An ordinary day in 1945

[Chocks away!]

I've just read this neat little book from mushroom publications. It describes the air war in the west on one day, March the second 1945, and includes personal accounts of the airmen involved and a list of losses of the opposing air forces.

What is perhaps shocking, is the amount of stuff the luftwaffe was still throwing into the fray. In spite of this , the luftwaffe boys were still having a really hard time, usually facing enemies that had altitude and numerical advantage.
The book also has some grim figures for the Me-262 fighter bombers that tangled with American planes, but failed to score any victories, but suffered losses at low altitude at the hands of marauding Mustangs.
All in all it's a nice little book with some great info. Check it out.

An Ordinary Day in 1945

 

[Civettone]

Every time I read accounts of 1945 I just get frustrated...

Kris

 

[Erich]

Peter K and I go way back and he has amassed one huge solid data base for his home country. I supplied him some materials some years ago and hopeful he used them as I do not have a copy of this very important aerial battle.

My bases for the understanding of this days conflict was my cousins unit JG 301 where it lost to the 352nd fg Fw 190A-8, A-9's and several Dora 9's. An unusual thing that 8th staffel borrowed Dora 9's from the 6th staffel as the 8th staffel only had A-8's/A-9's of it's own and never operated with Doras as it was never equipped, only the 5-7th staffeln of JG 301.......by March of 45, JG 301 was pretty messed up anyway.

glad you enjoyed the book chocks and another pretty important mistake Chocks if you note the TA 152H profile that says from 7./JG 301. well the 7th staffel had A-9's and Dora 9's only. the Ta 152H at this time was regulated to the Geschwader stab only and had green numbers, but some of the older Ta 152 H's from III. gruppe that had red, yellow and black numbers came into the Geschwader stab and what is profiled is one of the older H's from III. gruppe

 

[Chocks away!]

If I remember correctly, there was also an account of a single rotte that actually included both Fw-190 A-9s and D-9s, but I could be mistaken.
Are there any books that cover this period in the air war that you can suggest Erich? I actually ordered it after reading one of your posts, so I guess you're to be trusted
(By the way another book i'm reading and enjoying at the moment is Korean Air War by Dorr and Thompson, I also recommend that one in spite of some mistakes in it)

 

[Erich]

it was a mix of birds from 2 staffels I think, a couple of Doras borrowed by 8th staffel and then an A-8 by 8th staffel all shot down by the 352nd fg.

there is nothing written on this battle that is contemporary except.........

well lets just say I am doing my own thing with a noted author/artist on JG 301 and this battle is going to get covered

 

[Civettone]

Luftwaffe 45 by Manfred Griehl is in German. Don't know if it's translated into English yet.

Kris

 

[Chocks away!]

Thanks

 

[Erich]

man it's been over a year now and just ordered Peters little book off of amazon.com

well I have found some very cool stuff concerning JG 301 and this date besides the US 352nd fg P-51's for 2 March 45.........

will discuss in due time, and will give an overall impression on this book when it arrives and I have digested it.

Gruß 8)

 

[FalkeEins]

....just got this very frustrating little booklet too....it is really just a listing of claims and losses as the text is like those old Kagero books...not very easy to read. Not Peter's fault - the publisher could have done a much better job of preparing his research for publication... The profile artwork is of indifferent quality.. Loefgen's 190 is horrible..

really could be re-done by a better publisher...

compare the treatment with the accounts in the big JG 300 history which has more on this one day..

 

[Erich]

hey ya Neil

man I would not compare anything with the 2 volumes on JG 300, they just would not be able to stand up to all the many years the Frenchmen put into those........

 

[Chocks away!]

I must agree that the layout and design of the book leave a lot to be desired, it's mostly the information included that makes it worth it...

 

[Vassili Zaitzev]

Book looks interesting, I think I'll pick it up if I see it next time I head to a book store, thanks Chocks.