Hi Neil,
D'oh! I was severely remiss in not including your article, "Angst, Blut und Tod", in my research!
It's a very relevant and useful addition to the references I listed above. Thanks also for the pointers to the Baeker book and the Luftwaffen-Revue issue.
On the Luftwaffe Research Group site (
https://www.luftwaffe-research-group.com), Daniel Nusbaumer corrected my mangling of Leutnant Kraas' first name -- it's "Ewald", not "Edward". In addition, he suggested Mombeeck's history of JG 4 as another good resource.
Also, I found interesting information in Prien & Stemmer's history of III/JG3 about that unit's involvement in the 'Freiheit' missions, with some pilots flying as 'SO' volunteers and some as their fighter escort.
For the record then, here are the details for these additional references:
- "Storming the Bombers - A Chronicle of JG4, Vol. 2: 1944-1945" by Erik Mombeeck, 2011 [pp.147-159]
- "Messerschmitt Bf 109 im Einsatz bei der III./Jagdgeschwader 3" by Jochen Prien & Gerhard Stemmer, 1995 [pp.420-423]
- "Luftwaffe Fighters: Combat on All Fronts, Vol. 2" by Neil Page, 2023 [pp.14-15 in particular, but the entire "Angst, Blut und Tod" chapter is useful for context]
- "Kampfgeschwader 1 'Hindenburg'" by Gerhard Baeker, 2006 [pp.134-136]
- Luftwaffen-Revue, issue 2/2002 [don't have this one]
Thanks again,
Leon Venter