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In January 1944 United States Army Air Force introduced the North American P-51D Mustang
as a long-range escort fighter designed to be able to escort heavy bombers into every
corner of Europe.
Prior to its introduction Germany was being bombed into rubble.
However the bombers with limited fighter escort were not unchallenged and were suffering unsustainable
losses.
In July 1944 Germany introduced the first operational jet fighter bomber in history
the Messerschmitt Me- 262 at over 100 miles per hour faster than the Mustang's 440 miles
per hour and its four 30 millimeter cannon it was a devastating weapon against American
bombers.
In one of these engagements a young American fighter pilot and a young German ace came
together in an event that would start a long road ending in a great friendship.
Who was Colonel Joseph Peterburs?
Who was Oberleutnant Walter Shuck?
How did they first meet?
What would make two former enemies come together decades later and become great friends?
Hello I'm Colin Heaton a veteran of the United States Army and Marine Corps former history
professor book author and welcome to this episode of Forgotten History [Music]
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On April 10th 1945 the 8th Air Force launched hundreds of heavy bombers on a mission to
strike deep into Germany.
Hundreds of Allied fighters flew as escorts to protect the bombers from the expected attacks
by Measserschmitt 109's Focke-Wulf 190s and especially Messerschmitt 262 jets.
The Luftwaffe fighter pilots in the "Reichsverteidigung" or Home Defense forces received the alerts
of incoming enemy aircraft.
German fighter pilots took off to intercept these formations.
The German general of the fighters Adolf Galland had developed a layered belt defense method.
Fighters would take off in stages engaging the enemy then returning to rearm and refuel
as other fighters took their places.
Sometimes hundreds of fighters would be overlapping each other keeping the bomber formations under
constant attack.
One of these pilots was Oberleutnant Walter shuck commander of 3rd Staffel, I Gruppe Jagdgeschwader
7 flying the Me-262 turbo jets out of Oranienburg.
Shuck was a seasoned veteran of the Eastern Front and the Arctic Fronts in Norway and
Finland and had well over 500 missions.
For example on June 17, 1944 he recorded 12 of his 206 aerial combat victories in a single
day.
He recalled the mission when his unit encountered the bombers near Oranienberg.
"We were alerted to a large bomber group and we took off.
I was the leader of my group as we had seven Me-262s and as we reached altitude around
6 000 meters we saw them.
I called out the lower left group and pushed the stick forward.
I was coming in from the seven o'clock position when the nearest B-17 grew rapidly in size
in front of my windscreen and I pressed the firing button.
The 30 millimeter cannons hammered and in the next moment the whole giant tail fin of
the bomber was dissolved by the exploding shells.
I had to pull up to avoid a collision as my Me-262 raced through the bomber formation
with my compatriots still in tow.
I aimed at the wing of a bomber in another formation, a quick burst of fire and as I
pulled up to avoid a collision I caught a glimpse of the B-17 going down in flames."
It was the 303rd Bomb Group's B-17G serial number 44-8427 color code V-KE.
It had been baptized "Henns' Revenge" in honor of the tail gunner Sergeant Thomas Henn who
had been severely injured by AAA shrapnel in January 1945.
The pilot First Lieutenant Robert "Boss" Murray was piloting the ship on its 22nd combat mission
when the 30 millimeter shells slammed into two right engines.
Schuck continued, "I then led my group into another formation of B-17s.
Again I aimed at the engines and opened fire at one of the bombers.
The impact of the 30 millimeter cannons was terrible.
The giant bomber immediately slopped over and went down.
On my next attack the 30 millimeter cannons immediately set the bomber on fire and then
one of the wings was torn off making this my fourth kill in succession."
One of these fighter pilots escorting the bombers was American 20 year old First Lieutenant
Joseph Anthony Peterburs of the 55th Fighter Squadron 20th Fighter Group in his P-51D which
he named "Josephine" for his fiancee and he was on his 49th combat mission.
He was flying high cover some five thousand feet above the bombers and just as the bombers
were dropping their bombs a swarm of Me-262s came barreling into the formation.
Peterburs visually locked onto one slicing through the bomber formation, then he saw
the 262 blow up a B-17 and start to close on his second B-17.
Joe rolled over and started down at him.
With his 5,000 foot altitude advantage and throttle wide open he closed fast and as he
passed through twenty thousand feet his airspeed indicated 420 miles per hour.
The 262 made its second kill as Joe was pulling into his six o'clock position with guns blazing
away.
Joe got several good hits on the 262's left wing and saw some smoke and fire.
He went into a rolling turn with Joe in hot pursuit and headed for the deck.
As Joe lost his speed advantage the 262 pulled out of range disappearing into a cloud bank.
As he ended the chase Joe saw an Airfield loaded with enemy aircraft below him and proceeded
to strafe it destroying five enemy aircraft on the ground and setting a hangar on fire.
On his final strafing run his Mustang was severely damaged.
However he was able to nurse it back to Berg Germany.
At that time he was about 500 feet getting ready to bail out when he saw an FW-190 coming
at him at his three o'clock.
The 190 was firing his guns and a volley of rockets and had been fired which fortunately
missed.
At this time Joe was at 350 feet and immediately bailed out rolling off the left side of the
cockpit.
As he left the aircraft his right knee hit the horizontal stabilizer he pulled the rip
cord.
The chute opened and he hit the ground.
He was immediately captured and endured an 80-mile forced march to Lukenwalde near Berlin
interned as a POW escaped and joined a Russian tank unit which fought from Berlin to Wittenberg
on the Elba where a Joe was repatriated by a U.S. Army patrol that was in the area.
What Peterburs did not know was that the Me-262 pilot was one of Germany's best aces Knight's
Cross and Oak Leaves recipient of Walter Schuck already with 202 victories before this mission.
What he also did not know was that this bomber was Schuck's fourth victory on that mission
with 40 men either killed or bailing out to be captured.
Shuck's victories on that mission came quickly at 14:30 hours 14:33 14:36 and the last at
14:38.
One of the bombers was of course confirmed to be "Henn's Revenge".
The other bomber his last was "Moonlight Mission" of the 457th Bombardment Group.
Walter Shuck tells of how his mission ended for him: "Just when I shot down the fourth
bomber I was attacked from astern by a Mustang which came in from above.
I noticed some hits in the left wing and turned it to the right in a shallow dive with the
Mustang pursuing me.
I passed Berlin and after a while the left engine started to emit smoke.
I then entered a low cloud bank and as I turned my head I could see that I had managed to
get away from the Mustang.
With the engine starting to disintegrate I decided to leave that flaming coffin but I
wanted to be low enough to avoid hanging in my parachute for a long time because some
of our pilots had been shot as they slowly drifted down.
I did not like that idea.
My first attempt to get out failed.
The air current was too strong.
I pulled the stick back and climbed from 1500 meters to 1800 meters then I grabbed the handle
with both hands and with one foot I kicked the stick to one corner of the cockpit.
The result was that the 262 tipped its nose and I was flying out of the cabin floating
in the airspace I entered a flat spin as I rotated.
My right arm extended 90 degrees from my body and the g-forces were too strong to permit
me to pull it back.
Only by grabbing the sleeve of my leather jacket with my left hand was I able to pull
my right arm back so that I could pull the handle which enveloped the parachute.
In the meantime I descended to only about 500 meters altitude.
The jerk when the parachute unfolded above my head came only a few meters above the ground.
Looking down I could see a field with a barbed wire fence which came closer and closer.
Desperately I kicked in the air and pulled on the strings of the parachute.
The parachute tipped over and I barely dived over the barbed wire.
I flung my feet forward and violently hit the ground spraining both ankles.
Although I was in a state of shock I quickly pulled the parachute together.
I had heard that the American fighter pilots would come down and strafe bailed out pilots
aiming at their white parachutes.
Then I just lay down."
Both men wondered who the other pilot was especially Joe Peterburs.
In the late 1990s Joe received a letter from Werner Dietrich from Berg, Germany.
"He said he had arranged the excavation of a P-51 that crashed at his town in April 1945
and has been searching for over 19 months for the pilot," as Joe states himself: "He
was about to abandon the search when he got one possible lead.
He was told that the 20th Fighter Group lost several aircraft that day in that area and
that he should contact the 20th Fighter Group Association's President Jack Ilfrey.
Upon receiving Werner's letter Jack immediately wrote back; 'Hell yes I know the pilot its
Joe Peterburs living in Colorado Springs, Colorado.'
With my name and address in hand Werner wrote me the letter I mentioned earlier asking if
I needed any more information and if I was indeed the pilot of the P-51 he saw when he
was a boy.
I responded 'yes' and 19 months after Vernon's project began he was able to locate the pilot.
The problem with the official records was that they had my name spelled wrong.
'Peterburg' instead of Peterburs and that did not correlate.
After being able to identify me he went back to the TV producer who arranged the excavation."
Their producer was overjoyed and wanted Joe to come to Germany and visit the site and
make a follow-up documentary.
However Joe's wife Josephine had a stroke in 1997 and he could not and would not leave
her side.
The TV producer then planned for Werner and the TV crew to visit Joe in Colorado Springs
bringing along parts of his aircraft.
To quote Joe, "They arrived on 3 May 1997 with a beautiful bouquet of roses for Josephine
and parts of my aircraft.
I took them on a tour of the Air Force Academy as well as Pike's Peak with a lot of hours
discussing the 10 April 1945 mission.
Of course what Werner had seen as a boy was only part of my story.
I told him of our raid on Oranienburg my engagement with an Me-,262 strafing of the airfield and
the subsequent damage to my aircraft trying to make it back to the lines and eventually
bailing out where Werner came into the picture.
After hearing these details Werner became obsessed with the idea that he could find
the Me-262 pilot that I had engaged when he returned home to Germany."
He relentlessly researched the records and eventually and miraculously found the Me-262
pilot that Joe had attacked.
"He is Oberleutnant Walter Schuck one of Germany's top aces with 206 victories in the air."
Joe Peterburs had long since retired from the U.S. Air Force serving also in Korea and
Vietnam retiring as a colonel.
Easing into his golden years with his beloved wife Josephine until she passed away.
In 2004 I your humble narrator was contacted by someone in Germany perhaps the same man
Werner who wanted to know if I knew which German jet unit was involved and who had been
shot down over Oranienburg on that day.
I checked my records knowing several former JG-7 jet pilots and looking over old interviews
with Schuck and the others and looking at lost records for both the Americans and Germans
and I passed this information along.
I was not so sure where it would go but in 2005 Joe was invited to a gathering in Vista,
California from the 15th to the 20th of May 2005.
Walter Schuck was coming to California to visit his old friend Kurt Schulze his wingman
and compadre in JG-5 "Eismeer" to sign some prints and meet more of the Old Bold pilots
who had served in combat together in the skies over Germany some 60 years earlier.
The greatest thing about their meeting was that Walter and Joe when they met took to
each other almost immediately; they genuinely liked each other and became the best of friends.
The photograph here shows Walter on the left Joe on the right and former Luftwaffe fighter
pilot and squadron mate of Walters in JG-5 Kurt Schulze who organized the meeting.
Walter held no ill will at all.
In fact Walter even admitted that being injured in the jump from his jet probably saved his
life since he was unable to continue flying.
Joe and Walter immediately became close friends and both did several respective on-camera
interviews and TV shows and podcasts over the years.
Walter Schuck's autobiography "Luftwaffe Eagle" is worthwhile reading and both men and many
others are covered in my book "The Me-262 Stormbird" with a forward written by Joe Peterburs
and Me-262 pilot Oberleutnant Jorg Czypionka.
I was very fortunate to have become friends with both of these men and many other pilots
and Walter Schuck unfortunately passed away on March 27, 2015 but he is still remembered
by his family his friends and one Joe Peterburs.
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