In one of the chapters of Volume Three of Smith & Creek’s terrific series on the Me 262, Hptm Georg Peter Eder recounts how he was shot down on February 17th 1945 in his Me 262:
” … My machine was hit and in an instant the engine and left wing were on fire. The aircraft was beyond saving. Bailing out after being hit was nothing new for me.
I had already gone through this exercise sixteen times. I jettisoned the canopy, pulled the nose up to lose speed, disconnected my helmet lead and stood up in the
seat. The slipstream took care of the rest …”
Sixteen times! That caught my attention.
As this would have been his seventeenth bail-out, it would appear that as a Luftwaffe fighter pilot, he had more than likely logged more parachute jumps than the average WW2
Allied paratrooper. There is no mention of whether he went on to experience more shoot-down/bail-outs, but reading about his account brought on more than a little curiosity ….
What exactly is the record number of times of being shot down and/or leaving a stricken aircraft in the air? And who holds that dubious record?
By: AVI - 12th March 2018 at 23:18
Wow
Thanks for posting that, Hornchurch!
32 times downed is amazing, but in lo-level bombing, I would assume that he landed/crash landed on most, if not all the times he was shot down,
as low level bombing/strafing would entail insufficient altitude for using a parachute.
Is there any documentation on times under a parachute as opposed to crash landing?
By: Hornchurch - 12th March 2018 at 22:25
;
As above = Corresponds with the figure (“32 times”), that I wuz told, but NOT from here, links below
As an aside, I saw his 1950’s book once at North Weald “Fighter Meet”, in the 1980’s
Saw it again, in a tiny book-shop in Snettisham, Norfolk, for under a fiver, so, I bought it.
Quite a few mentions of Russian Lavochkins & how effective the Soviet AA was…
.
By: Hornchurch - 12th March 2018 at 22:15
AVI ;
“What exactly is the record number of times of being shot down and/or leaving a stricken aircraft in the air?”
“And who holds that dubious record? “
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was under the distinct impression “that” dubious honour fell to Hans Ulrich Rudel**
(**Luftwaffe Ju.87 & Fw.190-D.9 pilot)
Remember reading or being told he got shot-down on over 30 occasions….!!!!!! (mind-blowing)
Hardly surprising, given his occupation
.
By: hampden98 - 10th March 2018 at 22:07
Wasn’t there a German Pilot mentioned in the book Target Berlin who was shot down, straffed in his second aircraft and then shot down in a third on the same day?
By: QldSpitty - 9th March 2018 at 22:37
Take offs are optional,landings are mandatory..:)
By: bazv - 9th March 2018 at 21:21
In Alert In The West Willi Heilmann related baling out 5 times in a 3 week period in 1944 whilst flying with JG54 ‘Grunherz’.
His 5th jump was when he was supposed to be joining his mates in Versailles for a few drinks one late afternoon,he had changed into his best uniform and then had been ‘scrambled’ at short notice – subsequently he was shot down and baled out – he drifted over the town in his chute and landed sprawled on the pavement right in front of the ‘cantina’ where he was meeting his squadron mates,they of course were outside watching his landing with great mirth 🙂
By: Snapper - 9th March 2018 at 14:01
I’m slightly out of sync myself, great isn’t it!
By: AVI - 9th March 2018 at 13:42
Snapper –
“you’d want take-off and landing numbers to match in an ideal world! “
Well, I’ve got to admit that in my own “ideal world, ” having been under canopy many, many times, I’m one of those guys who managed to
rack up many, many more take-offs in aircraft than landings…… 🙂
By: Snapper - 9th March 2018 at 12:54
No, no, not at all – I get what you mean now and couldn’t agree more, thought I had a different end of the stick – you’d want take-off and landing numbers to match in an ideal world!
By: AVI - 9th March 2018 at 12:51
Snapper:
Perhaps “dubious” was not the best choice of words – what I meant was being shot down umpteen times was not the kind of record one would choose to break. 🙂
Being an old soldier,/paratrooper/skydiver/pilot myself, I’ve got nothing but respect for those pilots who went up day after day to brave the odds. Brave indeed.
When I look in the cockpits of WW2 aircraft, I never seem to fail to note that other than an armored glass windshield, and armor plate behind the pilot, the fuselage
sides were composed of thin sheets of aluminum, devoid of armor. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.
By: QldSpitty - 9th March 2018 at 11:52
Luftwaffe pilots flew till they finished the war.The saying was Iron Cross or wooden cross they would get..
By: Firebird - 9th March 2018 at 11:13
Fellow Me262 Experten Heinz Bar probably wasn’t far behind in the number of times taking to the silk. He flew throughout the war, from first day to last, and either crash-landed or baled out 18 times.
His first bale out was during the Battle of Britain, and he spent 2 hours bobbing about in the English Channel, and he also baled out on the Eastern Front in Aug 1941, landing some 30+ miles behind the Soviet lines, badly injuring his back, but managed to evade Soviet forces over the next few days before eventually reaching German lines. He spent the next 2 months in hospital recovering from his injuries.
By: trumper - 9th March 2018 at 09:44
I would have said it was fantastic that the guy had the chance to survive and the enforced faith he had his parachute .What bravery to go up knowing you were onto a hiding.
It is quite a story and would like to know a bit more ,a bit of googling so just need to find time to read 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg-Peter_Eder
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=6162
By: Snapper - 9th March 2018 at 08:16
Fascinating! Thanks for that – but why the word ‘dubious’ (seems to me to be a negative term, kind of questioning of the record holders skill, though doubtless not what you’re intending at all so just wanting to check if I missed something) ? Attacking, for example, a box of bombers with guns poking out everywhere and having the courage and skill to get and stay close long enough to do sufficient damage would surely expose the attacker greatly to be hit and being shot down would become an occupational hazard, as it were. I know a chap who baled out over the sea once after aerial combat and was later shot down by flak during ground attack. Neither of these I would regard as dubious, though his two landing accidents would of course qualify! (We worked out, after a comment of his last year, that he ‘qualified’ for the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class for the four British fighters he disposed of 🙂 ).
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March 9, 2018 at 12:10 am