by Thomas Mckelvey Cleaver.
The ranks of great Luftwaffe aces do not include Leutnant Jorg Czypionka. "You have to understand," the now retired textiles technician says modestly, "I joined the Luftwaffe because I loved airplanes and flying—not for the combat.
"When I chose an assignment, I thought first of how much skill it would take and how much I could learn about flying if I did it. I was really just one of those who served." Czypionka, however, is now the only surviving pilot of Kommando Welter, a unit whose name is well known to students of the WW II Luftwaffe but about whose operations little is known; thus, his memories are important.
Born in Berlin in 1921 and raised in southern Germany and prewar Czechoslovakia where his father was a businessman, Czypionka considers himself lucky that his adolescence was spent outside Germany. "Even after Germany took over the Sudetenland," he recalls, "it was not compulsory that we join the Hitler Jugend as it was for boys who lived in Germany and in Austria." A good student who aspired to be a doctor, Czypionka fell in love with flying as a teenage glider pilot at a flying club in Czechoslovakia before the Nazi occupation. He enlisted in the Luftwaffe in 1940, took his flight training in southern Austria and was made a primary and basic flight instructor. "I have to say I loved that job," he recounts. "We flew the Fw 44, the He 72 and the Jungmann [Bü.131] as well as high-performance fighters, and I had a lot of time in the Jungmeister [Bü.133]. Those were wonderful, maneuverable airplanes—so much fun to fly. We were far from the war and able to build our flying skills." He laughs and continues, "I know for a fact that my better flying skills are why I can tell you this story."
more:
Wilde Sau Mosquito Fighters - Me 262 pilot memories - pg. 1 - Flight Journal Magazine article
The ranks of great Luftwaffe aces do not include Leutnant Jorg Czypionka. "You have to understand," the now retired textiles technician says modestly, "I joined the Luftwaffe because I loved airplanes and flying—not for the combat.
"When I chose an assignment, I thought first of how much skill it would take and how much I could learn about flying if I did it. I was really just one of those who served." Czypionka, however, is now the only surviving pilot of Kommando Welter, a unit whose name is well known to students of the WW II Luftwaffe but about whose operations little is known; thus, his memories are important.
Born in Berlin in 1921 and raised in southern Germany and prewar Czechoslovakia where his father was a businessman, Czypionka considers himself lucky that his adolescence was spent outside Germany. "Even after Germany took over the Sudetenland," he recalls, "it was not compulsory that we join the Hitler Jugend as it was for boys who lived in Germany and in Austria." A good student who aspired to be a doctor, Czypionka fell in love with flying as a teenage glider pilot at a flying club in Czechoslovakia before the Nazi occupation. He enlisted in the Luftwaffe in 1940, took his flight training in southern Austria and was made a primary and basic flight instructor. "I have to say I loved that job," he recounts. "We flew the Fw 44, the He 72 and the Jungmann [Bü.131] as well as high-performance fighters, and I had a lot of time in the Jungmeister [Bü.133]. Those were wonderful, maneuverable airplanes—so much fun to fly. We were far from the war and able to build our flying skills." He laughs and continues, "I know for a fact that my better flying skills are why I can tell you this story."
more:
Wilde Sau Mosquito Fighters - Me 262 pilot memories - pg. 1 - Flight Journal Magazine article
