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Red 19 ( WNr. 172733 ) was the regular aircraft of Uffz Ernst Schröder of 5./JG 300 from about August through to December 1944. Produced by Focke Wulf in Cottbus during May or June 1944 this machine was almost certainly not produced as a Fw 190A-8/R2 (the Sturmbock Rüstsatz) but in a six MG gun Jägerausführung or fighter variant…".. I would also have preferred to remove the outer MG 151/20 cannon but this was strictly prohibited ..". It was therefore not equipped with the Mk 108 3-cm cannon. A red Rotbraun 45 Reichsverteidigung fuselage band was applied to this machine during its 25-hour Check or Kontrolle. Rotbraun 45 red oxide primer paint was also applied to the bolts which attached the armoured ring to the front of the cowl.
Schröder had a number of victories over P-51 Mustangs before the events of the 27 September 1944, the so-called 'Catastrophe at Kassel', the decimation of the 37 B-24 Liberators of the 445th BG, the highest one day loss of any bombardment group in the 8th Air Force. Flying in the third wave of attacking Sturm machines he shot down two 445th BG B-24 Liberators. These were his only Viermot victories. The following is extracted from his combat report, parts of which are reproduced in Bill Dewey's 'Kassel mission Reports' along with Schröder's assessment of the aerial battle.
"……In a short time, we saw a large group of B-24 Liberator bombers, at our altitude, like a swarm of mosquitoes, flying right in front of us, going in the same direction. The silhouettes very soon became bigger and bigger because of our great speed. Suddenly, several of these big ships began to burn and to plunge down with fire and smoke - even before we fired a single shot. A (Sturm) unit flying ahead of us had begun the attack. Immediately, the sky was full of parachutes and wreckage, and we were flying right into it. Even before I had covered the remaining distance to my bomber, it already was in flames as a result of my six guns. Both left engines... were burning. The airplane turned on its side and plunged. Also, the neighbouring machine was already smoking from a previous attack. I only needed to change aim to shoot again. Then this one showed bright flames…. I was so surprised and fascinated that I flew alongside my victim and stared at the metre-high flames that were pouring out of this Liberator, all the way back, beyond the elevator. Then this great machine clumsily laid itself over on its back and went down....."
"... In view of this surprising success, I naturally wanted to know precisely where my two opponents would fall. This was necessary because a double shoot-down of two four-engine bombers (they were my only ones) was for us in 1944 something exceptional. Therefore, I circled the crashing wreckage of my two adversaries in large, downward-running spirals. But my attention was hindered in a most horrible way, because the entire sky was filled with fliers in parachutes, and small and large chunks of airplane debris, which suddenly appeared in front of my wind-shield at my high diving speed of 600 to 700 kph. I truly had to close my eyes because I believed I would almost certainly hit something…"
any of you guys have EE's JG 300 book for the profile of Röte 19... ? Sorry no scanner at my disposal at this time