Thought you might be interesred in this little tale, as an apropos to P47 versus 109.
From Priens great JG53 books vol. 3
_____________________________
__
26 December 1944: 11 and IV Gruppen were sent patrol-
ling for enemy fighter-bombers , while 111 Gruppe apparently
saw no action.
Maj. Mcimberg also had to lead the Gruppe on this day as
by now none of his veteran Staffelkapitdne were still available.
Oblt. Rollwage had been assigned to II/JG 106 and Oblt. Seeger
had gone on leave, and to make things even worse Hptm. Ham-
mer fell ill and was put out of action indefinitely. "Jule"
Mcimberg's description of the mission on this the second day
of Christmas (Boxing Day) 1944 appears below; however there
was a story behind the mission as Fritz Adelmann, then a
Feldwebel and mechanic in charge of Hptm. Alfred Hammer's
machine, described:
"Since his own machine was apparently unservice-
able on this day, prior to takeoff Major Meimberg de-
manded Hptm. Hammer's aircraft; however the latter was
very attached to his 'Yellow 1' and had ordered it reported
unserviceable 'just in case,' even though it was in tip-top
condition. He simply couldn't bear the idea of it being
crashed by someone else. It was a beauty too, polished to
a high gloss, equipped with a high-altitude engine and a
gun camera. Major Meimberg brushed aside my objec-
tions and so '1' was rolled over to the Gruppenstab, where
it was checked over and found serviceable - as it turned
out there were no repercussions from my phony unser-
viceable report."
In fact Alfred Hammer's aircraft was the same Bf 109 G-
14/AS that he had been issued at Hustedt at the end of July
1944 and which he had flown on most missions since. Now
Julius Meimberg's account:
"While in the process of taking off, shortly before
liftoff, 1 saw that a bunch of enemy fighters - 1 think they
were Spitfires - were moving into position to attack us
from behind. They caught us at the most dangerous mo-
ment; one is helpless during takeoff and landing, unable
to evade an attack. It was too late to abort the takeoff and
so after lifting off 1 tried to get away through the valleys at
low-level and then climb. 1 was alone. My Gruppe had
been completely scattered by the surprise attack and sev-
eral pillars of dark smoke near the airfield made me sus-
pect the worse. 1 was fuming, full of rage that they had
been able to run roughshod over us like that.
Meanwhile 1 had reached an altitude of perhaps five
to six thousand meters (it may have been somewhat less)
and tried to figure out what was happening while hanging
all alone in the bright sunshine above the wintry landscape.
At once 1 sighted a flight of Thunderbolts beneath me;
they were flying in line astern, obviously searching for
worthwhile targets on the ground. In any case it wasn't
very difficult at all for me to come down from behind and
position myself behind the last one. 1 fired, and the effect
was the same as if 1 had stirred up a homet's nest. The
other three turned and opened fire, but with my speed ad-
vantage 1 was able to climb back up to safety. The Thun-
derbolt was inferior to the Me 109 in terms of climbing
ability and indeed we had our own tactic for each enemy
aircraft type. With its great weight the P-47 was simply
faster in the dive, consequently we could not evade it by
diving. As well it had tremendous firepower and - most of
all: where there was one Thunderbolt there were others.
And so 1 climbed back up, had a victory, and resumed
my circling. Soon 1 spotted another flight of Thunderbolts
below me, again in line astern, again searching for targets
on the ground, and again 1 got the trailing machine and
was able to climb away. Full of anger, 1 was intent on
avenging in my own way the attack that had struck our
Gruppe while taking off.
1 repeated the procedure with a third flight; but this
time 1 got too close to the P-47 1 was firing at, so that
pieces of the downed bird flew about my ears, and when 1
pulled up 1 was trailing white smoke. Once again 1 lamented
the absence of a radiator shutoff valve. This time 1 de-
cided at once to bail out, for trying to descend to safety in
my crippled bird would have been hopeless as the sky was
now full of aircraft, all of them hostile. As well with a
damaged radiator 1 had little time; in only a few minutes a
piston would seize and that would be it; it just didn't work
without coolant.
1 was quickly overtaken by the other fighters as 1 was
preparing to bail out. They caught me in a left turn; a burst
went straight through the aircraft and 1 changed direction.
After the experiences we had had with being shot at while
in parachutes - especially by the Americans - 1 let myself
fall and did not pull the ripcord until - true to our old rule
- 1 could either see the chickens or count the branches. 1
sailed toward a farmhouse but then to my horror 1 realized
that for the last few meters 1 was being blown toward a
large tree. 1 came down through the tree without doing
any damage. There was no need to go into the bent-knee
position, for the chute had caught in the tree and 1 was
deposited quite gently on to the ground.
1 had come down right next to the 'Schaichhof,' a
large farm south of Rutesheim/Leonberg; farm workers
came rushing out of the house and they were speaking
Polish or Russian - POWs who had been forced to work
on the farm. Blood was oozing out of my right fur-lined
boot, and so the workers carried me to the house where 1
was received by the farmer. He took me into the 'cold
magnificence' - the good room which was usually un-
heated. The Christmas tree was still standing and the gifts
lay on the table. 1 was laid on a sofa. Soon a civilian came
in who had arrived by bicycle - he still had the trouser
clips on his legs. He introduced himself as Dr. Hartmann,
the father of 'Bubi' Hartmann; he asked me if 1 knew his
son. Of course 1 had heard of him, but at the time 1 had
never met him in person. Dr. Hartmann then proceeded to
apply a temporary dressing and a short time later 1 was
driven to the hospital in B6blingen. There they put on a
plaster cast, and for the next few days 1 had to stay in bed
with my leg in a cast."
The three P-47s which Maj. Meimberg shot down were
victories 48 to 50.
11 Gruppe's losses were considerable. 6/JG 53 had two
pilots killed: Oblt. Ludorf was shot down immediately after
taking off from Rutesheim; he bailed out but was too low for
his parachute to open. As a result Leo Ludorf fell to his death
near Rutesheim. The other victim was Gefr. Meermann, who
was also shot down and crashed to his death in his "Yellow 8"
about 500 meters east of Wimsheim. 8 Staffel reported one
wounded: Gefr. Ruland was forced to belly-land his battle-dam-
aged "Blue 6" near Flacht, a few kilometers northwest of
Rutesheim. He suffered serious injuries in the forced landing.
Altogether II/JG 53 lost six of its Messerschmitts shot down
immediately after takeoff; two pilots escaped injury, either
bailing out successfully or making a forced landing somewhere.
Precise details are not known.
_______________________
"Jule" Meimberg survived the war, and still lives - and flyes on occation - till this day.
For more on Meimberg:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/6458/meimberg.html regards
danish
