Horst Petzschler
Focke Wulf FW-190A-4
By Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette
Print size 12 x 18"
Limited Edition $60.00
Limited Edition prints are signed and numbered by the artist and signed by the aviator.
Open Edition $18.00
Open Edition prints are signed by the artist.
Horst
Petzschler
Horst
Petzschler was born on September 1, 1921 in Berlin Germany. As with many other
young German boys and men he found himself fascinated with flight and the
programs that the government was sponsoring with glider schools. One of his
earlier first flights was in a Grunau-Baby II-a glider in 1937 and 1938 in
Trebbin, which was 50km south of Berlin.
Horst joined the Luftwaffe in April 1941 at he age of nineteen. His enlistment was for twelve years. The war with Poland had started in September of 1939 and had spread through Europe raging for a year and a half with the German Army and Luftwaffe being recognized world wide for its dramatic success in combat tactics.
Basic training is how every enlisted man is introduced into the military. After finishing boot camp and receiving NCO training, in September 1941, Master Sergeant Petzschler reported to A/B-10 Pilot School in Grottkau/O/S. In May Horst was assigned to the JG 101 fighter school squadron located at Villacoublay, which is near Paris. After all, Germany owned France at this point in time.
In
May 1943, Horst experienced combat for the first time while still in training
school. By chance his fighter school squadron JG101 tangled with Colonel Robert
Morgan flying the Memphis Belle and 200 other B-17’s over Guyancourt, north
west of Paris. The incident was mostly a taunting harassment by the Luftwaffe
flying students with their formation getting the opportunity to get close and
actually observe the American formation and get a good look at the defensive
guns of the Fortress. Horst would be attacking other formations of bombers like
the ones he confronted with his Luftwaffe pilot trainees within the next two
years. Horst finished his training in the Fw 190-A2 at Toulouse in southern
France.
Horst
was transferred to the Russia campaign in September 1943. The Russian assault
was in full swing and all the German military was advancing onto its giant
neighbor. Horst experienced advancing with the Army from airfield to airfield.
Many of the airfields were very basic. Nothing more than flat farm fields cut up
and sectioned off for runways and aircraft parking areas. In his first tour of
duty in Russia he flew 126 fighter-bomber missions against Russian armor in
support of the German troops.
The
Russian army advanced spearheaded by tanks with Russian troops in tow. Defeating
the tanks was essential. However Horst said that there would be thousands of
Russian infantry. Many of Petschler's sorties were direct attacks onto the
Russian armor and troops.
Horst
attacked the Russian armor hitting the tanks with a 500-kilo bomb that would
destroy or disable the tank and decimate any troops riding on the back of the
tank and all that were close by.
Horst
would drop antipersonnel 250-kilo bombs onto the hordes of advancing Russians
troops. Horst described a mass of brown and white camouflaged figures moving
over the snow like ants on the ground below. When his bombs landed among them
they would rip large holes in the moving mass vaporizing the snow and exposing the brown earth.
Around the edges of the blast where the snow began again the edges of show was accentuated with the red of blood. Horst could see
this when he was low over his targets. As ghastly sight he told me.
All
German pilots knew the furious brutality of the Russian infantry towards the
Germans especially the Luftwaffe pilots. The pilots would be brutally killed as
soon as they were captured. Sometimes the pilots would be taken prisoner for
interrogation and then tortured to death. During his first mission, Horst was
shot down by Russian flak. He was still new to the fighting and got a little too
close to the ground conflict. This was the worst thing that could happen to a
beginner or even a veteran. Horst bailed out too closed to the lines of battle.
The Germans and Russians were surging and withdrawing making an uneven battle
line that changed constantly like the movement of a serpents back. Horst was
able to watch the troops on both sides advancing and withdrawing back and forth
before his eyes.
Upon
landing and freeing himself from his parachute, Horst ran through the trees
towards the German lines. The problem is that the lines were flexing back and
forth and Horst found himself practically surrounded. Fortunately a Panzer tank
crew saw him land and was close enough for a rescue. There were no Russian tanks
in the immediate area, however there were many Russians with weapons that could
disable the tank. Horst was petrified with fear when he saw the friendly tank
appear. It could have been a Russia tank, which would have sealed his fate, but
it was a German.
The tank crew threw open the doors on the top of the turret and motioned for Horst to come quickly. With machine gun and rifle fire all through the area Horst did not know or care if any of the shooting was directed towards him. He raced over the snow-covered frozen earth and leaped onto the side of the tank quickly disappearing into one of the open hatches. The warmth inside the tank was welcomed. The tank crew was from the 3rd SS Panzer Division.
Horst
was much relieved while the tank made a straight run back to its lines and
deposited him as the tank crew returned to the battle. This would not be the
only time Horst would be shot down by Russian flak. However it was the scariest.
Horst made many
ground attacks against the Russian hordes.
At times the Russians would have the advantage of tanks in their attacks on the German infantry. The Russians would attack in groups of 40 to 50 tanks against the besieged German troops who did not have enough anti tank guns to stop the Russian armor. Horst and his group was the only hope for their fellow ground troops below.
Many
times Horst and his squadron attacked from 12,000 feet and dropped 250 and
500-kilo container bombs which were loaded with armor piercing ammunition. The
altitude was high for ground attack because the Russians were always equipped
with anti aircraft guns. Horst estimates that he destroyed at least twelve
Russian tanks in all from high altitude down to low level attacks. It was
impossible to attack ground units without getting low from time to time where
you could better direct your efforts.
Horst
and his fellow pilots would carpet bomb the enemy with devastating results on
both the Russian armor and the enemy’s troops. The canister bombs would
destroy the tanks with direct hits, or disable them with near misses knocking
off the tracks of the tanks. However the bombs would rip holes in the ranks of
the Russian infantry. Yet the waves of Russian infantry keep coming running over
their own dead and wounded.
Horst
primarily flew the Focke Wulf 190 A-2 and A-4. The camouflage of his Fw 190’s
changed with the weather. In the spring and summer the Fw-190 had the standard
black green and dark green splinter patterns on the top surfaces of the wing
areas. The spine of the fuselage and the top of the cowling was also toped with
the same green colors. The bottom and the sides of the Focke Wulf was a light
sky blue that came up three quarters of the sides toward the top of the
fuselage.
Along
the light blue sides of the fighter the ground crews would spray patterns of
dark grays and or light and dark greens to blend the top of the fuselage with
the bottom of the aircraft. This gave the German aircraft the most unusual yet
distinctively attractive camouflage of any of the warring nations.
During
the winter the ground crews would spray the top of the Focke Wulf all white. If
they were short of paint they would mottle with a spray gun or apply a white wash that
did not completely cover the
original colors but allowed some of the bottom dark colors to slightly show
through to create an illusion of looking down on a snowy area yet you can see
some of the earth and grasses bleeding through the snow.
Germans
were artist with their aircraft coloring. However sometimes when there was no
time for art the ground crew would have to climb on top of the aircraft with
white paint and brushes and slop on the paint as quickly as possible. After all,
the lifespan of a German aircraft was at times only a day or two.
With his first tour in Russia over Horst had flown 126 sorties, which were mostly ground attack missions. This was grueling on Horst and gave him little time to pursue shooting down enemy aircraft, which is what every fighter pilot dreams of. In the first tour Horst was able to shoot down only three confirmed aerial victories. But the primary mission of his Staffel (squadron) was to bust the Russian tank. They called it “Tank Busting”. Many times Petzschler and his fellow pilots were they last and only hope for the German infantry below them in the snow and frozen earth. Most of his missions were Leningrad to Kiev, Russia.
Defense of the Reich
Master
Sergeant Petzschler left the Russian front and was transferred to JG3 “Udet”
near Madeburg, Germany. While he was with JG 3 his rank was officially Feldwebel
Horst Petzschler. From the first week in April 1944 through the last week in May
Horst was flying and fighting against the American bomber formations. This was
to be a reprieve against the utter stress that he was experiencing against the
Russians. In his own way Horst felt that this would be a welcomed change of
pace. He told me that this was one of his worst decisions he ever made.
Horst
told me his first impression of the bomber formations was to be astonished.
Remember, Horst had encountered the Memphis Belle with a few over two hundred
bombers and no fighter escort in the past. This was 1944 and the bomber
formations were hundreds of bombers and hundreds of fighter escort.
Horst
flew fourteen missions during this time frame flying against the Eight Air
Force. Horst shot down a B-17, a B-24 and two P-51 Mustangs, with himself being
shot down once by a Mustang.
In
Europe Horst flew the Messerschmitt Bf-109G-6 fighter. Improvements continued
through out the war on the premier German fighter and this aircraft was designed
for high altitude fighting. A Daimler-Benz DB 605A 12-cylinder engine powered
the G-6.
It
was rated at 1,475hp at take off and could fly at 386mph at 22,640 feet.
The armament of the G-6 was one 30mm Mk 108 cannon mounted in the engine
with two 13mm MG 131 cowl mounted machine guns.
Petschler's
Messerschmitt was to operate at high altitudes so instead of the black green and
dark green splinter camouflage this aircraft was simply painted an over all RLM
76 gray. This was a very good color against the thin bluish gray skies over
Europe.
The
crosses on the wings and the sides were simple basic black with no trim. The
swastika was also painted a simple black with no outlines of white. Horst had
the JG 3 Udet squadron shield in red and white on the cowling and the spinner
was in a spiral black and white design, which was quite typical of many of the
German fighters. His aircraft was officially a Bf 109G-6 AS, W Nr 412179, of
2./JG 3.
Horst
claimed his first two American aircraft on May 12, 1944 as his squadron was sent
up against the bomber formations over Frankfurt. Once they reached altitude, he
and his fellow pilots spotted an incoming formation of American bombers.
Horst
and his fellow pilots attacked the B-17’s head on. As Horst raced at full
speed into the oncoming bombers, he selected his target. Viewing the bomber
through his gun sites, the bomber grew in size quickly. Squeezing his trigger,
Horst saw his tracers reach out at the fast approaching B-17.
Bright
flashes appeared between the engine and the main body of the Flying Fortress
striking the fuel tanks in the wing and damaging the wing root. The bombers
inside engine then exploded as it took direct hits from the cannon of Horst’s
“Black 14”. Within the blink of an eye Horst was forced to pull up to avoid
hitting the oncoming bomber head on.
As
Horst pulled up and over the stricken Fortress, his gun camera filmed the
bombers wing start to collapse at the wing root sending the once mighty bomber
to the German countryside below trailed by the parachutes of its surviving crew
members.
As
Horst cleared the bomber formation he looked up and saw a flight of Mustangs
diving on him. Horst thought that he would dive to get away, but knew that he
would then have five Mustangs with a speed advantage on his tail. He pulled up
to meet the diving Mustangs and fired on the lead aircraft.
His
first shots struck the enemy plane, and as they passed the Mustang exploded into
a fireball. That was two aerial victories in one mission. A Flying Fortress,
which was no easy task, and a Mustang, which was also a considerable adversary.
However both attacks by Horst were good and effective, but also very lucky on
his behalf to take out his adversary quickly.
His
next victory against the Americans was on May 14th against a B-24
returning to England from its mission. Again with a head on attack, Horst was
able to drop the American heavy bomber.
On
May 28th, Horst and about 330 Bf 109’s and Fw 190’s were
scrambled on Ascension Day to intercept American fighters and bombers which were
headed towards the German oil facilities. Horst was unaware of the actual size
of the force they were up against. The numbers of bombers were 1,200 four-engine
bombers, escorted by nearly 700 fighters. Before the air battle was over 266 of
the German fighters actually engaged in combat with the bomber and fighter
force. Fifty German pilots were shot down. One of the Luftwaffe pilots that were
shot down you will be reading about shortly.
A
little after 14:00, I./JG 3 engaged the first of the American forces, Mustangs
south of Magdeburg, Germany. In the aerial battle four Mustangs and six
Messerschmitt from JG 3 were shot down. Horst had witnessed German ace Captain
Moritz attack as he was flying top cover for the engagement. Horst described
Moritz as attacking an endless stream of bombers, which had clouds of what
looked like bees buzzing around them at different altitudes. These were not
bees; these were P-38’s, P-47’s and P-51 fighters.
Oscar
Boesch was also in the aerial battle below Horst. There were no clouds and
visibility was seemingly unlimited. Horst and his wingman were at 30,000 feet
watching the melee below when they were hit from behind by Mustangs. The
American 352nr Fighter Group attacked Petzschler and his wingman Unteroffizer
Herdy. The American pilot Capt. Woody Anderson came in quickly on the rear of Petschler's
wingman and shot him down killing Unteroffizer Herdy.
Captain
Anderson was going so fast that he shot over Petschler's aircraft. As
Anderson passed over, Horst pulled up the nose of His Bf109 and fired into belly
of the P-51. Horst watched the Mustang nose down trailing a slipstream of
coolant.
As
Horst watched the enemy plane begin its fall his aircraft was attacked from
behind by Capt. Anderson’s wingman. Part of Petschler's wing tip was shot
away sending him into a downward spin. His instruments went wild. Horst delayed
his bailout because the temperature out side was so cold that his canopy was
iced shut. With his “Black 14” disabled, Horst bailed out at a lower
altitude and landed near a B-17 that also had been shot down.
As
Horst landed a German Flak Lieutenant and some of his men who were rounding up
the downed surviving American aviators also rounded up Petzschler thinking he
was an American. For a brief period Horst was apprehended as one of the American
bomber crew. Horst was quickly able to convince the Flak crew that he was a
Luftwaffe pilot and actually helped in the interrogation of the American bomber
crew since he was the only German present that could speak English. Speaking
English made the soldiers suspicious. Horst told me that when a gun is pointed
at you, you do hold up your hands.
Being
able to speak American Horst helped in the translation that was quite funny. The
American Navigator who was from Chicago was in an argument with the Flak Lt. And
when Horst took over and the American realized that Horst could translate his
story the American Navigator told Horst to tell the Flak Lt., “Tell that
Asshole Lt. That we speak American and not English, and that, no, the Flak did
not hit us; it was an FW 190 that brought us down.” The Flak Lt. thought that
his gun crew shot down the B-17.
There
seamed to be some confusion and argument as to weather the Americans spoke
English and the American airmen were insisting that they spoke American and not
English! Talk about being picky!
Horst was picked up by his unit and returned to his airfield. This was the only time that Horst was actually shot down by an enemy aircraft. He was assigned another “Black 14”, Bf109 G-6 which he flew until he gladly transferred back to the Russian Front. His new “Black 14” would now last for long. Just days later as Horst was getting ready to transfer back to the Russian front, his friend Otto Bussow was shot down and killed on May 30, 1944 in the aircraft.
Russian Front, Again!
As
the allies were invading France, Horst was again transferred back to Russia
where he scored against nineteen more Russian aircraft, flying with Stabsstaffel
JG Molders. Flying both the FW190 and the BF-109, Horst predominately flew the
Bf-109G. Horst on his second tour would be concentrating on downing Russian
aircraft. Several were observation aircraft and one was an American lend-lease
A-20 Boston over a lake in Russia in September 1944. Now Horst was able to prove
himself as a fighter pilot. On his second tour in Russia his aerial victories
rose steadily.
Germany’s
need for fighter pilots had grown to where Horst was transferred in September
1944 to the flight school in Liegnitz/Silesia where he trained 28 bomber pilots
to be fighter pilots. His training schedule with his pilots took five months
often flying six to eight hours a day. With the number of American aircraft that
were now constantly flying over Europe, Horst had to constantly keep an eye out
for his students from highly trained American pilots who were roaming the skies
looking for German aircraft of any type to shoot down.
From
February through May 4, 1945, Horst served with the 10th Squadron
JG51 in Danzig near Pillau Konigsberg. Here Horst and his squadron fought to the
bitter end. In the spring of 1945, III./JG 51 lost 51 pilots. Many were to the
French unit that was fighting for the Russians known as the Air Regiment
“Normandie-Neimen” who were flying the Yak-9.
I
was able to personally work with the top French Ace of WWII, Marcel Albert that
was flying and fighting daily against Horst and his squadron. It was most
fascinating to be able to hear about the air battles in this area from
experienced pilots from both sides.
It
was during this period that Horst proved himself as a Luftwaffe Ace. Horst was
one of the most successful pilots of his squadron of III./JG 3 as Feldwebel
Petzschler shot down 22 aircraft in the last months of the war.
His
last aerial victory was against a Pe-2 on April 27,1945 near Pillau. Horst shot
down four of these aircraft along with several Jak-3’s, IL-2, Lagg-5 and
Mig’s. On one mission Horst shot down an IL-2, which was a Russian ground
attack aircraft that flew slow and low. The airplane had a two-man crew with a
pilot and a rear gunner.
After
Horst downed the Russian aircraft he landed with other pilots and ground crew
drove out to the location of the downed Russian IL-2 since it was close by.
After going over the damage of the aircraft and trying to identify the crew they
discovered that the rear gunner was a dead woman. Many women fought bravely for
the Soviet Union and many of them died. Horst told me he felt a little funny
inside, not in a good way because the bullets from his guns had killed a woman.
A woman manning a machine gun that she would have killed Horst with if luck had
been with her.
On
May 4th 1945, Horst took off to find an Allied airfield to surrender.
Low on fuel, Horst landed his Bf109 at an airfield he believed was an American
airbase, but the airfield he was gliding into was actually Malmo, Sweden.
Running out of fuel Horst was able to land “dead stick”. Horst was interned
for six months after the war was over in Sweden.
Horst
was then transferred or sold to the Soviet Union as slave labor by the Swiss
government. Horst served four years as a slave laborer in Russia before being
released. If he had landed into the hands of the Americans he would have been
set free as soon as the war was over.
Horst
Petzschler ended the war flying 297 combat missions and with 26 confirmed aerial
victories. He was shot down 13 times. Eleven were crash landings and two were
bailouts. Only once was Horst shot down by an enemy fighter, which was by a
Mustang that jumped him from behind on May 28, 1944 near Magdeburg. The rest
were due to close encounters with Russian flak.
Horst
Petzschler was awarded the Iron Cross first and second-class along with the
Golden Fighter Clasp as he passed 150 frontline sorties of which 126 were
fighter-bomber missions in the FW-190-A-4 against the Russians.
He also received the Goblet of Honor for passing 250 missions.
Horst
was recommended for the Knights Cross as the war came to an end but he never
received the award.
Below
are the confirmed aerial victories that were credited to Petzschler.
1.
May 11,1943
Yak-7
2.
November 10, 1943 IL-2
3.
November 10, 1943 IL-2
4.
May 12,1944
B-17
5.
May 12,1944
P-51
6.
May 14,1944
B-24
7.
May 28,1944
P-51
8.
June 1944
Yak-9
9.
June 1944
Pe-2
10.
July 1944
Yak-9
11.
July 1944
Mig-3
12.
July 1944
IL-2
13.
August 9, 1944
Lagg-5
14.
September 7, 1944 Pe-2
15.
September 1944
Pe-2
16.
September 1944
IL-2
17.
September 1944
Lagg-5
18.
September 1944
A-20
19.
February 1945
Lagg-5
20.
March 1945
IL-2
21.
March 1945
Yak-9
22.
March 1945
IL-2
23.
March 1945
Lagg-7
24.
March 1945
Yak-3
25.
March 1945
Yak-3
26.
April 1945
Pe-2
Horst Petzschler and Artist Ernie Boyette at art show.
This is the original painting for the print.
JG 51
Petzschler landed in Russia and pulled off the runway. The soil was soft where he pulled off the runway and his aircraft went over on its prop. Horst was fined one months wages for this accident!
This is the aircraft the printing was rendered from.
All research, writings and artwork are by Sir Ernie Hamilton Boyette.
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Sir. Ernie Hamilton Boyette
904-282-4198
2-10-07