skill in bringing the crippled aircraft
down safely...”
Mussells managed to land at
Woodbridge in Suffolk where his
mid-upper gunner, Fg Off Bob
Dale, was treated for his wounds.
British decodes of German Enigma
transmissions picked up a message
to the effect that an Me 163 from I/
JG 400 based at Brandis had shot
down a Lancaster at 18:02hrs. At
that exact time, two crews from 415
and 425 Squadrons RCAF claimed
to have damaged the rocket fighter.
These ‘kills’ were later disallowed.
It would appear that the German
pilot was Lt Fritz Kelb, who
shortly afterwards transferred to
fly Messerschmitt Me 262s. Oblt
Glogner claimed a Mosquito
on the 10th, but this cannot be
substantiated.
A PROBABLE
Despite what a number of the
Lancaster gunners thought, they had
not shot down the rocket fighter,
as 165 Squadron’s diary shows: “Fg
Off Haslope chased him down [in
his Mustang] reached the calculated
speed of 675mph in a dive from
25,000ft to 3,000ft. Firing all the
time, he closed right in and actually
overtook it achieving strikes all
along the fuselage and wing roots.
He claimed one damaged...”
Australian John ‘Slops’ Haslope
already had a half-kill to his name
when he and fellow Australian
Fg Off Doug Eva shot down a
Junkers Ju 88 from the weather
reconnaissance unit Wekusta 2
north of Vannes in France on March
20, 1944.
His combat report for April 10,
1945 reveals a far more dramatic
event: “I noticed a bomber begin to
smoke and something appeared to
fly off it. This resolved itself into a
Me 163 which climbed vertically at
great speed.
“I reported the aircraft and
dropped my overload tanks and gave
chase at full throttle. The Me 163
turned towards me and I had a shot
at him in a right-hand turn, range
about 900 yards and 30° deflection
but observed no strikes.
“The Me 163 then spiralled into a
vertical dive which I followed, firing
several bursts of about two to three
seconds observing strikes on four
occasions on the wing roots and
several small pieces came off.
“I overshot rapidly at 3,000ft and
had to pull up to avoid collision,
wrinkling the wings as I did so. The
Me 163 continued on down and
was observed by Sqn Ldr Potocki of
315 Squadron and Flying Officer
Wacnik of 306 Squadron to hit the
ground and explode at an airfield
believed to be either Brandis or
Mensdorf...”
Haslope re-joined ‘Green Section’- Fg Offs Peter Rae and Jock Lewin
- both of whom had witnessed
strikes on the Me 163, as had Flt Lt
Kelly of 64 Squadron, but none of
them observed the crash.
What they had probably seen
explode was one of the two RCAF
bombers lost in this attack: a Halifax
from 415 Squadron or a Lancaster
from 433 Squadron.
Fg Off John Haslope’s claim to
fame is being the only RAF pilot
to almost shoot down one of the
elusive and spectacular Komets.
TWO IN ONE
On the evening of April 14, 1945
Sqn Ldr John Shepherd, CO of 41
Squadron, got airborne from Twente
in Holland leading three Spitfires
on an armed reconnaissance of the
Bremen area. One Spitfire turned
back, but as they approached
Nordholz airfield, two unidentified
aircraft were seen.
Shepherd’s combat report
describes: “...Two aircraft were
seen taking off. Diving on them I
recognised them as an Me 163 being
towed by an Me 110. I was closing
very rapidly but managed to get
in a short burst in on the Me 110
obtaining strikes on port engine and
cockpit.
“The Me 110 went into a left-
hand diving turn, turning over
onto its back, and crashed into a
field bursting into flames. The ’163
appeared to break away from the
’110 and make a wide left-hand
turn, finally diving straight in about
three fields away from the Me
110...”
Messerschmitt Bf 110s were
used by JG 400 as tugs for Me
163 training flights and when
transiting between bases. This
’110 was flown by 26-year-old
Oberfeldwebel Werner Nelte, who
was killed in the engagement. He
had first flown the Komet in May
1944 with the development unit,
Erprobungskommando 16, which
was the forerunner of I/JG 400.
In June 1944, Nelte was forced
to ditch in Lake Zwischenahner,
northwest of Bremen, when the
tug developed engine problems.
It appears that when Shepherd
attacked, Nelte was towing the Me
163 from Nordholz to Husum,
where II/JG 400 was establishing
itself.
There was one more encounter
between a Komet and the RAF. On
April 22, 1945 Oblt Franz Woidich
of 6/JG 400 claimed an unidentifiedaircraft believed to have been a
Lancaster: his 110th and last victory
of the war.
A force of 767 aircraft attacked
Bremen that day and, although
two Lancasters were lost and one
damaged, no mention was made of
the presence of Me 163s.
The Komet was an incredible if
unorthodox fighter. Difficult to
handle, even by experienced pilots
such as Nelte or Woidich, most
aircraft and pilots were lost in
accidents as opposed to combat.
Although the concept was good,
it was another case of ‘too little, too
late’ for the Luftwaffe, which is why
the RAF rarely encountered them in
combat over Germany in 1945.
With no fuel and Allied air
superiority, most were found
abandoned on German airfields at
the end of the war. This explains
why today, ten complete examples
can be found in museums around
the world.April 2018 FLYPAST 35The target was a daylight attack on
the Engelsdorf and Mockau railway
yards by 134 Lancasters, 90 Halifaxes
and six Mosquitos. The diary of
165 Squadron wasn’t exactly correct
regarding the interception by the sole
German fighter.
The ORB for 405 Squadron Royal
Canadian Air Force (RCAF) recorded:
“In the target area, immediately
following release of target indicators,
Lancaster ME315 ‘K’ was attacked by
an Me 163.
“The attacking aircraft approached
from the rear and above and with one
burst completely shot away the rear
turret, rudder and elevator. Damage
was also caused to the H2S [radar]
set and mid-upper turret. The rear
gunner, Flt Lt Mellstrom, was in his
turret when the attack commenced
and is believed killed.”
The body of 31-year-old Ft Lt
Melborn Mellstrom DFC was found
still in his turret near Engelsdorf
and today lies in the Berlin War
Cemetery. His family received his
DFC in November 1949 and a lake
in his native Alberta, Canada has
been named in his memory.
After this onslaught, Flt Lt
Campbell Mussells and the rest of
the crew of Lancaster ME315 had a
different fight on their hands. The
citation for the Distinguished Service
Order for Mussells explains: “The
rear turret and starboard rudder
were shot away. The port rudder was
smashed and both elevators were
badly damaged. The aircraft dived
away out of control.
“As Flt Lt Mussells fought to regain
control he found that the trimming
controls were useless. Nevertheless,
he succeeded in levelling out after
considerable height had been lost.
To keep the nose of the aircraft up
the control column had to be lashed
back. In circumstances of the greatest
difficulty, he flew the crippled aircraft
back to the UK.
“After crossing the English coast,
he ordered his crew to abandon the
aircraft and with the exception of the
mid-upper gunner who was seriously
wounded, they left by parachute.
[Mussells] flew on to the nearestairfield with his wounded comrade.
With the control column still lashed
back and without the aid of flaps,
this officer showed superb skill in
bringing the crippled aircraft down
safely.”
Mussells managed to land at
Woodbridge in Suffolk where his
mid-upper gunner, Fg Off Bob Dale,
was treated for his wounds.
British decodes of German Enigma
transmissions picked up a message to
the effect that an Me 163 from I/JG
400 based at Brandis had shot down
a Lancaster at 18:02hrs. At that exact
time, two crews from 415 and 425
Squadrons RCAF claimed to have
damaged the rocket fighter.
These claims were later disallowed.
It would appear that the Germanpilot was Lt Fritz Kelb, who
shortly afterwards transferred to
fly Messerschmitt Me 262s. Oblt
Glogner claimed a Mosquito on the
10 th, but this cannot be substantiated.A PROBABLE
Despite what a number of the
Lancaster gunners thought, they
had not shot down the rocketfighter, as 165 Squadron’s diary
shows: “Fg Off Haslope chased
him down [in his Mustang],
reached the calculated speed of
675mph in a dive from 25,000ft
to 3,000ft. Firing all the time,
he closed right in and actually
overtook it achieving strikes all
along the fuselage and wing roots.
He claimed one damaged.”
Australian John ‘Slops’ Haslope
already had a half-kill to his name
when he and fellow Australian
Fg Off Doug Eva shot down a
Junkers Ju 88 from the weather
reconnaissance unit Wekusta 2
north of Vannes in France on
March 20, 1944.
His combat report for April 10,
1945 reveals a far more dramaticairfield with his wounded comrade.
With the control column still lashedfighter, as 165 Squadron’s diary fighter, as 165 Squadron’s diary
shows: “Fg Off Haslope chased shows: “Fg Off Haslope chased shows: “Fg Off Haslope chased shows: “Fg Off Haslope chasedAbove
The fl ying fl ea badge of
2/JG 400. The motto
reads ‘Wie en fl oh, aber
oho!’, which translates
as ‘Only a fl ea, but oh-
oh!’. KEYAbove left
Refuelling an Me 163 – a
dangerous business. The
extremely volatile nature
of the two fuels used in
the Walter motor made
any kind of handling very
risky. KEYLeft
With the Me 163’s rear
fuselage detached, the
tailpipe of the Walter HWK
509A-2 bi-fuel rocket
motor is revealed. KEY