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.

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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