Our First Encounter with an ME 262 (Germany’s Jet Fighter)
We sighted our first ME 262 over Hamburg on Dec. 30th -- we were hit hard loosing 2 engines and dropped out of formation. We were chased but dropped into a large cloud -- once out of the cloud we found ourselves lost. 1st Lt. Richardson issued me orders to send out an SOS. I no sooner finished the first 3 letters when Scotland Control broke in with our direction correction. As we approached the airfield the No. 3 engine quit. As we made landing and touched down on the airstrip the No. 4 engine quit and that's where we left our craft. We were treated like royalty and food then put on train back to Horham. Tony Molino, 335th BS
Our crew first saw the ME262 on Nov. 2, 1944 over Merseberg. We lead the plane so our bullets would hit it as we were taught in Gunnery in Las Vehas. However our tracers showed that the plane was way ahead of our bullets. The speed of the plane in dogfights with our 51's and 47's amazed us.
Ed Morrison, 336th BS
We were on the second shuttle run to Russia on August 44 over Poland when a German jet passed through our formation. We were escorted by P51's and they took off after it. It was angled down about 15% and we never knew what finally happened if anything.
Bill Connor, 334th BS
The Bombardier poked me and said, "What the heck is that?" It was a German plane like we had never seen before and it didn't seem to have a propeller! At a debriefing we were told it was an ME262, which meant nothing to us. That was our first knowledge of a "Jet".
George Hood, 334th BS