Page 13
Info Eduard - November 2010
Page 13
HISTORY
At this point, I will jump the timeline a bit, and refer to Major
Thomas L. Hayes, Jr., of 364 th FS/357th FG. At 1500h,
he claimed an Me 410, but no such type was lost at that time.
Furthermore, on inspecting the gun camera footage, I would
say that the aircraft that wandered into Hayes’ sights was
a dark camouflaged Ju 88. Hayes likely was not completely
certain of his location, because he reported it as ‘100miles
west of Berlin’ The only aircraft to even remotely satisfy the
time and place was a Ju 88 of 9./Fliegerzielgeschwader 1,
which for unknown reasons went down near Eischott, not far
from Fallersleben, and was completely destroyed.
Contact with Junkers night fighters was made by the
4 th Fighter Group. From the gun camera footage of 2ndLt.
Robert S. Tussey, it is evident that combat with the Junkers
aircraft was initiated at relatively high altitudes to very low
levels. One damaged Ju 88 was claimed by 1st Lt. Nicholas
Megura of the 334 th FS at 1350h. The only confirmed
kill of an -88 about ten minutes later was gained by 2nd
Lt. Tussey. His gun camera captured the progress of the
rivetting drama that unfolded. The light camouflaged night
fighter was attacked low above the base and large town that
Tussey identified as Magdeburg. The German pilot skillfully
maneuvered attempting to shake the American, and stood
the twin engined fighter on its starboard wing. He allowed
the crew to bail out directly over the town and in either an
attempt at a forced landing, or being mortally wounded,
he disappeared into a forest near a small village.
Is the Tussey´s footage that shows the final moments of
Gotthard Sachsenberg? I suspect it is. The only night fighting
Junkers Ju 88, that was lost on this day, was Sachsenberg’s,
and you can conclude for yourself wether or not it is the one
in Tussey’s footage. It is my opinion that the town shown
in the gun camera footage is Braunschweig. The airfield
around which the combat occurred, is the trial centre of
Völkenrode, and the small town which is visible at the end
of the footage is actually Völkenrode. The proximity and
features of the forest appear similar today as they do in the
footage.
Over the course of his service, Gotthard Sachsenberg
was awarded the Iron Cross 1 st and 2 nd Class, Wound
Badge and Night Fighter Operational Clasp.
‘HEINO’ GOES EAST
Heinz Sachsenberg was also born in Dessau, on July 12,
1922. After undergoing pilot and fighter training at the end
of 1942, he was assigned with the rank of Feldwebel to
6. Staffel, a component of II Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 52
(II./JG 52), operating on the southern sector of the east-
ern Front. The area of operations of this unit, equipped
with Messerschmitt Bf 109 Gs, was moved to the infa-
mous Kuban area in March, 1943. The CO of the Gruppe
up to March, 1943, was the well known Hptm. Johannes
Steinhoff (176 victories). He was succeeded by Hptm.
Helmut Kühle (18 victories), and from August, 1943 to
January, 1945, the Gruppe was headed by Hptm. Gerhard
Barkhorn (301 victories). Sachsenberg’s Staffelkapitän
to February, 1943, was Oblt. Rudolf Resch (94 kills).
Intensive fighting and a increasing qualitative state of the
enemy precipitated the fall of four commanding officers of
6. Staffel, three of them in aerial combat. Among Sach-
senberg’s most notable colleagues were Helmut Lipfert
(203 victories) and Hans Waldman (134 kills). Along with
him, Lt. Nikolaus Jeschonnek also served with 6./JG 52
(
Note 2). For the sake of completeness, I will add another
point of interest, and that is that at the end of 1942, II./JG
52 had an unusual unit attached to it, the Slovak 13./JG
52, also operating the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G.
Odkaz na video zde
Fighter pilots from 336 th Fighter Squadron, 4 th Fighter Group
during rest in Great Britain. From the left: Capt. Richard G. Braley
(bottom), Maj. Willard W. Millikan, Capt. Joseph A. Patteeuw, Lt.
Thomas K. McDill, Capt. Ira E. Grounds and Lt. Robert S. Tussey.
(www.littlefriends.co.uk via Peter Randall)
JG 52
Crest
NOTE 2: This young officer died on
August 5 th, 1943 during a bombing
of the German air base at Rogan.
His father was Generaloberst Hans
Jeschonnek who was the Luftwaffe
Chief of Staff. It is widely reported that
Generaloberst Jeschonnek committed
suicide on August 18 th, 1943 after
a raid on Peenemunde, over criticism
levied by Hitler and Göring, or over the
inadvertent friendly fire against German
aircraft in the same raid. All of these
items may have been factors, but certainly
the death of his son may have been more
so.
link to the video here