HISTORY
Friedrich-Karl Müller
Wilde Sau ace
Author: Neil Page
Leading wilde Sau night fighter ace Friedrich-Karl Müller was
an experienced Lufthansa pilot before the war and one of the
founder members of Jagdgruppe Herrmann, forerunner of the
original wilde Sau Geschwader JG 300. He went on to command
two of the Luftwaffe’s specialist Mosquito-hunting (MoskitoJagd) units, 1./NJGr 10 and I./ NJG 11. Müller achieved around
30 victories in only 52 combat flights in what must have been
one of the most difficult forms of combat flying - ‘unguided’
night-time freelance hunting in a single-engine fighter.
The idea to deploy single-engine fighters at night is largely
credited to decorated bomber pilot ‘Hajo’ Herrmann. He
proposed flying the standard single-engine day fighters of
the Luftwaffe at night as a means of making up for a general
shortfall in night-fighter production. The German High
Command authorised him to begin testing his theories in the socalled Nachtjagdversuchskommando Herrmann, (Night fighter
Test Detachment Herrmann) Herrmann’s unit based at Bonn
Hangelar comprised ex-bomber and Lufthansa pilots who were
experienced in blind flying techniques and would be deployed
to attack RAF bombers visually- at night. On 24 July 1943, the
RAF had escalated their night bomber offensive with the launch
of a series of raids against the port city of Hamburg. The raids
were significant for the first successful deployment of ‘Window’tiny strips of metal foil - which, cut to the right wavelength,
successfully jammed German radar equipment. The attack
and the resulting firestorm, which caused huge loss of life and
damage to industrial installations, accelerated testing then
being undertaken by Herrmann’s pilots. These trials had met
with some success- on the night of 3/4 July during an attack
on Cologne Herrmann’s pilots destroyed six bombers, including
one brought down by Herrmann himself, for the loss of just one
machine.
Operating with the aid of searchlights or the light from
flares and thus independently of radar- this method of attack
– free hunting - was dubbed ‘wilde Sau’ or ‘wild boar’ night
fighting. The relative success of these early trials with what
became known as ‘JG Herrmann’ led to the establishment of
Herrmann’s Jagdgeschwader 300 – the first Luftwaffe night
fighter Geschwader equipped solely with single-engine fighters.
8
eduard
Although they had few aircraft of their own at the start, JG 300
flew both types of Luftwaffe primary frontline fighter, the Stab
and II. Gruppe finally being equipped with Fw 190s, whereas
I. and III. Gruppen flew Bf 109 Gs. Oblt. Friedrich-Karl Müller
was appointed the unit’s technical officer. Müller flew both the
Bf 109 and Fw 190 whilst serving with the Geschwaderstab JG
300. Call sign ‘wilde Sau 3’ his Fw 190 A-6 ‘grüne 3’ WNr 550
717 was lost on the night of 22 October 1943 whereas ‘Green
3’ WNr 550 453, displayed details of his 19 nocturnal victories
on its rudder. One of the unit’s most notable initial combat
actions came on the night of 17/18 August 1943 during the raid
on Peenemünde. JG 300 reported four victories, including two
downed by Müller flying a Fw 190. On the night of 23/24 August
JG 300 pilots shot down 13 RAF “heavies”, including a triple
returned by Müller (Stab JG 300) and Lt. Robert Plewa of 2./
JG 300. During another major action (5/6 September) JG 300
again reported 13 kills. That night Müller claimed a Halifax and
Stirling, followed by two Lancasters 24 hours later. Such were
the successes of Müller and JG 300 that orders were issued to
form another Wilde Sau unit – JG 301, followed in November by
a third, JG 302.
However with the onset of poorer autumn and winter weather,
attrition began to take its toll. Takeoffs and landings at night on
dimly lit airfields in a single-engine fighter for a sixty-minute
sortie on instruments in often atrocious weather conditions
required considerable feats of airmanship and accidents were
a frequent occurrence. The Bf 109 especially gave its pilots
potentially lethal handling difficulties to contend with - its small
wing, narrow-track undercarriage, an overloaded airframe and
large engine driving a broad-three-bladed propeller gave it
a nasty tendency to swing badly on take-off and landing. Short
on range, a single-engine fighter could ice up dangerously
quickly when climbing through the cloud layer. The more
heavily armed Fw 190 was sturdier and, equipped with a 300
litre Zusatztank (drop tank) to extend endurance, enjoyed
a reasonable loiter time over any supposed target area. The
only navigation aid for the wilde Sau – aside from corridors of
searchlights – were radio beacons and the onboard radio, short
on range and liable to heavy jamming by the British. But even
INFO Eduard - November 2019