At 0800, a status report was submitted by III./EJG 2 to the Geschwaderstab. This intercept was fragmentary and therefore confusing but it did mention that Ofw. Gerhard Reinhold had arrived from JG 7 for theoretical training while Ofw. Erich Kaiser and Rudolf Hübl had finished theoretical training and joined the 9. Staffel. By the next day, Me 262 W.Nr. 110606 had come on to strength from the Quartermaster General’s reserve at Lechfeld while 110472 was in the airfield’s workshop. A message of the 5th stated that Ofw. Reinhold had rejoined JG 7, leaving behind 34 pupils of whom 15 were officers. Hauptmann Rudolf Engleder joined from IV./EJG 1 as an instructor and Staffelkapitän on the 14th. He was credited with 10 victories and was a holder of the EK I and II, black wound badge and Ehrenpokal. Gruppenkommandeur, Maj. Bär addressed a message to Esperstedt on the 8th, asking that no more female technicians be assigned to his unit. ‘as the indents laid down in III./EJG 2 (No.) 590 contained impossible mistakes’. The Gruppe’s tenure at Lechfeld was called into question in March when the base was asked to accommodate the ‘jet propulsion development unit’, responding that this was only possible if III./EJG 2 and NAGr. 6 were moved elsewhere: Airfield accommodation and quarters in the town, otherwise inadequate. Moreover Luftgau VII has said that it intended to move elements of KG 55 to Lechfeld. Appropriate orders for evacuation of the airfield sought from OKL since setting in train of 162 development is pressing.
The weather had been good for flying but there had been alerts for enemy aircraft from 0729–1305 and 1535–1654. Nevertheless, total flying time had been 299 minutes (28 minutes more than the total of the above) and Si 204 flying time (teaching fighter pilots to handle twin engines) was 125 minutes. One of the Siebels was BP+FO, W.Nr. 321281, the subject of signal from Lechfeld to Unterschlauersbach on 4 March. That day, 10./EJG 2 reported that Hptm. Rudolf Engleder had arrived to take over as Staffelkapitän, adding that he had been awared the Ehrenpokal, Iron Cross I and II class and black wound badge and was credited with 10 victories. KG 51 transferred five of its Me 262s to Faßberg on 30 March with the intention that they should fly on to Unterschlauersbach. From I./KG 51 these were W.Nr. 111635 (Ltn. Scrimmel), 100103 (Lt. Laus) and 170105 (Ofw. Streit); and from II./KG 51 W.Nr. 170090 (Ofw. Zeppenfeld) and 500050 (Ofw. Wessel). Leutnant Strate’s W.Nr. 170053 took off for Unterschlauersbach via Burg at 0505 GMT on the 31st and it was hoped that 110818 and 111922 would also take off for the same destination once their runway had been made serviceable.
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