Lt. Fritz Kelb

[Me 109 K-4]

Dear All,

Does anyone have Information about the early career of Lt. Fritz Kelb before he joined EKdo.16?
He was subsequently member of JG400 and JG7. Being the only pilot to score a victory in the Me 163 and Me 262.
He was killed flying a Me 262 near the end of the war.
He is mentioned in the books by Mano Ziegler and Wolfgang Späte, however I was wondering what he did before joining EKdo.16 and why he was chosen for the Me 163.

Many thanks,
Matthias

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Hallo Matthias,

If memory does not fail me, Wolfgang Späte "do mention" that the selected members of Ekdo 16 were all glider pilots of experience (experienced on gliders). My sample is not at hand now, but stored some 300km away....so maybe someone can confirm this.

Personally I believe (but can not prove with a document) that KELB was also a Glider Pilot, with at least a C-License (DLV or NSFK) obtained earlier and prior to his Luftwaffe training. But in History, without documents, you do have only a theory....you need documents to prove your theory (which I do not know if have survived). Maybe someone can check if his Personal File have survived in the Bundesarchiv...if so, all the answers may be there.

My own JG 7 book (Boehme) does only mention that Kelb's previous unit was JG 400.

Humbly yours,
A.

[tonda75]

Hi Matthias,
Rolf Glogner claimed that Friedrich Kelb was a member of JG 5 before joining EKdo 16. Source: (Ransom,Cammann) Me 163 Rocket Interceptor volume 2, page 330
Regards Tony