Jan Horn's "Flurschadengeschwader" (KG51) book

[Nick Beale]

What date does Horn give for the first operation by Kommando Schenck — does he devote much space to this unit?

[FalkeEins]

24 August 1944 - Wettererkungsflug, Ofw. Lauer in 9K + GL (Wnr. 170 002) - first 'Feindflug' from Juvincourt -attacking troop concentrations NW of Paris- the following day. Lauer flew three sorties that day.

about 20 'detailed' pages in total ..

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by FalkeEins

24 August 1944 - Wettererkungsflug, Ofw. Lauer in 9K + GL (Wnr. 170 002) - first 'Feindflug' from Juvincourt -attacking troop concentrations NW of Paris- the following day. Lauer flew three sorties that day.

Thanks for that. Nice to know that someone else takes a similar view to mine (i.e. that they weren't operational in July). Sounds like Horn was working from Lauer's Flugbuch.

Now, can I justify spending that many Euros …

[FalkeEins]

you're welcome. That article is an excellent piece of work - deserves to be in print somewhere. Meant to mention that Horn references your site in the Quellen. He's had access to log books to flesh his chapter out a little, the combat encounter for Lauer's downing is included but essentially all other archive sources used are the same....

[FalkeEins]

talking of Ofw. 'Ronny' Lauer - Horn has no losses for 02 October 1944, just a couple of accidents. This is the date given in most sources (Smith/Creek, Hess etc..) for the first 9th AF Me 262 victory with Lauer as victim, forced down by 365th FG P-47s in the vicinity of Njimegen. Horn has Lauer sustaining serious injuries in 9K+NL (WNr. 170 069) crashing on take off for his second sortie of the day..

[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Nick,

It looks like FalkeEins beat me to it.

For July 20, 1944 the book states:

"Neun dieser Flugzeugführer der 3./KG 51 sollen als Einsatzkommando I./KG 51 (kurz Ensatkommando Schenk genannt) mit ihren Me 262 von Lechfeld nach Châteaudun, Frankreich, verlegen. Von hier aus sollen Einsätze nach England geflogen werden. Da die neun Flugzeugführer bislang jedoch nur bedingt einsatzbar sind und auch Me 262 in der erforderlichen Anzahl nicht verfügbar sind, erfolgt diese Verlegung nicht."

It then goes onto say:

"Am Montag, dem 24, Juli 1944 treffen die Bodenteile der 3./KG 51 in Châteaudun, 175 km süd-östlich Caen, ein."

In essence, they were setting up the ground operation at Châteaudun, but lacked the needed Me 262's.

Sub-chapter 3.2, from which the above is taken, is entitled "Das Einsatzkommando I./KG 51, auch Einsatzkommando Schenk genannt (Zeitraum vom 15. Juli bis 30. Oktober)". It runs from page 131 through page 157.

Nick, whether you buy it depends on how interested you are in the subject. Horn does a quite good job of it and I don't regret the large expenditure of money, although you may note that I was a bit hesitant to take the plunge in the first place.

Regards,
Richard

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by Richard T. Eger

Von hier aus sollen Einsätze nach England geflogen werden.

strange sentence ..the 262 to fly sorties against England... Horn goes on to make the point that only the best pilots were deployed to France after a very accelerated conversion, but that they had simply not had enough time to get used to the foibles of the type..
I'm very happy with the book ; once you get over the lack of photos and the sparse personal accounts

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by FalkeEins

That article is an excellent piece of work - deserves to be in print somewhere …
talking of Ofw. 'Ronny' Lauer - Horn has no losses for 02 October 1944, just a couple of accidents. This is the date given in most sources (Smith/Creek, Hess etc..) for the first 9th AF Me 262 victory with Lauer as victim, forced down by 365th FG P-47s in the vicinity of Njimegen. Horn has Lauer sustaining serious injuries in 9K+NL (WNr. 170 069) crashing on take off for his second sortie of the day..

(1) You're very kind.
(2) Pre-empting some far distant update to my site, Ultra says that on 2 October Lauer was "slightly injured" in a take-off accident and 170069 was 98% damaged Two aircraft were duly reported off strength on the 3rd, Lauer's and the other accidental loss. Nothing about a combat loss.