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Jagdverband 44
Jagdverband (JV) 44 was formed as a result of conflict and dissent within the Luftwaffe’s high command. Following disagreement with Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, the commander of the fighter arm, Adolf Galland, was dismissed from his post and exiled. He was given permission to set up a small fighter unit with which to prove that the revolutionary Me 262 was the war-winning jet fighter he believed it to be.
Assembling a small group of disillusioned and weary Luftwaffe fighter aces and flying instructors, Galland – arguably the most famous German fighter ace of World War II – moved his unit, JV 44, to Munich, from where it operated the Me 262 against USAAF aircraft bombing targets in Austria and southern Germany.
Reports of sightings of German rocket- and jet-powered fighters were widely circulated among Ninth Air Force combat groups, but until Feb. 6, 1945, none had been observed by medium bomber crews. On that day eye-witnesses aboard aircraft of the 323rd BG reported a single Me 262 that fortunately did not attack. The jet merely flew under the B-26 formation, which was in the process of attacking targets at Berg/Gladbach. Nobody knew the extent to which the Germans had been able to disperse jet fighter production, or how effective they would be in combat, but the threat they posed was taken very seriously.
On the ‘receiving end’ of an attack by Me 262s
As told by Robert Forsyth in his book Jagdverband 44, The Luftwaffe’s Mavericks, to be on the ‘receiving end’ of an attack by Me 262s was a daunting experience. SSgt Bernard J. Byrnes was an armourer gunner flying B-26 Marauders with a crew from the 432nd BS/17th BG Group. As such, he manned the twin 0.50-cal. Browning M2 machine guns in the bomber’s top turret.
On 26 April 1945 he witnessed at first-hand an attack by JV 44. He had trained initially on the B-17 Flying Fortress, but just before he received his overseas posting, he was transferred to the B-26, as there was a requirement for air gunners in the medium bomber squadrons. Byrnes remembered:
‘I liked the B-17, but I am very glad I went onto the B-26. It was a fine plane to be in during combat. However, those Me 262s were one terrible fighter to have to deal with. They came in so fast that you hardly had any time to lead them before they were on you, using those four heavy calibre cannon they carried.
‘A normal fighter range of fire was about 300 yards, and from a medium bomber like the B-26, we could fire with some accuracy out to about 600 yards, so we had a small advantage. But with the Me 262, they came in so fast it was point-blank firing. You had no advantage of range. If the Germans had put those jets in the air sooner, it would have been very bad for us.’
A tough adversary
Although the speed of the Me 262 was, undoubtedly, a tactical advantage, and the 30 mm cannon and 55 mm rocket armament formidable, the B-26 proved a tough adversary for the pilots of JV 44. By the time the unit encountered Marauders in combat, the bomb groups were well versed in how best to maintain an effective defensive formation.
Nevertheless, there was some flexibility in their operational doctrine that made allowances for specific types of mission. The basic fight was a three-aircraft element which could be flown as either a ‘Vee’, ‘Echelon’ or ‘Stagger’. Three Vee elements would form a larger Vee-shaped, nine-aircraft squadron-sized ‘box’ formation of identical structure and shape to a single three-aircraft Vee, with the lead three-aircraft Vee flying slightly lower. Alternatively, a squadron could fly its three Vees in a ‘Javelin Down’ line astern formation, trailing downwards.
Similarly, squadrons could be flown ‘staggered’, with a lead Vee followed by another Vee behind, below, and to the left in the direction of fight, while the rearmost Vee would be behind, to the right and higher. An echeloned back formation, with three Vees stepped upwards diagonally line astern from left to right, could also be used. Two ‘boxes’ would form a group-sized formation of 27 aircraft. This would be flown staggered, comprised of three nine-aircraft squadrons formed of three Vees flying line astern trailing downwards.
Luftwaffe Me 262 pilots on attacking B-26 bombers
Finally, a group could also fly as a ‘diamond’ with four six-aircraft elements, each of two Vees, with a lead element flanked at left low and right high, and a rear element of Marauders trailing lower than the rest of the formation. Two or more groups would make a ‘Bomber Formation’. Each of these combinations was intended to provide ‘flexibility, compactness and firepower.’
Indeed, in May 1945 Galland told his American captors that of all the USAAF bombers he had engaged in combat, the one ‘he would least enjoy to attack’ was the B-26 Marauder.
His interrogator recorded that:
‘Galland stated that B-26s usually flying in very tight formations were very difficult to approach. He found through hard experience that they had devastating firepower.’
Oberfeldwebel Josef Dobnig few missions against Marauders with JV 44, and he remembered that:
‘It was an almost fatal risk [attacking B-26 formations]. You could really only dare a one-of surprise approach directly from the front, shoot for all you were worth, and then it was straight back to the field. From behind, you had no chance against the guns of those bombers, and the escort fighters were no joke either.’
Jagdverband 44, The Luftwaffe’s Mavericks is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo credit: Imperial War Museum, U.S. Air Force and Elliottwolf Own work via Wikipedia
