USAAF Claims for Me 163s

[Frank Olynyk]

Peter,

Here is Garlich's report on the Feb 23 mission. It is part of a Squadron Strafing Report, of Neuburg A/D.

I was flying Green 4 and came in over Neuburg A/D to the left of my flight leader, Lt. Ludeke, between him and purple flight and behind Capt McNeff and Lt. Schmidt. There were 6-8 E/A parked wing tip to wing tip in the SE corner of the field, and I concentrated on the 3rd one from the west. I opend fire at 700 yards and immediately began to register hits. As I closed to point blank range, there was an explosion and the plane, a T/E aircraft, caught fire. As I pulled off the field I observed one large fire in the area in which I felt encompassed several aircraft, including the one I had destroyed. I claim 1 T/E U/A destroyed.

My notes say this was in box 3373, Record Group 18, Entry 7A at NARA II, digitized on April 25, 2011. I had microfilmed this material back in the early '80s, when it was held at the Washington Record Center at Suitland, Maryland.

On the first page of the report, which lists all the claims made at Neuburg A/D, which is titled "Squadron Strafing Report, 357", Garlich's line has a ? in pencil on the left side (all the other entries have "OK" in pencil), and in pencil on the right, "film so dull, can't see A/C".

Now I need to find my copy of the full VCB report, somewhere on my hard drive.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Frank Olynyk]

OK, found the VCB report. I digitized it on Feb 15, 2007. It would appear to be box 189 or 190 of RG 18, Entry 7A.

The title is "Joint Victory Credits Board, 65th, 66th and 67th Fighter Wings, Confirmation of Victory Credits Board". This is Report 7, and Garlich's entry is line item 32, on the second page of the report. It is noted as 355th FG, 357th FS, on 23 Feb 1945. The claim is noted as one destroyed, the award is noted as one destroyed, the Type E/A is noted as "Me163 grd" and the Place is "Neuburg A/D". Remarks noted as "Confirmed." This is the original report, dated 20 March 1945, not "A True Copy".

So we have the interesting situation that the combat report claims an U/I T/E aircraft on the ground, which becomes a Me 163 on the ground in the VCB report, and then a Me 163 in the air in the extract posted by Peter. But I have to go with the original report in College Park, NARA II.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Peter Randall]

Thanks Frank. Just goes to show what an absolute jungle this can be! Unfortunately Bob Garlich is no longer with us so he can't shed any light on the subject. However, the VCB document that I posted was given to me by Bob at one of the reunions, and if I remember correctly, and I'm sure that I do, he said that the 163 was landing, but still "in the air" when he hit it. Guess that we will never really know the true circumstances.

Peter

[Stig Jarlevik]

Thanks Peter/Frank

Reading again the combat report quoted by Frank, I cannot see how this Me 163 suddenly can be landing. There is nothing in the combat report which suggest anything like that.

I have always interpreted T/E to stand for a twin-engined aircraft. Since the Me 163 was far from a twin-engined aircraft I can then only assume that Me 163 was the final interpretation of the gun-camera film?

Finally, if Neuburg in this case is the same as Neuburg an der Donau, I have not heard of any Me 163 ever being based down there. This attack must also have been among the first made against this airfield.

Cheers
Stig

[Peter Randall]

I've asked Bill Marshall if he has any take on this one.
Peter

[Karoband]

Hello all,

Just a correction on the oft-misquoted rank of Rolf Glogner. From Ransom & Cammann, Me 163 Rocket Interceptor Volume Two, (2003) p.274:

"Uffz. Rolf Glogner: (23) 'I shot down a Mosquito on 16 March 1945. In this case, Goring should have awarded me a medal and given me a promotion and special leave. Instead, I received confirmation of my victories in Russia. Because, up to that time, I had only received the gold Frontflug-Spange fur Jaeger, I was retrospectively awarded an EK II. Shortly afterwards I was promoted to Feldwebel.'"

best regards,

Jim Geens

P.S. I'm sorry. This post was meant for Chris' thread on the Mosquito Loss 10 April 1945.

[drgondog]

I'll try to answer all the 355th questions.

First, neither Garlich nor Allen received an aerial victory credit during WWII by either *th AF VCB or USAF Study 85.

The Me 163 claim by Garlich was a credited Me 263 at Neuberg A/d. The 355th awards for ground destruction on 2/23/45 was 14 Destroyed, 12 Damaged. None of the damaged Me 262s burned and only Garlich's 163 was observed burning.

Allen's 3-2-45 claims for 109s were disallowed because a.) no witness and b.) film was bad. Simply no confirmation possible.