ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 196234
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| Date: | Friday 30 March 1945 |
| Time: | 13:30 approx |
| Type: | Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a |
| Owner/operator: | 2./JG 7 Luftwaffe |
| Registration: | 111593 |
| MSN: | schwarze 2 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Himmelmoor, Quickborn, Schleswig-Holstein -
 Germany
|
| Phase: | Combat |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Kaltenkirchen, Germany |
On 30 March 1945 (Good Friday), about 1400 USAAF bombers and 600 escort fighters flew a daylight raid on the Hanseatic city of Hamburg. To counter them, only 20 Me 262s took off from Einsatzhafen Kaltenkirchen - a suicide mission! As expected, there was an unequal battle between "David and Goliath" in which 14 jet fighters were shot down despite their technical superiority. Among them was the pilot of schwarze 2, Leutnant Erich Schulte.
About 800 metres from the B. family's farm, his plane hit a meadow in the Himmelmoor with a fireball. The whole B. family rushed out of the house with a first-aid kit and ran over graves and fences to the pilot, who had landed barely 200 metres from the crash site and whose parachute had fallen around him. Erich Schulte had a completely shot abdomen, was bleeding heavily and could only report the following:
"Die Düsen wollten nicht mehr. Sie waren hinter mir her. Irgendwie haben sie mich erwischt. Ich hing am Fallschirm - da haben sie auf mich geschossen."
The B. family stood helplessly next to the severely wounded pilot. "Hilflos mussten wir zusehen, wie der junge Mann seine Augen kaum noch öffnete, wie seine Haut blasser wurde. Nach vier Minuten war er tot. Vor unseren Augen verblutet." Erich Schulte was transported from the meadow to the family home in a horse-drawn cart and later taken to Kaltenkirchen in an ambulance.
At the crash site, the entire impact area was searched for wreckage a short time later. Since raw materials were very scarce at the time, the NSDAP local group leader ordered all metal parts of the Messerschmitt to be collected. "Wir haben alles auf einen Haufen getragen und mit einem Opel-Blitz abtransportiert. Spät am Abend, beim Kuhtreiben, fanden wir noch viele Patronenhülsen der Amerikaner. Die waren aus Messing und mussten ebenfalls abgegeben werden."
In November 1973, a salvage team and a group from the Kampfmittelräumdienstes (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service) examined the site, recovered ammunition and the few remains of the machine.
(Source: Hamburger Morgenpost of 07.11.1973)
Sources:
Absturz einer Me 262 bei Himmelmoor (translated) - http://spurensuchesh.de/himmelmoor/
O'Connell, page 126
Google Maps
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Jun-2017 09:49 | gerard57 | Added |
| 28-Apr-2019 18:26 | stehlik49 | Updated [Operator] |
| 09-Sep-2021 07:31 | TigerTimon | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Cn, Operator, Other fatalities, Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Sep-2021 07:31 | TigerTimon | Updated [Narrative] |
| 09-Sep-2021 08:40 | TigerTimon | Updated [Location] |
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