You think the Ta 152 wouldn't unbalance the arena, Verm? Take a look at this...
'The flying characteristics of the Ta 152 put all previous German fighters completely in the shade. Althought I never flew the Me 262 jet, I would venture to suggest that the Ta 152 was by far superior when it came to dogfighting with the Allied fighters then in service.'
'The 2500 HP engine gave the Ta 152 a top speed of some 750kph. The three-bladed airscrew - each blade being 60 cm wide - meant the Ta 152 could life off in just 400 metres. The marked increase in span gave the aircraft a very tight turning ciecle and a fantasic climb capability - 15 metres a second and a ceiling of 14,000 metres. In my opinion there was no better fighter in operational service at the time.' - a pilot of Erpobungskommando 152, (the operational test unit for the Ta 152, late 44, the pilot is most likely Hauptmann Bruno Stolle, who had since commanded both III./JG 2 and I./JG 11)
Now onto a combat report by the only Ta 152 equipped squadron, JG 301. Pilot, Oberfeldwebel Willi Reshke, 3 kills in Ta 152 before war's end...
'At the beginning of April 1945 JG 301 based at Hagenow, Ludwigslust and Neustadt-Glewe. The latter housed both II./JG 301 and the Ta 152H-1s of the Stabsschwarm. During the afternoon of 14 April 1945 the Geshwader had flown a mission over the Eastern Front, a low-level attack on Russian positions along the Oder south-east of Berlin.
'The Stabsscharm's job was to provide fighter cover during the Fw 190's approach and strafing runs, but as there wasn't a Russian fighter to be seen far and wide, The Ta-pilots returned to Neustadt-Glewe without firing a shot. The aircraft were immediatley refuelled, taxied to their dispersals and camouflaged. The pilots were still busy attending to their machines when two enemy fighters were spotted some eight kilometres to the south-west of the field making low-level passed over ludwigslust rail-way yards.
'Three Ta 152s were ordered to scramble at once - pilots Oberstleutnant Aufhammer, Oberfeldwebel Sattler and Oberfeldwebel Reshke.
'As the direction of take-off was in the line with the railway tracks leading straight to Ludwigslust, we were almost immediately in contact with the enemy fighters, which turned out to be Tempests. Flying No 3 position I witnessed Oberfeldwebel Sattler ahead of my dive into the ground seconds before we reached them. It was hardly possible for his crash to be the result of enemy action, as the two Tempest pilots had clearly only registered our presence.
'So now it was two against two as the ground-level dogfight began. We knew the Tempest to be a very fast fighter, used by the British to chase and shoot down out V-1's (which it shot down 638 of the 1,717 launched against Britain). But here, in a fight which was never to climb above 50 metres, speed would not play a big part. The machines' ability to turn would be all important. Both pilots realised from the start that it would be a fight to the finish and used every flying trick and tactical ploy possible to try and gain the upper hand. At this altitude neither could afford to make the slightest mistake. And for the first time since flying the Ta 152 I began fully to appreciate exactly what this aircraft could do.
'Pulling ever tighter turns I got closer and closer to the Tempest, never once feeling I was even approaching the limit of the Ta's capabilities. And in order to keep out of my sights, the Tempest pilot of being forced to take increasingly dangerous evasive action. When he flicked over onto the opposite wing I knew his last attempt to turn inside me had failed.
'The first burst of fire from my Ta 152 caught the Tempest in the tail and rear fuselage. The enemy aircraft shuddered noticeably and, probably as an instinctive action, the Tempest pilot immediately yoked into a starboard turn, giving me an even greater advantage.
'Now there was no escape for the Tempest. I pressed my gun buttons a second time, but after a few rounds my weapons fell silent, and despite all my efforts to clear them, refused to fire another shot. I can no longer remember just who and what I didn't curse. But fortunately for the Tempest pilot didnt realise my predicament as he'd already taken hits.
'Instead he continued desperatly to twist and turn and I positioned myself so that I was always just within his field of vision. Eventually - inevitably - he stalled. The Tempest's left wing dropped and he crashed into the woods immediately below us.
'It so happened that the site of Oberfeldwebel Sattler's crash, and that of the Tempest pilot, who proved to be New Zealander Wt Off O J Mitchell, were only about one kilometre apart. They were buried side-by-side in Neustadt-Glewe cemetary next day with full military honors.'
The Ta, slightly put, 0wned.
