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I completed the tests with the Thunderbolt and then took it to Oranienburg on 12 October. As I wanted to know more about the performance of the latest German aircraft, however, I made some high-altitude and measuring flights with the Fw 190 BG + KG and the Ju 388 high altitude bomber DW + YY in altitudes to about 11,000 m (36,000 ft) I was specially interested in the excellent performance of the Fw 190D-9 with theJumo 213 as a forerunner of the Ta 152. The Ju 88 with Jumo 213 engines was also on my programme. Then there was another new and interesting task coming up: I was asked whether I would be prepared to fly a Heinkel He 111 with an attached manned V-1 missile which was known under the cover name of ‘Reichenberg Re 2’. Of course I was! It seemed a most interesting combination. The manned V- 1 was suspended at the starboard side, and partly underneath the fuselage of the He 111, so that its windscreen was located somewhere behind the inner landing flap of the bomber. Although the word went round that certain difficulties with the automatic course control of the V-1 were the reason for these flights, the actual object of these tests was probably the intended use of such manned V-1 missiles for the so-called ‘self-sacrifice’ attacks. It was said that some well-known pilots had volunteered for these operations which did not offer any chance of survival, and certainly did not correspond to our mentality.
Our test programme envisaged a series of test launches with the manned V-1 to prove the feasibility or otherwise of this concept. To start with, these launches were to be carried out at an altitude of about 3000 m (10,000 ft) without power. In the beginning everything went off quite well with three pilots whom I had known since my gliding days. However, when on subsequent flights the V-1 pulse-jet engine had to be started, some critical incidents occurred. The first pilot had to
bale Out and was lucky to pass clear of the V-1 tail assembly. The second pilot managed all right until just before landing, when the V-1 pulse-jet engine suddenly started again during leveling-off, probably due to the inclined position
of the fuel tank. The thrust of the pulse-jet above the CG generated a moment of nose-heaviness, which the pilot counteracted by vigorous pulling of the elevator control. Then the pulse-jet stopped again, the V-1 stalled, and the pilot wrenched his spine. The third pilot had no luck either: he was hit on the head by the cockpit hood which had come off in flight, probably because it was not completely locked.
He suffered severe injuries but managed to land the V-1 with a fractured skull. The first loss of a pilots’ life came during subsequent flights.
As far as I know further test flights with the manned V-1 were then continued by Flugkapitan Hanna Reitsch.
In between there were always some other, different tasks for me. At the end of September, for instance, I went to Berlin-Gatow to check a night landing procedure evolved by Flugkapitan Dipl.-Ing. Melitta Schiller, von Stauffenberg by marriage. I made seven night landings with her. The procedure was based on the idea that by fixing on the intersection point of two light beams attached to the aircraft during levelling off near the ground it was possible to make three-point landings. The idea was certainly not bad, but it was not followed up.
In November I made some more test-flights with the Soviet La-5FN fighter, but there was a complete change when the Kalkert Ka 430 transport glider had to be towed from Lärz to Rechlin on 8 November. The only transport gliders I had flown so far were the ten-seat DFS 230 and the larger Go 242, and so naturally I was interested to find out how the Ka 430 behaved. I took a He 111 to Lärz and then got into the pilot’s seat of the Kalkert glider. This type of ‘bird’ really had little to do with gliding any more, but nevertheless I found it interesting to fly such a piece of furniture for a change: after all, there might be a chance that an Airspeed Horsa, the British counterpart, would fall into our hands.
By that time the military situation was getting steadily worse, fuel became scarce and could, of course, only be used for the most urgent programmes. These included primarily the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet programme in which I was to participate if not prevented by really urgent test flights with captured aircraft. Tasks of this nature and other urgent jobs were welcome opportunities for me to replace the desk chair with the pilot’s seat.
In the East, the major Soviet offensive against East Prussia began from the direction of Lomzha around 6 January, 1945. A few days later the first Soviet Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter landed intact at Gross-Schimanen, an airfield I had already visited the previous September.
This was exciting news indeed, as everybody was most anxious to know more about this latest Soviet fighter. According to reports, it was not only much lighter than the Yak-9 but was also said to be superior to it in performance regarding climbing speed and turning radius, especially from the ground level up to about 3000-3500 m (10,000-11,500 ft).
The necessary arrangements did not take long, and on 11 January I set out again by train to Gross-Schimanen. By then, traveling by train had become rather wearisome; they were late and without heating, and the air raids had made everything uncertain. I took my experienced flight engineer with me as well; he could not fly back with me in the single-seater, but would be of great assistance in identifying the various control levers.
After many difficulties and a very uncomfortable journey - I also had my parachute with me - we finally arrived at Gross-Schimanen.
The Yak-3 made a very good impression; in particular, the finish of its plywood wing surface was of an excellent quality. It was smaller than the Yak-9 and weighed only 2500 kg (5512 lb) all up, and therefore its power loading was only about 4.5 lb/hp. One can imagine what this meant in terms of acceleration alone! Another surprising fact was that, in spite of the small wing of about 15 sq.m (161.5 sq.ft) area the wing loading was also relatively low due to the light all-up weight.
As I walked around the Yak-3 I noted with satisfaction that it had a nice, wide undercarriage which retracted inwards to meet under the fuselage. Then I settled down in the pilot’s seat and began the usual search to find Out where the various lever operations ‘arrived’ when watched from the ground. The water-cooled in line engine ran very well, and the propeller even had quite a bit of ground clearance. Still, I knew I had to muster my utmost flying skill, because these fast little devils could be very nasty at times, if ‘only’ by trying to swing or stall at take off. The trapezoid wing, which was tapered at a ratio of about 1:3, suggested that there was the hazard of stalling if it was not set in a special way, so that the outer wing sections had a smaller angle of incidence which would delay the separation of the airflow in the area near the ailerons.
The next morning, on 12 January, there was so much ‘other traffic’ in the air over Gross-Schimanen that a take-off with the captured Yak-3 was out of the question. Not until it was afternoon and the weather was getting worse, dared I take off in the direction of Markisch-Friedland. One had to watch the agile little aircraft very carefully to prevent it from having its own funny ways during the take-off. The view was not too good while I was taxiing on account of the upright V 12-cylinder engine, but in flight the visual range was all right. The control forces were slight, so that one had to be careful not to over-react. However, the engine was running smoothly and encouraged me to fly at low level. I had decided to do without an escorting aircraft, so that there was no possibility of testing the Yak-3 thoroughly at higher altitudes. Still getting my ‘feel’ of the Soviet fighter, I landed at Märkisch-Friedland fifty minutes later, approaching at a rather high speed.