" In a dawn attack on important Soviet artillery emplacements East of Orel the flights of the 1st squadron fly with mine, the second flight led by Flying Officer Jäckel. He has become a magnificent airman and has a pet stunt which he does habitually. Wherever he sees a fighter he attacks it even though it is far superior to his aircraft in speed and armament. Already on the Kuban front he has given us many a laugh. He always contends that his Ju. 87 is particularly fast; that at full throttle he can leave the others standing. This cheery soul often brings down a fighter; he reminds one of a stag roaming the forest in search of a hunter and when he finds one instantly charging him with lowered antlers. He is the life and soul of his flight; without repeating himself he can tell jokes from nine in the evening till four o’clock in the morning. ‘Bonifacius Kiesewetter’ and other ballads of course belong to his repertoire. On this particular morning he has, with his flight, attacked a neighbouring battery and we are returning to base. We are just flying over our front line when someone yells:“ Fighters!” I can see them, a long distance away; they show no signs of attacking us. Jäckel turns round and joins issue with them. He shoots one of them down but even fat Jensch, his at other times dependable rear-gunner, appears to be looking round instead of in front of him. There is apparently another LAG 5 coming up behind him. I see his aircraft go into a kind of backward dive from a height of 600 feet and burst into flames. I can only imagine that in his eagerness for battle Egbert forgot how low he was flying and that he had no business to indulge in such acrobatics. So we lose this dear comrade also." Rudel, Hans Ulrich (2011-05-27). Stuka Pilot (Kindle Locations 1441-1453). Black House Publishing Ltd. Kindle Edition.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 16:02:20 +0000
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