[Nick Beale]

Thanks Alain, but that doesn’t seem to explain where those authors got all their information from. The VDK database does not deal with aircraft, only people and the GQM doesn’t give a tactical code. Smith and Creek in Jet Planes of the Third Reich included a profile as “Red 2” but, after many years had passed, their Me 262 Volume Three only mentioned a Werk Nummer and no P-51s.

The Gen. der Aufklarungsflieger disagrees with the Gen.Qu. about Knoll’s rank (Oberleutnant vs. Leutnant) and unit (1./NAG 1 vs. Stab/NAG 6). Gen.d.A. also gives the cause of death as a crash with no mention of hostile action. (No Me 262 claims for that date on the “Mustang Encounter Reports” web page either).

DeZeng and Stankey offer two “versions” of this loss, including that Knoll was with KG(J) 54 (Siegfried Radtke’s book on KG 54 doesn’t mention him in its narrative or loss tables). They do however have both a Willi Knoll and a “(Werner?) Knoll” who they say was Stafü of 1./NAG 1 (which in my opinion is two entries for the same guy).

And neither of the Generals mentions “Red 2”, so there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding this event.