On 27 June, Major Walther Dahl, an enthusiastic proponent of the "Sturmjäger" tactics was appointed Geschwaderkommandeur of JG 300. Flying in the Stabskette of JG 300 Dahl had hand-picked Fw. Walther Loos as his wing-man. Loos an experienced fighter pilot who previously had flown in Sturmstaffel 1 and Sturmgruppe IV./JG 3. Walter Loos had claimed his first on 6 March 1944, when he made a head-on attack on a B-17 4-engine bomber over Braunschweig, claimed as a HSS. He would add another twelve 4-engines bombers, six more B-17 and another six B-24 before joining Dahls stabskette. Flying with Major Dahl as his wing-man he would add another seven 4-engines between 7 July and 28 August 1944 in just eight combat missions, a fantastic ratio of kills to sorties. On this day 15 August when the targets for the 8th USAAF was airbases in Northwestern and Westen Germany the Americans dispatched a total of 932 4-engine bombers with an escort of 443 fighters. Against the incoming enemy the Luftwaffe sent 135 fighters which manage to file claims for 37 4-engines losing 20 fighter of their own with four pilots killed and another wounded. The Stabkette manage to down there of the attackers, two by Major Walter Dahl for his 73 to 74 abshüsse and one by Fw. Walther Loos, for his 16th confirmed victory. Loos would continue scoring heavely over the Reich and when he left JG 300 in September he had amassed a total of 29 abschüsse. Later from the spring of 1945 joining the Geschwaderstab of JG 301, by then equipped with the Jagdwaffes best prison engine fighter, the Ta 152 H, in order to protect the bases of the jet fighters. It was natural to include Loos in this Stabskette. On 20 April 1945 Oberfeldwebel Loos received Ritterkreuz and four days later, on the 24th he would while flying the Ta 152 encountered a formation of Soviet fighters over Berlin, managed to down two Yak-9s. And finally, another six days later, on 30 April 1945, JG 301 took off for their last fighter sweep of the war. VVS fighters attacked the formation and Loos downed one Yak-9 as one of the last two victories claimed by JG 301. Oberfeldwebel Walter Loos was one of the last German Experten. He as a newly trained pilot that stated flying as late as in January 1944 managed in just 66 combat missions amassed a total of 38 confirmed victories, including 30 4-engine bombers, plus another eight unconfirmed victories is simply an it outstanding feat. Note Loos Fw 190 a rather dull, nothing extraordinary machine other than it shows sign of repaint and heavy polishing. |
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