19th April 1945 - P-47s vs. He 162s?
 

Hello everybody,

Here's one more puzzle about Thunderbolts. On 19th April 1945, at 12:22 hrs, Lt. Gerhard Stiemer and FhjFw. Guenther Kirchner of 3./JG 1 took off from Leck. In a book by Marek J. Murawski - "JG 1 'Oesau' 1944-1945" - I found Stiemer's personal account of what happened next. Let me quote:

"We took off from the concrete runway in Leck, Kirchner [Fhj.Fw. Guenther Kirchner - author's note] stayed 30 meters behind me on my right hand side, as usual; [...] We climbed up to about 200 meters, when suddenly two Thunderbolts appeared behind us and instantly shot down Guenther Kirchner's plane. I saw him jettison canopy and catapult but his parachute did not deploy. I was very lucky that the Thunderbolts did not press on with another attack since one of the wheels in my plane failed to retract, forcing me to return immediately. Fortunately, I managed to touch down smoothly."

Mr. William N. Hess in his book "German Jets vs. The U.S. Army Air Force" doesn't mention this fact, nor could I trace it in any other source at hand. Could it be a case of misidentification on part of Lt. Stiemer? Perhaps Kirchner was knocked down by British Typhoons? The bounce took place only 2 km away from Leck and was witnessed by other JG 1 personnel.
In any case, the only P-47 pilot's credited victory on that day which I could track down is that of Maj. Paul Crawley 508th FS / 404th FG. Could anyone contribute some more data on this event? This would be the only Thunderbolt's victory over Hs 162.

Re: 19th April 1945 - P-47s vs. He 162s?
 

Hello
According to Ethell’s and Price’s World War II Fighting Jets. Airlife 1994 p. 161 F/O Geoff Walkington of 222 Sqn claimed u/i jet a/c with twin fins and a single engine on 19.4.45 near Husum. 222 Sqn was at that time equipped with Tempest Vs.
And in Thomas’s and Shores’s The Typhoon & Tempest Story. Arms and Armour Press 1988 p.134 there is more detailed description of this combat.

HTH
Juha

Re: 19th April 1945 - P-47s vs. He 162s?
 

Thank you Juha. IIRC, 222. Sqn flew Tempests at that time?

Re: 19th April 1945 - P-47s vs. He 162s?
 

Yes, Walkington was flying Tempest

Re: 19th April 1945 - P-47s vs. He 162s?
 

Hello,

The 222 Sqn had Tempest Vs from December 1944 to October 1945.

Michal