Page 57
#84102
BOXART STORY
One of the legendary fighter pilots of II./JG 52,
"Heino" Sachseberg, was retrained from flying
the Bf 109 to the Me 262 after achieving his 104th
victory in the spring of 1945. His final unit was
Galland's Jagdverband 44 equipped with Me 262
jets.
The jet powered Me 262 were most vulnerable
during take-off and landing. Aircraft of JV 44
were no different, because during low speeds,
the Me 262 was more difficult to control, and the
throttle had to be treated with a gentle respect,
or the result could be a stalled engine
or a fire. During the final phases of the war,
it was standard practice for jet aircraft to be
covered by piston engined planes during these
critical flight phases. As a result, JV 44 organized
a protective flight using Fw 190 Ds under the
leadership of Heino Sachsenberg.
Sachsenberg was a logical choice. He certainly
didn’t lack bold nerve, and he had several year-
long experience fighting fast flying enemy
fighters at low altitudes. His pilots also had to
contend with another danger - friendly ground
fire. According to the memoirs of Johannes
Steinhoff,
a good chunk of crews of the anti-aircraft
artillery at Riem were women. There was no real
effort to distinguish between friendly and enemy
aircraft. The Me 262 did enjoy relative security in
this respect due to its distinctive silhouette and
engine noise. Perhaps this was why the bottom
surfaces of the Doras of JV 44 were painted red
on the bottom, with white stripes.
The duties of Sachsenberg’s protective flight
were largely improvised. His pilots couldn’t
communicate directly with the pilots of the
jet powered Me 262s. They simply took off and
circled the field at low altitudes until the Me 262s
were safely on their way. Usually, there were
two Fw 190 Ds in the air, but, as an exception,
Riem was circled by four.
Problems began when the jets returned.
For them to set down as quickly as possible,
there must not have been anything in their way.
The Focke-Wulfs always had to land before the
Messerschmitts. This left their colleagues in the
Me 262s to land without the protective cover and
dependant on their skill, luck and field AAA.
Galland himself was victim of this practice.
On April 26, 1945, he crashed at Riem with
injuries and a damaged aircraft. There was no
one in the air to cover him. Sachsenberg’s -190s
were covered in their shelters at the northern
edge of the air field, and his pilots weren’t too
close to the remaining JV 44 pilots. Up to now,
there are five Fw 190 Ds that served with JV 44,
and most of them wore a black and white square
symbol with a red ring and a specific slogan. The
inscription was very personal and the authorship
was probably tied to a specific pilot.
Almost certainly, this is the case with Red ‘3’,
which was assigned to Hptm. Waldemar Wübke
(15 victories and a veteran of JG 54). Apparently,
this notorious prankster and Sachsenberg
understood each other quite well, and on his
aircraft he reiterated the inscription from
his aircraft as far back as 1940. Another two
pilots who flew with Sachsenberg (and were
confirmed by JV 44 documentation) were Lt. Karl
H. Hoffmann and Hptm. Klaus Faber (2 victories
and a JG 27 veteran). The fifth member of this
flight was not Fw. Bodo Dirschauer, as previously
stated, but Maj. Wilhelm Steinmann, a holder of
the Knight's Cross with 44 victories.
The protection flight over Riem engaged
American pilots only a few times, but details are
nevertheless lacking. During the evacuation of
the base, two Focke-Wulfs were left behind, the
remainder were to move to Ainring at Salzburg.
It appears that only two made it, and the third
was found at the end of the war at Bad Aibling.
JV 44 always reported having five Fw 190 D-9s
and Fw 190D-11s. Klaus Faber recounted after
the war ferrying Red ‘13’ from Ainring to Bad
Aibling. On the way, he met a group of Mustangs
and Thunderbolts, and reportedly shot down
one, maybe two of them. He was also to deliver
a supply of whiskey back to Ainring. Capitulation
found JV 44 at Ainring, at Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Her members found their way home fairly quickly.
Note: This text is a slightly edited excerpt
from Sachsenberg's biography, published in
INFO Eduard 11/2010. A biography of his uncle,
WWI naval fighter Gotthard Sachsenberg, can be
found in INFO Eduard 04/2021.
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
Red Doras
Text: Jan Bobek
INFO Eduard
57
July 2024