The Death of Luftwaffe Ace Klaus Mietusch

 

Luftwaffe ace Klaus Mietusch

On 17 September 1944. Lt. William Beyer (9 victories) of the 361st fighter group USAAF shot down and killed 75 victory German Experten Major Klaus Mietusch for his first official victory after a very well orchestrated duel. Beyer's description of his duel with Mietusch is spectacular, and while he ultimately vanquished his enemy, Beyer paid a respectful tribute to the German in the final lines of his after-action report.

Following the III./JG 26 bounce on the 361 FG this day, the leader of the P-51 flight, Lt. William Beyer picked out one Messerschmitt in the center of the attacking enemy formation, while the rest of the German fighters zoomed back up into the clouds, the diving Bf 109 flown by Major Klaus Mietusch was chased by Beyer. According to Beyers combat combat report, the German pilot in front of him tried everything in the book to get him off his back, finally by lowering his speed he tried to get Beyer to overshoot him, but Beyer lowered his flaps and even his landing gear to have a chance to stay with Mietusch twisting and turning Messerschmitt (a really dangerous maneuver at low level flight, especially since the Bf 109 had much better low speed characteristics than a P-51). And when Mietusch applied full throttle for a zoom-climb, Beyer was able follow him and hit the Bf 109 with one long burst.

Beyer's description of his duel with Mietusch is spectacular, and while he ultimately vanquished his enemy, Beyer paid a respectful tribute to the German in the final lines of his after-action report: "Knowing the caliber of this German pilot, I am sure that if I had taken the time to get off some shots when he was slowing down he could have possibly shot me down or made a getaway".

After registering his 73rd and 74th victories on August 26th, Major Mietusch was again engaged in combat with USAAF P-51 fighters from the 361st Fighter Group near Geldern on 17 September 1944.

After gaining his 75th and final victory over a P-51 Mustang, "Mary Jane", of the 376th FS. flown by Lt. Woodrow W Glover (KIA), Mietusch was shot down and fatally wounded flying "Black 25" in the vicinity of Rath-Aldekerk by another American pilot, Lieutenant William Beyer (9 victories) of the 376th Fighter Squadron of the 361st Fighter Group, USAAF.

75th claim
17.9.44/1455
P-51B-10-NA Mustang
N of Moenchen-Gladbach/Geldern (PQ 05 Ost S/LN-1/LN-7/KN) @ 3500m
No.4 plane in cover flight of 361st FG. Their losses included: P-51B10-NA 42-106944/E9-A "Mary Jane" of 376th FS. Lt. Woodrow W Glover KIA (some sources believe this was Glover)

Mietusch was posthumously awarded the Knights Cross to the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (Eichenlaub) (Nr 653) on the 18th November 1944.

Burial detail: Kriegsgräberstätte Düsseldorf - Nordfriedhof. Feld 112 Row O. Grave 117
In recent years, Beyer´s claim this day has been questioned, as new research points out the fact that Mietusch probably was killed during a belly landing or emergency landing after his machine had sustained battle damage during his earlier engagement, and that this well publicized engagement in fact was more like "shooting rats in a barrel", in other words a air-to-ground rather than an air-to-air victory.
Anyway, this was Lieutenant William R. Beyer first claim of the war, five more would follow just ten days later, making him an USAAF fighter-ace.

Trained as gunner, Beyer joined glider pilot program, and then assigned to Air Cadet training. Assigned to 495FTG, 8AF USAAF. Transferred to 376FS, 361FG, 8AF USAAF. Detached Service with 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron. Re-assigned to 376FS, 361FG, 8AF USAAF. Credited with 9 kills, in 87 missions. Completed Tour of Duty (ETD).

2 x ME-109's, 7 x FW-190's. On 29-Sep-44, became the 8AF 4th ace in a day, when he shot down 5 x Fw-190's on mission to Kessel Germany.

Awards: DFC, SS, AM (12 OLC), WWII Victory, EAME (3 Bronze star), American Campaign, GC.
Post war: Worked as an instrument mechanic at Merck & Company for 33 years.

Klaus Mietusch, an pilot ace that suffered from shaky self-confidence during his whole career as a fighter pilot told a reporter: "I was a decidedly unskilled, poor fighter pilot, since I could not shoot. Everything happened too fast".

The remedy for his poor shooting was: "Bore in, until the enemy is as large as a barn door in your sights". Although he was shot down ten times, and wounded at least four times, Mietusch never turned down an a mission, and had logged 452 combat sorties at the time of his death.

Major Klaus Mietusch, Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 26, in 452 combat missions, had gained 75 victories. He claimed 60 of those victories over the Western Front including 13 four-engine bombers.
He was wounded several times and was shot down ten times.

Updated Claims verification of 61 victory claims shows that out of those 61 confirmed victories, 54 of them are actual verifiable losses per Allied loss reports; Mietusch only had 7 unverified claims...
His accuracy is an impressive 88.5%!

Awards:
⚜Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (26 April 1941)
⚜Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
⚜Iron Cross (1939)
2nd Class
1st Class
⚜Wound Badge (1939)
in Black
in Silver
⚜German Cross in Gold on 15 October 1942 as Oberleutnant in the 7./Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter"
⚜Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
⚜Knight's Cross on 26 March 1944 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter"
⚜653rd recipient of the Oak Leaves on 18 November 1944 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter"

William Beyer holding his youth picture during World War II

Source :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1472011002826823/permalink/4196915603669669/
https://www.pinterest.es/pin/270638258838826884/