Quote:
Originally Posted by Broncazonk
I just finished reading Lipfert's book again.
~ Part IV ~
Important Takeaways
1) The poor (and shockingly unreliable) armament Bf/Me 109 G2-14 was a major factor in all of this. Lipfert thought firing at a Russian aircraft from 250 meters was something only a rank amateur would do. Meanwhile, the guns on the P-47 and P-51 were sighted in at 300-yards, no? At 200-meters, Lipfert thought the armament of his aircraft "was ineffective." Lipfert held his fire until his weapons were effective: 100-meters or less.
2) The 20mm cannon on his 109 was unreliable from his first mission to his last and so was the 30mm when he got one of those. And both his machines guns were less reliable than either cannon. ** He writes in amazement every time all his weapons were working at the same time. **
** Lipfert would have scored between 250-275 confirmed victories if his weapons had been reliable, and as late as March 17, 1945 he writes, "air combat with Il-2s and LaGG-5s, 1 Lagg damaged--only one machine gun would work."
3) Bf/Me 109 aircraft repaired in Russia, sometimes in the field, and often in depots were unreliable, dangerous and sometimes deathtraps. Once when returning from leave, Lipfert was given two (2) different 109s to fly back to his unit. Both nearly killed him and ended up taking a train and then a truck back to his base.
4) Every morning the ground crews and support staff would watch each Staffel take off with great interest. Apparently, there was a 'Dead Pool' on each of the pilots, the bet being who would die that morning trying to take off. Same thing with landings. Lipfert writes, "Our new airfield was called Belobek. [...] If I as an experienced flyer felt a certain trepidation before every landing, how must have the beginners among us have felt. Often we stood in front of the tent and watched the landings. About every third one resulted in a crash [...]
Lipfert writes about drawing straws with Barkhorn and five other Knight's Cross holders over who would take off first on a wet, soggy airfield. Lipfert loses the draw and crashes into a truck while trying to take off.
5) The Bf/Me 109 had nothing but a compass to navigate with and it was hard to see out of so dead reckoning navigation was difficult. While in Russia, as Lipfert tells it, he was lost, or mostly lost in the air *about every other mission.* On one mission he landed at two different airbases before he found his.
Once, when his Staffel was transferred to Poland to rest and refit, he wasn't given a map or even a compass heading to fly there. Instead, he was told, "just fly NNW and sooner or later you're bound to find Poland."
6) The red (low fuel warning) light was on A LOT. And when it went on, it was often at a really, really inconvenient time.
The Bf/Me 109 was definitely a major hindrance to a Luftwaffe victory in the East--and West.
Bronc
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First I have to say, my English translation of Lipferts' book didn't have that 'dead pool' story; I guess parts of the original were left out.
Secondly: I figured the unreliability of Lipfert's guns might have been due to maintenance issues, IE: airfields in rough conditions, sometimes kind of at the end of a rather tattered supply line.
As for the lacking maps/navigation aids, I recall a story of post war LW pilots who were being trained in the US and how THEY could no longer just 'seat of the pants' it, they had to go thru a 'preflight check list' before even starting the plane up. I think a few even said, it took a lot of the joy out of flying.
11th September 2021, 04:52
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