Messerschmitt Me 262A
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III./JG 7, Bradenburg-Briest, November 1944
Flown by: Erich Hohagen, Commander
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel "Storm Bird" was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Heavily armed, it was faster than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the Me 262 was used in a variety of roles, including light bomber, reconnaissance, and night fighter versions.
Major Hohagen commanded III./JG 7, based at Bradenburg-Briest airfield. In the latter months of 1944 Hohagen helped to convert pilots to the new jets. He fought continuously through the war starting over the channel in 1940, as part of Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front and as a Fw-190 pilot attacking bomber formations. He suffered numerous wounds after
