10
In a letter to the author dated 26 January 1977, Adolf Galland stated that when the Kommando Nowotny had been reformed into III/JG7, it became the best of all the jet-fighter units. Rudolf Sinner was commander of III/JG7 from its inception until 4 April 1945 when his Luftwaffe flying career came to an abrupt end.
During the opening phase of the Normandy landings, Hauptmann Rudolf Sinner was commander of I/JG27. His mission was to lead his Group flying Me 109s to an operational area south of Caen, and he had taken off from Vertus airfield near Epernay in Champagne. Once in the air he discovered that his guns were unserviceable and in the confusion of the first dogfights a short while later turned for home since he was unable to take part in the fighting. In the skies over Normandy 200 German machines were pitted against 5,000 Allied fighters. Sinner’s return to Epernay was a race against death. In his earphones one warning of enemy fighters groups followed another. He had barely escaped a clutch of Lightnings over Paris when his engine began to stutter at 18,000 feet. Then Vertus airfield reported enemy fighters circling overhead. It was a ticklish situation, but Sinner had known worse. If the spluttering motor did not die altogether, so he calculated, from this height he could get his aircraft down in about fifteen minutes. If the enemy fighters were still there, he would be forced to make a crash-landing somewhere nearby. Feverishly he searched all points of the heavens, suddenly made out high above him four – no six – USAAF Thunderbolts. They came for him, and a few seconds later a bullet shredded his reflecting gunsight. Defenceless, he threw back his cabin hood, tore open the clasp of his seat straps and jumped. He let himself fall freely, struggling to focus on the terrain below, made out the great stretches of vineyards and hills of the Champagne district. At once he recalled the upright pointed wooden stakes which supported the vines. To be impaled on one was not something he wished to experience. Another ground feature worth avoiding near Epernay were the defensive fortifications from World War I garnished with barbed wire. These positions were protected by upright iron stakes embedded in concrete. Once Sinner had identified, as he believed, a large field of low wine-stocks devoid of stakes, he pulled the rip cord of his parachute, and with canopy deployed swept towards this field which was skirted by a broad avenue. Drifting in, he was rotated until his back was to the wind, hit the ground violently, stumbled, struck the back of his head against a low boundary wall and lost consciousness.
When he came to a few minutes later, he found a number of men dressed in blue overalls crouching or standing over him, each with a knife at hand. Sinner took fright for a moment at the threatening scene, and then his mind cleared and he realised that the men were harmless viticulturists – field workers. They took care of him, one man cleaning the oil patches from his uniform jacket and trousers. The oil told him that besides the gunsight, the engine had been hit – he had had a lucky escape. A few moments later an elderly, white-haired, well-dressed man appeared and to Sinner’s surprise addressed him in fairly good German. He had watched the chase from the window of his house, seen the German aircraft shot down and the parachute appear. A horse-drawn waggon was summoned and Sinner was taken to an apartment in the nearby Abbois Chateau from where Sinner’s Group at Vertus was informed by telephone. While awaiting transport, M. Durant explained that he had been an officer in the Great War and was now a representative of the Mercier champagne firm. He was quite open about his support for the Germans and how he viewed with misgivings the Allied landings.
Once in Vertus, the Group surgeon ordered Sinner four weeks’ bedrest. Sinner ignored his advice and, since he felt fine next day, was soon up and about. Forty-eight hours later he was circling the airfield in a Fieseler Storch to make sure he was fit to resume flying but experienced a giddy spell while coming in to land and had to put the aircraft down on the nearest patch of grass. Very severe headaches developed rapidly and now he accepted medical advice, put himself to bed and was flown a short while later to Munich and then Bad Wiessee where he needed a month or so of convalescence.
Immediately he was declared fit for duty a telephone call came from General Galland’s office at Berlin-Gatow ordering Sinner to report there two days later. Upon arrival in due course he met his former JG27 commodore, Oberst Edu Neumann, Galland’s ADC. That evening Neumann, Sinner and Hannes Trautloft, Inspector of Day-fighters, dined in the officers’ mess. First Neumann informed Sinner that he had been promoted to Major, after which Galland and his future successor, Oberst Gollob, joined the party and in the cinema watched a film showing the Me 163 rocket fighter under test. The machine had just become operational, and immediately upon seeing this aircraft – faster than the Me 262 – climb, bank and land, Sinner volunteered to fly it. Gollob laughed and told him, ‘She’s not for you, Sinner, you would have to learn how to glide then take a complete conversion course, and we don’t have the time. Nor do you. I’ll make you another suggestion – how do you feel about the Me 262?’ He gave Sinner a shrewd look before continuing, ‘That should suit you, and you could write up a whole host of Defect Reports about it to help us.’ This was a sly dig at Sinner’s way of getting matters put to rights – get it down on paper. Like Gollob, he was Austrian, but not the cinema stereotype – though sociable, and fond of a glass of wine, as a soldier he put the Prussians in the shade. Not by military posture or clever dialectic – his Austrian brogue was far too thick for that – but in contrast to many he was a soldier first and then an airman. A stickler for detail, he was never prepared to accept second best, nor tolerate anything that failed to work the way it should have done. If he discovered anywhere the opportunity to improve something or even the slightest negligence, then Sinner reported it in a more or less comprehensive Defect Report. His personal combat readiness after one hundred aerial engagements remained as much above reproach as his interpretation of a soldier’s duty.
Reflecting on the Me 163, he saw fairly swiftly that this manned, rocket-propelled glider, although endowed with phenomenal speed and rate of climb, was of very limited tactical value on account of its short flight time. Little could be achieved in the maximum of ten minutes before the fuel was expended. The short radius of action offered nothing useful to a flier to whom the endurance of the Me 109 was insufficient. All the more was he attracted by the offer that he should undergo conversion training to the Me 262 at Lechfeld and then join JG7. He had never flown the aircraft, but what he had heard of its merits impressed him. At Landsberg he had needed only two days’ conversion from the Me 109 to the Me 110, for he found that there was little difference between single-and twin-engined aircraft.
At Lechfeld in August 1944 the Thierfelder Kommando was responsible for Me 262 pilot training. After his first look round, what Major Sinner observed did not please him in the least. He had almost five years’ front-line airfield experience. His watchwords were ‘Preparation and Operational Readiness’. The way they ran Lechfeld reminded him of the peaceful Thirties. Each morning the aircraft were towed slowly to the runway and eventually flown off. On their return, if work needed to be done on the machines, there would be long discussions before the aircraft were brought to shelter. What amazed him most was the MYO procedure. ‘MYO’ was wireless telegraphy (W/T) jargon for ‘Enemy Aircraft Approaching’ and was given as a preliminary warning so that all machines could be brought to protected positions. It was the rule at Lechfeld aerodrome that when the MYO alert was broadcast, all aircraft – particularly the highly valued Me 262 jets – were towed to camouflaged areas hidden from the enemy’s view. It was an obvious safety measure at all schools which had no operational fighter pilots.
Sinner took up this point with Leutnant Müller whom he knew and who was, like himself, an experienced fighter pilot. In conversation he learned that few, if any, of the pilots being Me 262 trained at Lechfeld were from the fighter arm. Müller confirmed that they were almost exclusively naval air arm, bomber and transport pilots from all regions. Yesterday, even an NCO bomber pilot with the Knight’s Cross, Oberfeldwebel Buchner, had arrived, he confided. Leutnant Müller was beside himself with almost mutinous rage. They ran Lechfeld like a civilian flying club. Until yesterday when a stop had finally been put to the practice, every pilot passing out from conversion training had been the bashful recipient of a bouquet of roses. On the credit side, however, Müller could report that the actual training in Oberleutnant Wörner’s squadron was of an excellent standard, and even the odd operation had been flown, once or twice with a success at the end of it. Sinner was able to confirm Wörner’s good reputation when he embarked upon his own jet training course. His first flight passed off without difficulties, he experienced the Me 262 soft-as-a-peach-hanging-in-the-air sensation after take-off and the joy of the aircraft’s speed at higher altitudes. Landings were no problem.
Upon terminating his training successfully Sinner asked Oberleutnant Wörner if any operational experience was planned as a supplement and also if any radio direction post had ever been set up to monitor time in flight and Me 262 characteristics. Most of all he wanted to know if statistics were being kept regarding minimum and maximum endurance at various altitudes. Wörner replied that as good as nothing had been done in that area and apart from the few experiences gained by Thierfelder and his first team of pilots no records kept. On hearing this, Sinner conferred with Leutnant Müller and Oberfeldwebel Buchner regarding the possibility of joint operational exercises. He had discovered on the perimeter of the Lechfeld aerodrome a night-fighter radio direction post equipped with a small Seeburg radar set, discussed a working collaboration with the ground officers and begged Wörner for two jets to try out his plan. Wörner declined with regret, since he was himself short of the requirement. Sinner rang Nowotny at Achmer, explained his idea and a short while later two Me 262s were transferred in.
Sinner’s improvised operation was successful. On the first trial he operated the Seeburg himself while Leutnant Müller went up to intercept a solo-flying reconnaissance Mosquito reported on course approaching Munich. Müller was homed in on the Allied aircraft by radar, came up behind the RAF machine over the city and claimed a kill after hitting the enemy with a burst of fire and watching it disappear into cloud below. It was later known that the Mosquito landed at an Allied base in Italy on one engine, but at least the pilot had been prevented from fulfilling his mission.
On the second operation, Oberfeldwebel Buchner pursued a French-piloted Spitfire to Stuttgart and obtained a kill over the city outskirts. Sinner took the jet up himself for the third trial and headed for a pair of four-engined bombers identified on radar. He had obtained a fighter direction officer from the Fighter Division as his controller and provided him with the most detailed schedules about Me 262s flight timings and other particulars. Unfortunately Sinner and his controller were both conscientious types, and this contributed to the failure of the operation. Sinner had been directed successfully into a position directly astern of the two Allied bombers at 6,000 feet. As soon as he had visual contact he released the safety-catch of his machine-guns and – as the distance to the enemy machines closed steadily – aimed. The range was still too great for a certain hit, but the ‘Indians’ were flying such a nice straight course direct for Berlin that it seemed to Sinner that all aboard bar the pilot must have been taking a siesta. All at once he received in his headphones the controller’s order: ‘Break off attack immediately and return to Garden Hedge!’ Sinner could scarcely believe his ears and responded that he was on the point of attacking. The controller was adamant: ‘Return immediately!’ Sinner had no means of knowing the reasons the controller had for issuing this strict order, and in a rage he broke off the attack, looked left and right, made a long turn suspecting the possibility of an attack from below had been identified on radar. The sky was empty. After landing he learned that the controller – untrained in Me 262 direction – had adhered strictly to the flying-time schedule, the inflexibility of which Sinner had impressed upon him in the usual terms. Thus the two bombers had been spared by a matter of seconds.
It is a rarity to find, among all the thousands of aerial engagements which took place during the Second World War, the respective contact reports of two opposing pilots. At around noon on 26 November 1944, Rudi Sinner took off from Lechfeld in an Me 262 fighter jet following the report of four Lightnings approaching Munich. At the controls of one of these four aircraft, a so-called ‘Long-nose Lightning’ (so-called by the Germans because the forward part of the fuselage had been elongated to accommodate reconnaissance cameras) was USAAF Lieutenant Renne. The other three Lightnings were standard-design flying fighter-cover for the reconnaissance machine. The reports of Sinner and Renne can be matched as follows:
Renne: It was my mission to photograph the rail marshalling yards at Munich. I had taken off from San Severo in Italy with fighter escort, had completed the task and was just turning for home when I saw about 500 feet below and ahead of me the silhouette of an Me 262. As it started to climb towards me I radioed a message to the fighter escort requesting assistance. As I did this, I watched the faster Me 262 get above me in a turning manoeuvre and set himself on my tail.
Sinner: After taking off from Lechfeld I climbed as quickly as possible and headed for Munich on a converging course with the contact. Suddenly I saw the Long-nose Lightning above me flying in the opposite direction. I was intending to attack out of the sun, but because of our relative heights this was not possible and so I made a long climbing turn to get on the enemy’s tail.
Renne: I discarded my supplementary fuel tanks, gave full throttle and banked as tightly as possible in the attempt to get to grips with my opponent. He fired his first burst when we were at the same altitude and on a collision course.
Sinner: Initially I was not able to get into a good shooting position because the enemy aircraft made a very long drawn-out turn. The ‘Indian’ saved himself banking steeply to the right, I could not follow because the radius was too tight for my jet. I put both engines to maximum throttle but even then I failed to get the target in my sights. By now one of the escort fighters had appeared. He appeared hesitant and this allowed me to get in close to him. At the last moment he cut his speed back and made a clever turn-away to get clear. My immediate reaction was to attempt a tighter turn while climbing under reduced throttle but this did not achieve the required effect. During this manoeuvring duel the Long-nose had put distance between us, and I saw the other two escort fighters turning towards me from the north east. I had reduced my speed substantially and made a turn of large radius, and believing that the two Lightning fighters would now attack I decided to refuse combat and dive. I was hoping to catch up with the Long-nose during the dive, but it was so steep that my speed was soon approaching Mach 1 and I had to pull out at once. I watched the Lightnings regroup and turn towards the south.
Renne: After the Me 262 fired his burst, I went into a steep dive to the right, saw my opponent flying a wide semi-circular course and received instructions from the fighter escort to make a left turn and leave the bandit to them. I did this and made contact with the escort which had not been able to get at the Me. I lost them to sight in a cloudbank and as they were anxious to return for shortage of fuel, we grouped up for this purpose.
Sinner: I lost contact with the Lightnings for a short while by flying through cloud. Up to that time I had never been in a favourable shooting position and had not fired. [Leutnant Renne must therefore have mistaken the reflection of the sun against the perspex canopy of the German jet for machine-gun fire as Renne flew on a collision course with the sun at his back towards Sinner.] Despite my low fuel reserve I turned towards the enemy group at full throttle. Their condensation trails were easy to make out. After about twelve minutes’ pursuit I caught up with the four Lightnings. They were not flying in any kind of formation and I aimed for the two inner machines in the hope of hitting whichever was the Long-nose. I got a hit instead on the escort fighter flown by Lieutenant Julius Thomas.
Renne: We were flying south and were almost over the Alps (he probably means the Hohe Tauern mountain range south of Kitzbühel. Translator’s note) when we noticed a pursuing Me 262 which was closing fast. The escort banked to engage while I maintained a southerly heading to get the films home. When the fighter rejoined me, I saw that the machine piloted by Lieutenant Thomas was missing. The Me 262 had followed Thomas down.
Sinner: I saw that my fire had hit the tailplane and right wing of the enemy machine and as he fell away in a steep dive I made a sort of angled dive to the left to follow. During this manoeuvre I overtook the disabled enemy but then abandoned the chase for shortage of fuel. I learned later that Lieutenant Thomas had baled out and landed safely on a slope of the Füllsteinhorn near Kitzbühel where he was taken prisoner by the mountain guard squad.
Following this successful encounter under the directions of the same controller who had nipped in the bud the earlier chase after the two Berlin-bound bombers, ruffled feathers were smoothed and the two officers now enjoyed a better working relationship. Sinner made it home safely on his last drop of spirit, while the radar officer learned the lesson that second rate was sometimes better than first when it came to interpreting Sinner’s orders.
Despite his success against the Lightnings, Sinner had not forgotten the escape of the two bombers. He had now switched his priority to attacking heavy bombers on air-raid missions but found himself without his jets. The two borrowed Me 262s had had to be returned to JG7, to where he was himself transferred after Nowotny’s death.
The conditions he discovered at Brandenburg-Briest were worse than at Lechfeld. There were few aircraft, the weather was miserable and operational flying was not generally possible. Nobody knew when the first jet aircraft would arrive and in what numbers. ‘Loafing’ was writ in larger letters here than at Lechfeld, where at least the flight training courses had been functioning, and at Brandenburg everyone did more or less as he pleased. Somebody hunted hares regularly, another cared for a kennel of greyhounds abandoned by their former owner for lack of food. There was a flourishing skat school and others rambled in the country. Most pilots – used to almost daily operational missions with their former units – hated nothing more than this inactivity, waiting in uncertainty for X-Day.
On his transfer Major Sinner had been given to understand that at Brandenburg-Briest, group and squadron commanders had already been appointed. Sinner would not have minded flying as a simple pilot without an office, but here there was simply no flying. It was little consolation to discover that Erich Hohagen and the others were no better off.
Thus it came as a relief to receive the summons from Gollob to attend a large Jägerstab conference in Berlin. The Jägerstab had been set up in early 1944 on the suggestion of Director Schaaf of the Speer ministry, established by Milch and approved by Hitler. Its purpose was to get the heavily damaged aircraft industry into bomb-proof factories, to rebuild and reverse the seriously impaired production figures. Head of the Jägerstab was Karl-Otto Saur, a fanatical Nazi, a civil servant employed at the Todt and Speer ministries whose energy and vision were excelled only by the lack of scruple he showed in forcing through his plans. In Holland he had been called ‘the scourge of German industry’.
Upon entering the great hall, Sinner came face-to-face with at least 1,500 well-known personalities from heavy industry and armaments, among them a few military people and civil servants. The agenda was wide-ranging. Coal, locomotives, waggons, steel and much else was discussed before finally the question of Me 262 aircraft was reached. Speaking with reference to the subject heading ‘Me 262 Supply’, General Thomas from the Reich Air Ministry opened with a few observations and was interrupted by Saur asking: ‘What exactly is the problem here? I have been advised by industry that a large number of Me 262 aircraft are waiting to be removed from factories, that JG7 is the only squadron due to receive these machines and is complaining that they haven’t got any.’
General Thomas indicated that a Major Sinner of JG7 was present and he could report on the state of affairs. Sinner stood to introduce himself and was commissioned at once by Saur to look into the difficulties which seemed to exist and to ensure they were removed. ‘Drive or fly to southern Germany,’ Saur said in conclusion, ‘and get everything sorted out. You have plenipotentiary powers to take whatever measures are necessary. At the end of the conference you will have your instructions and authority in writing.’
That same night, Sinner took the night train to Augsburg to consult with Fritz Wendel. The latter brought up at once a gripe known to both. ‘One of the main difficulties of flying in and out is the MYO rule. This rule states that it is absolutely forbidden to fly when MYO is in effect, and so our aircraft have to remain on the ground, and are towed away to safety. And that happens sometimes more than once a day.’ Sinner explained the point of view he had often argued at Lechfeld that aircraft were safer in the air than on the ground and pointed to the many Me 262s destroyed on airfields. ‘It is better,’ he concluded, ‘if you allow your ferry pilots to parachute out in a problem case rather than continually suspend delivery flights on the grounds of enemy operations which may come nowhere near the airfield. Moreover,’ he added, ‘at individual airfields one could operate an industry-protection non-jet fighter group to keep enemy fighters occupied while the Me 262s make their landings.’
Wendel suggested training ferry pilots in the fighter defensive role and referred Sinner to the ferry-pilot Kommando at Obertraubling. He had put out feelers there himself but had been unsuccessful.
At Obertraubling Sinner contacted an Oberleutnant responsible for the Kommando in question and who explained the great difficulties encountered in Me 262 delivery. There were endless MYO warnings and every so often the meteorological office grounded aircraft because at this time of year the Thuringian forest often experienced cloud at ground level.
Sinner was enraged. ‘Those are not plausible reasons,’ he replied. ‘There are all types of weather conditions, and it is not the meteorologist but your pilots who will decide in future whether they will fly or not after they have considered the overall situation. They can fly above the Thuringian forest because at 27,000 feet there is no cloud. You will send your best pilots to Lechfeld for Me 262 conversion training, and these will then deliver Me 262s to the operational airfields.’
After that he called on the meteorologist, scarcely believing his eyes when he saw the milk-glass windows which shielded any view of the outdoors. The duty meteorologist put up a defence. They had their instructions which had to be followed, and that was what they did, he argued with annoyance. Sinner produced his plenipotentiary authority and said quietly: ‘With all respect to your instructions, bombs fall in all weathers, and we need aircraft. As from today you will provide Me 262 ferry pilots with the current weather situation by telephone at take-off time and not supply old weather reports over which you have been deliberating for several hours. Then it is up to the ferry pilot if he will fly or not. If you refuse I am obliged to have you replaced.’
The threat was not made seriously, but it worked. The meteorologist, in civilian life a high-school teacher, went white in the face. In the gentlest Austrian dialect of which he was capable, Sinner said in parting: ‘Look at it from our point of view, Herr Professor. We in the front line simply cannot say we’re not fighting today because it’s raining.’ And with that he left.
At Augsburg Sinner resumed his discussions with Wendel about what steps still needed to be taken. Again he found himself much impressed by the expert technical knowledge and reliability of this famous Messerschmitt chief test pilot who never tried to shirk his responsibility and was always ready when needed. Sinner came to value him increasingly the longer he knew him.
Finally Sinner contacted the Fighter Division to ensure their co-operation and support for the arrangements, orders and measures he was about to take. By now it was Christmas 1944. He spent a sad and soulless holiday at Lechfeld, mostly alone in unheated rooms and houses unvisited by the least Christmas spirit. During the early hours the telephone rang. Oberst Hannes Trautloft announced himself and said: ‘Sinner, something decisive has happened which I can’t explain to you properly over the ’phone. Your commodore, Steinhoff, has been relieved of command with immediate effect. Galland and Hohagen have also gone. We have to patch up the gaps as quickly as possible. You have the choice of taking over JG300 or JG301 as commodore, or if you like, Hohagen’s Group at Brandenburg-Briest.’ When Sinner made no reply, Trautloft added, ‘Reflect on it well, but I must have your decision soon.’ Sinner answered at once: ‘I don’t need time to consider, Herr Oberst, I think I am well prepared to accept command of III/JG7.’
‘Very good, Sinner,’ Trautloft concluded, ‘I thought you would probably decide that way. So, go now to Brandenburg-Briest and take over the Group. Everything else you will learn later. Until later then. That’s all.’