There seems to be quite a bit of information about the L4 Grasshopper which brought down a Storch using pistols in the last dogfight on the Western Front, however does anyone have any details of the markings/code of the Storch involved?
By: Stepwilk - 29th November 2011 at 19:34
The F-6 kills, and a number of other post-Cub-versus-Storch dogfights, are discussed here:
http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=30948
By: inkworm - 29th November 2011 at 18:47
Thanks for clearing that up, however it is still a nice tale and is still one of the more unusual dogfights in the closing stages of the war.
Taken from here so I have no idea exactly how accurate it is, for those that are interested.
The real last dogfight over Europe happend to be at the 8Th.of may overhead Czechoslovakia near Prag. Some Russian fighteroilots where making aerobatics overhead the city because they thought ceasefire was on the 7Th of may. Maj. Erich Hartmann (flying a Me 109 K-4 “black tulip 1”)took the advantage and shot down his last opponent (MiG-3 being his 352 confirmed) of the first Russian fighterregiment sending the pilot down on its parachute.
The fight you are speaking of was on may 1Th. Unteroffizier Tillman and another unknown pilot tried to reach allied lines in a Fieseler Storch C-1 from the Stab of JG-54. In fact it seems that they stole the aircraft. When an L-4 got them in sight its observer fired his pistol on the Storch and had a “lucky Shot”. He hit the Prop and the German pilot landed near an American tank-unit. The landing place was Sömmerda which was later lying in the DDR. The traces of Unteroffizier Tillman are lost then, i would suppose he was POW then.
Many Luftwaffe pilots toke the chance of grabbing an aircraft and trying to reach American lines, there are lots of stories about these “adventures”.
The faith of the others in Russian hands is described in Erich Hartman’s biography.
Still doesn’t give the aircraft letter though.
By: Stepwilk - 29th November 2011 at 17:37
This is an urban legend, a myth. Popular as the Cub-versus-Storch story is, it was by no means the last ETO dogfight. The actual last dogfights were two, on 8 May–the day the war ended–when two F-6s bagged two FW-190Ds. On the same day, Erich Hartmann shot down a MiG-3 near Prague, and the time when he did it may actually have been later in the day than the U. S. victories.
Sign In
November 28, 2011 at 12:41 pm