallschirmarmee, it seems that this order was cancelled and that Miersch remained with FAGr. 5 as an operational pilot during the remainder of the war.

He flew operations with 2.(F)/FAGr. 5 (one operation is documented and has been mentioned before) and he probably switched to 1.(F)/FAGr 5 when 2.(F)/FAGr 5 was disbanded in February 1945 and used to strengthen 1.(F)/FAGr 5.

1.(F)/FAGr 5 later became Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 5 (and was later renamed as Einsatzkdo. 1.(F)/FAGr. 1), flying Ar 234’s on long range reconnaissance missions to the east coast of England. This most probably gave Miersch the opportunity to learn to fly the Ar 234. This experience, his longtime experience as a pilot flying multi-engined aircraft, his experience as a Fluglehrer and his knowledge of the English language made him a very good candidate to be enlisted by Captain Eric Brown when he was at Stavanger (Sola) looking for an additional pilot to help him transfer Ar 234’s from Sola (Norway) and from the central collection point at Schleswig (Germany) to Farnborough.

Re: Looking for information about Ar 234 pilot Hauptmann Miersch / Mierisch
 

Hi,

The story of Hauptmann Helmut Miersch and his post-war Ar 234 flight, that ended in an emergency landing at Eelde in the Netherlands, has been published as a ten page article in the latest issue (2/2017) of the German magazine “Klassiker der Luftfahrt” under the title “Der letzte Blitz”.

After further research into the service records of Hauptmann Miersch it was concluded that he probably remained with 2./FAGr.5 until he was transferred (with several other FAGr.5 pilots) to the Industrie-Einsatz with Arado at Alt-Lönnewitz. There he probably had the chance to get acquainted with the Ar 234 and acted as Einflieger.

It remains a mystery how he came to Sola in Norway before the end of the war. Possibilities are that:

• he transferred an Ar 234 to Sola and remained there;

• or that he managed a transfer to 1./FAGr. 1 and acted as a maintenance and test pilot for this unit;

• or simply got a chance to move to a safer place.

I want to thank everyone that has supported me in my research and made it possible for me to write this article.


Blitz Forever and