Fly Past

36 FLYPAST August 2018

SPOT FACT It was designed by Willy Messerschmitt

and Robert Lusser

In August Schypek flew 26

‘ops’ without incident. He flew

Bf 109E-4 werk nummer (w/nr -

construction number) 2759 for the

first time on June 24 and 41 times

from August 4. During the early

afternoon of the 28th, he took up

2759 for a sweep, but switched to

3509 later that day. Taking over

2759 was 30-year-old Uffz Karl

Kleemann, who was last seen giving

top cover to 6./JG 54, which was

attempting to bounce a formation of

RAF fighters.

Hptm Hrabak took command of

II./JG 54 in September and his place

in 4./JG 54 was taken by up-and-

coming ‘ace’ Oblt Hans Philipp,

whose score had risen to ten by

September 1. Since early August,

5./JG 54 had been led by Oblt

Roloff von Aspern and he achieved

his tenth victory on September 5.

Schypek’s third kill was a Spitfire,

which was attacking the bomber

formation he was escorting,

southeast of Ramsgate on the

evening of September 9, 1940. It

was his 167th operational flight.

In September he conducted 22

missions, most bomber escorts being

bound for London. By then, II./JG

54 was operating out of Campagne-

lès-Guines, still in the Pas-de-Calais.

It was from there on October 5 he

shot down his fourth, a Spitfire near

Rochester, Kent, at 1225hrs.

Indians at 6 o’clock!

A total of 156 aircraft had been

claimed by the pilots of II./JG 54 for

September and the first three weeks

of October. During the first 24 days

of October, just four of the unit’s

pilots had been killed and two

taken prisoner.

The captives were both friends of

Schypek: Oblt Anton Stangl (5./JG

54) on September 1 and Lt Bernhard

Malischewski (Stab II./JG 54) on

October 12. The former had collided

with another aircraft and the latter’s

Bf 109 suffered engine failure.

Jochen Schypek was on another

bomber escort over London on

October 25. “Our gruppe was

attacked when the bombers had

reached London docks. I yelled

‘Indians at 6 o’clock 200m above!’

The bombers released their bombs

and started a 180° turn.

“Seconds later I had an ‘Indian’

in my rear-view mirror and guessed

it was a Spitfire. I had managed to

dive away vertically at least a dozen

times before but, lo and behold, it

did not work this time.

“The Indian was right behind my

tail and opened fire. I could see

bullets hitting my wings and from

the white trails on both sides I knew

he had hit my radiators. I throttled

back my engine as I knew it would

seize soon and my Indian drew

alongside. ... I had never been at such

a close distance to a live Spitfire!

“I was rather relieved that he

could see I had no chance to return

home and that he did not complete

his kill.”

Who was responsible for

damaging Schypek’s Emil is not

certain, but the combat report

of 41 Squadron’s Fg Off Peter

Brown possibly matches: “I

attacked an Me 109, no apparent

results. Having lost the squadron,

I climbed to 25,000ft again and

saw about nine Me 109s on my

starboard beam. I turned to attack

them and was involved in

a dogfight.

“After two short bursts, glycol

poured out of one of the Me 109s.

I gave it two more bursts, slight

deflection. The e/a [enemy aircraft]

rolled over on its side and dived

Not so lucky

Leutnant Joachim ‘Jochen’ Schypek may have spent much of

the war as a prisoner, but he was far luckier than many of his

contemporaries. Of his executive offi cers, the following were

killed in action: Oblt Rolff von Aspern (5./JG 54) on November

17, 1940, Oblt Franz Eckerle (6./JG 54) on February 14, 1942, and

Oblt Hans Philipp (4./JG 54) on October 8, 1943.

And what of the fi rst prisoner of the war, Ofw Karl Hier, shot

down on November 22, 1939 and repatriated in 1940? He was

reported missing in action on November 15, 1940 with his score

of victories standing at 15.

into cloud... e/a believed to have

crashed within vicinity of Rye.”

With his engine seizing, Schypek

hoped he could glide back to the

Channel, but he began losing

height too quickly. Approaching

Dungeness, he knew he could not

make it and was too low to bale out:

“When I was low enough to see

soldiers working behind the beach, I

made my decision to turn back and

belly land. I eventually touched the

ground, rather gentle I remember,

skidded to the right.

“I had thrown away my cabin roof

and had turned off the ignition,

but I was in a hurry to get away

from the plane in case it blew up. It

did not. I heard soldiers shouting,

running towards me with shovels.

‘Hands Up!’ I put them up.”

Schypek remained a prisoner of

war until 1946. Of his time with the

Luftwaffe, he regarded

himself as: “Just

an average

member of

the fighter

community

envious of

the successes

of those who

did better.”

Above left

Schypek’s Bf 109E-4,

Wk Nr 1988 ‘Black

7’ in a Kent fi eld on

October 25, 1940.

Hastily camoufl aged

against strafi ng,

the aircraft was

recovered and

scrapped.

Above right

Lt Bernhard

Malischewski’s

Bf 109E-4 (Wk Nr

4869) after force-

landing in Kent on

October 12, 1940.

The victory bars on

his rudder refer to

January 12, 1940

(Blenheim), May 14,

1940 (Blenheim),

an undated kill

and a Spitfi re on

September 27, 1940.

Right

Lt Anton Stangl of 2./

JG 76 photographed

after shooting down

his fi fth aircraft on

June 5, 1940. He

would collide with an

unidentifi ed aircraft

on September 1,

1940 and was taken

prisoner. ALL VIA

AUTHOR