jet aircraft in Italy?

[Nick Beale]

Ed: I'm as sure as I can be that it was not a Ju 388 L-0. In more than 20 years of researching the Italian campaign and using sources from both sides I've found no evidence at all of that type being delivered to Italy.

George: the KTB of 2.(F)/122 at Freiburg records no Me 410 flights at the relevant time. The Staffel's operations were all by day.

[George Hopp]

Thanks for that, Nick.

All the best,
George

[Nick Beale]

Anyone with an interest in this topic may like to look at the latest addition to my website.

"Kommando Sommer: the road to Italy" traces the story from the decision to deploy Arado 234s to Italy to the first recorded operation by Kommando Sommer.

The article makes use of a lot of new material that I've been researching over the last several months and among other things identifies the date that the first of the Kommando's jets arrived and the name of its pilot. It also makes a bit more sense of the sequence of orders and changes of mind in Germany that eventually led to Sommer getting the job.

[Nick Beale]

It's also important to establish what recognition aids would have been available to an Italian civilian at that time. Had accurate drawings, photographs or film of the Me 262 or Ar 234 been made public in Italy? If not, it suggests that the witness made a later identification, based on memory. If that was so, how long afterward did he associate what he had seen with the Me 262?