Obfw Rony Lauer, second left, with his Ju 88
bomber crew, 1943. RONY LAUER VIA FRED BOLGERTRight
Oberfeldwebel ‘Rony’ Lauer in 1943 while fl ying
Ju 88. RONY LAUER VIA FRED BOLGERTthe jets to move again to Rheine,
Hörstel and Hopsten in Germany,
where they remained until March
1945.
Kommando Schenk settled in at
Rheine and became part of I Gruppe
of KG(J) 51 on September 5. Lauer
continued flying Me 262s until
October 2 when he got into a fight
with P-47s of the 365th FG’s 386th
FS near Düsseldorf. His jet, 170069
‘9K+NL’ suddenly ran out of fuel
and he was again forced to attempt
a crash landing, being too low to
parachute.
Unfortunately, this time the jet’s
wing clipped the ground and it
cartwheeled before exploding.
Lauer’s luck held, and he was only
slightly injured in his head and back.
Captain Valmore J Beaudrault of
the 386th was given credit for an
unconfirmed victory.
Lauer was discharged from the
Luftwaffe in July 1945. His brother
had been killed in July 1941 on
the Russian front and his sister, a
nurse, had died in an accident, near
Warsaw, Poland.
In 1948 he was accepted
for training as a
locomotive operator
on routes in
the Kassel,
Frankfurt and
Hannover areas.
Lauer joined a
veteran’s pilot
association
in 1956 and
attended
yearly
reunions,
often on
Luftwaffe
bases. He
was selected
as a teacher
in 1960 and
retired in
1983.Hörstel and Hopsten in Germany,
where they remained until March where they remained until March
Kommando Schenk settled in at
Rheine and became part of I Gruppe
of KG(J) 51 on September 5. Lauer
continued flying Me 262s until
October 2 when he got into a fight
with P-47s of the 365th FG’s 386th
FS near Düsseldorf. His jet, 170069
‘9K+NL’ suddenly ran out of fuel
and he was again forced to attempt
a crash landing, being too low to
Unfortunately, this time the jet’s
wing clipped the ground and it
cartwheeled before exploding.
Lauer’s luck held, and he was only
slightly injured in his head and back.
Captain Valmore J Beaudrault of
the 386th was given credit for an
unconfirmed victory.
Lauer was discharged from the
Luftwaffe in July 1945. His brother
had been killed in July 1941 on
the Russian front and his sister, a
Warsaw, Poland.
In 1948 he was accepted In 1948 he was accepted
for training as a
locomotive operator
on routes in
the Kassel,
Frankfurt and
Hannover areas.
Lauer joined a
veteran’s pilot
association
in 1956 and
attended
yearly
reunions,
often on
Luftwaffe
bases. He
was selected
as a teacher
in 1960 and
retired in
1983.Posts ipt
In the 1990s Fred Bolgert, who
had retired from the USAF as a
lieutenant colonel, made a nostalgic
search to locate his colleagues of the
famous mission that brought down
an Me 262. Captain Manford Croy
had been killed in action on April
16, 1945. Fred located his 82nd FS
flight commander, Joseph Myers,
in January 1996. By then a USAF
brigadier general, Myers did not
wish to talk about this victory and
passed away in 2001.The author remains grateful for the
assistance of Lt Col Fred Bolgert, who
passed away in 2010, and to Captain
Wayne Coleman for his gracious
support with this feature.Second Lt Fred Bolgert, who tracked down
Obfw ‘Rony’ Lauer in the 1990s.Below
Sharing Myers’ Me 262 kill was 2nd Lt Manford
O Croy Jr. ALL AUTHOR’S COLLECTION, UNLESS NOTED