Lt. Rudolf Schmitt... He-162 May 8 1945 at Leck Airfield | Forums

[Jochiam-Pieper]

We can argue the point of Peiper being a war criminal till the cows come home. As you said, it depends on whose standards you are using. He was not hanged as many of his subordinates were, and it was never proven that he was present at Malmedy during the massacre.He himself said he was not there, but had moved forward. A trigger-happy tank gunner opened fire on our helpless soldiers and that started it. That man that opened fire
never spoke about his actions, and he lived a long life.

[Jochiam-Pieper]

I should receive Oberleutnant Rudolf Schmitt's !st Luft Dagger any day now along with the provenance and will post a photo if I could figure out how..lol!

[Jochiam-Pieper]

May I ask what started the discussion on the Oberleutnant?

[Kongo Otto]

Actually the tank parade depicted a real unit: schwere Panzer-Abteilung 503 / "Feldherrenhalle" (heavy Tank Bataillon 503).

In Action from January 1943 to the end of the war. The unit lost 252 Tiger I & II but destroyed 1.700 enemy tanks and 2.000 guns.

Just to be correct, the schw. Panzer Abteilung 503 got the Name "Feldherrenhalle" in December 1944 when submitted under the Command from "Panzer Korps Feldherrenhalle"
As the Name was not commonly used, it was still referred to their original name "schw.PzAbt. 503" until the end.

Do you have a reliable source for the "2000 guns"?
Because all sources i have refer to a total kill number of 1700, which is btw already the highest Kill ratio of all schw.PzAbt (second is schw.PzAbt 502 with 1400 kills) referring to "Christopher Wilbeck Sledgehammers Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II" which is btw a superb book.
Also worth to mention is the loss rate of 252 Tanks which consists of 113 lost in combat and 123 self destoyed refering to the forementioned book which is the highest loss rate of all schw.PzAbt (second is schw.PzAbt 506 with an toal of 179 lost tanks (61 combat losses and 116 self destroyed).

[Kongo Otto]

We can argue the point of Peiper being a war criminal till the cows come home. As you said, it depends on whose standards you are using. He was not hanged as many of his subordinates were, and it was never proven that he was present at Malmedy during the massacre.He himself said he was not there, but had moved forward. A trigger-happy tank gunner opened fire on our helpless soldiers and that started it. That man that opened fire
never spoke about his actions, and he lived a long life.

First of all it's Joachim Peiper and not Jochiam Pieper.
I didn't think this is debatable at all as Peiper and many others from the Leibstandarte comitted War atrocities. Peipers Name is always mentioned not only with the Malmedy Masscre, he was also in suspicion for the Boves Massacre back in Italy 1943.
The Waffen-SS with or without Peiper had left an trace of war crimes behind them beginning with the slaughter of British PoW at Wormhoudt 1940 or the LeParadis Massacre also in 1940.
So i say it clear, when somebody is saying "it depends on whose standards you are using" he is not using standards at all, he is just denying historical facts.

[woofiedog]

As stated earlier closing days of WWII were chaotic so we might never really know if there was a confirmed kill of a RAF Typhoon. But here is another side to this story and that is the aerial victory could well have been a RAF Tempest aircraft flown by F.G. Auston, who was claimed (as a Typhoon) by LT Schmidt of JG 1 flying an He 162.

http://www.hawkertempest.se/WorldWar2.htm

But on the flip side and that being Tempest vs He-162.

Quote... Towards the end of the war, the Allied armies advanced into Western Germany, and Tempest No. 122 Wing was based at the captured German Hopsten Airfbase. On April 19, 1945, No. 222 squadron strafed Husum airbase. On that mission, F/O Walkington encountered, at low level, a small, previously unidentified jet which he chased and shot down. Analysis of gun camera footage indicated that Walkington had shot down an He-162.

Also a short video clip of the He-162 instrument panel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5lEy...48D&playnext=2

[Heliopause]

The He 162 lost on April 19th was flown by Fw Kirchner.
Here is a nice clip of a landing gear test of a He 162 in France btw.

[woofiedog]

Cool video... Thank's
Seems they need a bit more work with the gear as it looks like it is sticking a bit on one side when lowering or raising. Also found this info about the restoration of this aircraft which includes the video clip you posted above. Notice near the bottom of the page the photo of the writting found in the aircraft by worker who hepled build this He-162. One other fact about this aircraft is that it was flown after the war by 30 of the French pilots for 14 hours of flight time. Wonder if there is some info about these flights.

http://memorial.flight.free.fr/He162uk.html

[Heliopause]

Something for the moddellers....
http://fighters.forumactif.com/t3017...l-162-francais