Encounter With a Me262

So, who was the first to shoot down a legendary Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighter during WWII?

According to the internet, credit goes to Maj. Joseph Myers and  Officer Manford Crory of the 78th Fighter Group, who managed to force the pilot of the Me262 into manoeuvring his aircraft into the ground on August 28, 1944.

However, credit for the first Me262 that was actually shot down by Allied forces' gunfire, goes to 5 Spitfire pilots from 401 Squadron RCAF on October 5th, 1944, who were patrolling the Arnhem-Nijmegen area at the time. Further research shows that the Tuskegee Airmen in their P-51 Mustangs are claiming credit while conducting operations on March 24th, 1945.

While  I may never have a definite answer to  my question, being Canadian, I'd prefer that the Spitfire pilots from 401 Squadron get the credit. But, as this is Glen's Blog, I'd like to tell you a little  story about  his first experience in shooting down one of  the War's first jet fighters.

The date was March 31, 1945 and Glen, the Mid-Upper Gunner, F/L Kitchen and their crew were once again flying a Lancaster X WL-L, named Lollipop- although in this case, not the original one as that was badly beaten up from its rough treatment on the night of March 5-6. The operation on this day was over Hamburg, Germany, an unusual daylight raid- the target possibly an oil depot or the many U-Boats under construction there, and included 469 aircraft-361 Lancaster Bombers, 100 Halifax Bombers and 8 Mosquitoes. Lost that day were 8 Lancs and 3 Halifax.

That day, they were  not flying in formation but in what was referred to as a gaggle, a disorderly grouping of aircraft. The Lancasters' had an American P-51 escort which was so far ahead of the Lancs that it was virtually useless and at one point, one of Glen's crew, Jack Rebman, used a Verey pistol to try to get the Mustang's attention, but to no avail. What happened next involved only the Lancs, Halifax bombers and Mosquitoes. The P-51s didn't return to the gaggle until all of the damage was done.

Due to some unexpected intervention by the Luftwaffe day fighter force, Glen and the crew from Lollipop encountered a Me262 in the skies over the Hamburg. From his turret, Glen watched as Allied Halifax aircraft were being attacked by the new jet fighters and in the course of the action, Glen managed to fire 200 bursts at one  Me262, finally shooting it down. Glen remembers, " The first moment I recognized we were in for trouble was when I looked straight back a couple of miles and could see fireballs - I counted 3 at once.  Flying right off our Starboard side at 600 yards was a Halifax and I never saw it on fire but the 262 Fighter was a ways  behind him and using a 30 mm cannon.  The Halifax crew all bailed out and I understand they were taken prisoners of war. "  Doug Reid, navigator in Lollipop crew noted in his navigator's log that this took place at 9:04 a.m.

Once Glen's  crew landed safely, at 12:10 pm (the duration of the mission was 6 hours 10 minutes) Glen attended a debriefing with the Air Commodore, a man who was politically placed by Prime Minister MacKenzie King (as a favour for support perhaps?) but not necessarily interested in recording history as it unfolded. As Glen told of seeing the attack on the nearby Halifax bomber, the Air Commodore stopped him, refusing to acknowledge Glen's hit on the Messerschmitt on the grounds that he knew of no Halifax Bombers being flown during that raid. Not only would he not listen, but he would not record Glen's hit on the infamous Me262.

In the past few years, Glen has come across several other accounts of that  night....Douglas Grey, of Ajax, Ontario (Legion Magazine March/April 2010) a flight engineer on a Halifax, witnessed a jet fighter destroy the aircraft ahead of theirs before attacking them. The crew bailed out and were taken prisoners of war-one of the very few complete air crews in Stalag  Luft #1. And Gene Lockhard  of Lindsay, Ontario, also a flight engineer, discovered that the Halifax crew he had first trained with before being replaced was one of the Halifax bombers that was hit by fire from an Me262. All on board were  killed. (Legion Magazine Jan./Feb. 2010)

 For Glen, the memory from that raid will live on forever; unfortunately, his claim of downing one of the first jet fighters in WWII will not. There is no mention of it in any of the books or websites dedicated to the War and to the brave men and women who risked their lives to fight in it. Fortunately for Glen, and many other veterans, their stories will be told-through blogs like this one, in books and by word of mouth, passed down from them to younger generations. Their bravery will be acknowledged, their selflessness praised.