Thursday Snapshot - "The Man Who Downed Nowotny"

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Hello Gents and Ladies!

This week's thursday snapshot will feature a legendary P51D vs Me262 fight.  The event starts on thursday at 3pm eastern, 21 central european time. Everyone is welcome! Come to the Special Events Arena (SEA) about 15 minutes earlier.

Here is the historical background:

September 2002 Aviation History featured a story of 1st Lt. Edward R. Haydon who was instrumental in the downing of 258 victory aces Major Walter Nowotny who was flying a Me-262 November 8th 1944. “The jet pilot was good. He knew what he was doing. In case he had anyone on his tail, he would lure them into the flak zone, so he could drop to the flak-free zone and land. No one would have voluntarily flown through that to get down to the jet. But see, I was already below this height at his level and made the turn. I still had plenty of speed, and I thought for sure I would never see the jet again. I turned no more than 20 to 50 degrees, because I was receiving no fire, and rolled level. I was just trying to scoot across the filed and either find a place to hid or rejoin the group. Well, directly in front of me appeared this 262 again, slowing down as if on a downwind leg, 180 degrees from his previous position, and he did not see me. I chopped the throttle, cutting power, sliding back to the right a bit. Remember that when you cut power on a propeller-driven plane, you lose speed quickly. I ended up in the perfect position, and let her drift right into him, just like shooting a student out of the traffic pattern.”- 1st Lt. Edward R. Haydon

Event details: http://events.hitechcreations.com/snapshots/snapshot.php?snapshot_id=21

Snapshot forum thread: http://www.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=115873

See you there!

Camo

[Frodo]

This is interesting. First time I have heard this story about Nowotny's death. The story I had always heard was he radioed he was on fire, and that was the last heard from him. Never anything about a shoot-down by a P-51.


Must do some research. Can anyone add to this story?


Frodo

[TimRas]

In September 1944, Major Nowotny was put in charge of Kommando Nowotny, equipped with the Me 262 jet fighter. The unit consolidated a number of test units and was tasked with acquiring tactical knowledge and experience of Me 262 operations. The unit was based on two airfields northwest of Osnabrück: Achmer and Hesepe. Nowotny was besieged with difficulties in operationally testing the jet fighter. In addition to staving off the increasing Allied fighter presence the jets attracted, he was also beset with the technical difficulties a new and immature technology presented. By 7 November 1944, Nowotny had claimed three victories in the new jet fighter. Nowotny took off on 8 November 1944, flying against USAAF bombers with a fighter escort. The exact circumstances of Nowotny’s death remain uncertain. Ground personnel reported hearing combat above the clouds. Nowotny reported he had downed a B-24 four-engine bomber and probably destroyed a P-51 fighter. He then reported an engine failure before making a garbled transmission referring to “burning” over the radio. His Me 262 A-1a (W.Nr. 110 400) “White 8” was seen to dive vertically out of the clouds and crash at Epe, 2.5 kilometres east of Hesepe. It is generally accepted that he was shot down by 1st Lt Edward “Buddy” Haydon of the 357th Fighter Group, USAAF and Capt Ernest “Feeb” Fiebelkorn (9 victories) of the 20th Fighter Group, USAAF whom shared a Me 262 victory at 12:45 over Achmer that day.
 
http://www.luftwaffe.cz/nowotny.html

At 12:45 P.M., November 8, 1944, 1st Lt. Edward R. Haydon, flying his P-51D "Lady Nelda" of the 357th Fighter Group, joined P-51s of the 20th Fighter Group in the chase of a crippled Me 262 towards its airfield at Achmer, Germany. The German fighter pilot dragged his pursuers into a barrage of flak put up by the airfield defenses. All 20th Fighter Group P-51s broke away to the right. Lt. Haydon broke to the left, alone, to find the Me 262 on the downwind leg for landing. As Haydon continued his turn towards firing position, the German pilot caught sight of him and reacted violently, snapping inverted, diving into the ground right under the P-51’s nose. Haydon had not fired a shot. He was awarded the victory, though it was shared with Capt. Ernest C. Fiebelkorn of the 20th Fighter Group, who had fired at Nowotny during the chase.*
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjr/avart/waryears/

[deSelys]

Aren't you confusing with Marseille's death, who bailed from his heavily smoking plane and was struck by the tailplane (although his body was found not much later...)?

Clostermann recalls Nowotny's death in 'The Big Show' and said that he was indeed shot down in the landing pattern.

[Frodo]

TimRas thanks for the info. and links.

Frodo