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JV44 History
A work in progress
PreludeAutumn, 1944 - The Luftwaffe command is in turmoil. Göring was surrounded by his
Kindergarten,
a group of young officers who played up to him with only their own personal gains in
mind. Many of these were from the Kampfwaffe (bombers) with little or no knowledge
of fighter operations. Adolf Galland, constantly at odds with the way the air
war was being run, was becoming the scapegoat for the Jagdwaffe's (fighters)
problems. Finally, at the end of 1944, Göring dismisses Galland as General
der Jagdflieger and appoints Oberst Gordon Gollob in his place.
This meeting was not to come to pass. When word of the "mutiny" reached Göring he reacted promptly. They were ordered to report to Berlin for a meeting. Lützow had been elected to act as the group's spokesman. With what was called "Points for Discussion", Lützow presented the Jagdwaffe's list of grievances; Galland's dismissal, the accusations of cowardice, the influence of commanders with no fighter background, the need for concentrated deployment of forces with which to attack the Allied bombers and the immediate availability of all Me 262s along with the reserve bomber pilots of the IX Fliegerkorps for deployment on fighter operations. Predictably, Göring's reaction to the demands of the conspirators was one of anger, indignation, scorn and disgust. Tossing the "Points of Discussion" aside he vented his fury at Lützow; the Jagdwaffe would not receive the Me 262 - the bomber arm would get it because they knew how to use it. As for Galland, it was time that he was replaced. Within hours arrest warrants were issued for both Galland and Lützow. The idea of court martial was dropped, but Lützow was banished to Italy as a staffel commander and ordered not to communicate with Galland or any other fighter pilots except for official Luftwaffe business. Galland was ordered to leave Berlin and instructed to await orders. Galland, in a state of total despair, returned to Berlin. With Galland on the
verge of suicide a friend intervened with perhaps the only clear thinking officer of the
Reich... Albert Speer. Outraged at the treatment of Galland, Speer immediately
contacted Hitler. It was the middle of the night. By morning Galland was
contacted by Gestapo and SS heads and assured that there had been mistakes and
misunderstandings, he was also assigned an SS bodyguard. Shortly later Galland was
ordered to report to the Reichs Chancellery to meet with Hitler. Besides being
formally informed of all charges and investigations being dropped he was informed that he
was to report to Göring for further orders. |
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Birth of Jagdverband 44In late January, 1945 Galland was summoned to Karinhall by Göring.
After further beratement by the Riechsmarschal Galland was told that it was he, Göring,
who had arranged to drop all the charges leveled against him (a bold lie). Göring
then got to the real purpose of the meeting. Galland was told that the Führer
wanted him to set up a small unit of only staffel strength to demonstrate that the Me 262
was the superior fighter that Galland had claimed it was. Göring told Galland that
as long as it did not include his name that he could choose the title for his new unit.
With little hesitation Galland chose Jagdverband 44. Partially as a cynical
reference to the year 1944 which saw both his personal and the Luftwaffe's decay; and
partially as a numerical link to the first unit he commanded. |
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Acquisition & Training"...word had got out that Galland was forming a new jet unit
at Brandenburg so I called him from Lechfeld and asked whether I could join him... He
said: "Sure, no problem, glad to have you. Just bring a jet with you."
So I went over to the jet manufacturing plant at Leipheim and tried to get hold of
an Me 262. I said I was under instruction to collect the aircraft for JV 44, but
they had never even heard of the unit! Anyway, by that stage, things were in such
turmoil that I managed to secure the aircraft and I then flew direct to
Brandenburg-Briest" Leutnant Franz Stigler |
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OperationalRecords are sparse from this period of the war. Following are descriptions of some of the few JV44 records that exist. 4 April, 1945 saw JV44 earn its first "victory" - Unteroffizier Eduard Schallmoser misjudged his speed and range clipping the tail off of a P-38. 18 April - Catastrophe. Galland scrambled 6 pilots to meet an incoming US bomber formation. The runway still had some debris and small craters from bomb damage. Late in his takeoff roll Johannes Steinhoff's plane suffered an undercarriage failure likely caused by a punctured tire. Going too fast to stop and too slow to fly, Steinhoff knew he was in trouble. The plane lifted a few feet from the ground before smashing down and exploding. Incredibly, as the cockpit filled with flames and the R4M rockets began exploding, Steinhoff was able to free himself and scramble clear. He suffered severe disfiguring burns on his face and wrists. JV44 had lost an Eagle. 26 April saw JV44 scramble to attack a flight of B-26 Marauders. This was to be Galland's last mission of the war. Approaching a box of B-26s from the rear, Galland prepared to fire his R4M rockets. Return fire from the bombers was intense and probably distracted him enough that he failed to arm the rockets. When they didn't fire he quickly opened up with the 30mm cannon and a Marauder promptly exploded in front of him. Switching to another bomber in the group he proceeded to inflict heavy damage to it. Rolling his 262 to asses the damage he had inflicted, his plane took more 50 calibre hits from the defending gunners. Damaged, Galland dove his jet away from the formation. Suddenly he felt it shudder - an escorting P-47 had followed him in his dive and was riddling his plane with bullets. His engines and instrument panel had been hit and fragments from a shell had hit Galland's right knee. Although badly damaged miraculously the plane kept flying. Fearing being shot while parachuting, Galland decided to make for München-Riem. Just as he landed he was forced to dive from the 262 to avoid a band of strafing Allied planes. Although Galland remained in overall command, Heinz Bär took over operational command. |
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| Footnotes
Hanna Reitsch, the accomplished woman
test-pilot said "Göring chose such people to fill positions around him as
mirrored his own personality; men who were self-centered, incompetent and
accommodating. It was men like these who influenced the spirit and manner of the
Luftwaffe. Often they possessed not the slightest knowledge of technical
understanding of their jobs and held them only because they were friendly, congenial or
hero-worshippers of Göring."
"Conspirators" Present were: Oberst Günther Lutzow, Oberst Johannes Steinhoff, Oberst Hannes Trautloft, Oberst Gustav Rödel, Oberst Edu Newmann, Oberst Günther von Maltzahn and Major Hans-Heinrich von Brüstelin. Back
There was an ongoing argument in the Lufwaffe regarding deployment of the Me 262. Galland and the Jagdwaffe insisted that all production should be fighters used for defense of Germany against the Allied bomber formations. Hitler and the bomber commanders wanted the Me 262 used as a tactical Schnell Bomber and pressured for production of this variant. Back
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Last Modified 07/28/99
