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On the 18th, Oblt. Kolck of the Lärz experimental station contacted Erprobungskommando Lechfeld to say that a rear detachment had been sent off on the 13th and should the personnel of the E7 department follow on? A plan was issued on 20 April by Kammhuber to divide up aircraft and suitable pilots from the KG(J) units between I. and III./JG 7. In addition:

After the arrival of the Geschwaderstab and one of the Gruppen of JG 7 in Lechfeld, III./EJG 2 is to disband with two thirds allocated to JG 7 and one third to JV 44. This applies to the entirety of the personnel (aircrew including pupils, and ground crews) and materiel including all aircraft, also the reconnaissance Me 262s allocated for training purposes.

Oberstleutnant Bär himself will go to JV 44 once the Kommodore of JG 7 has assumed command of the HQ at Lechfeld.

The US Army had gained a bridgehead over the Danube at Dillingen by the afternoon of 22 April, about 75 km by road from Lechfeld. Next day Luftflotte 6’s order of battle included for the first time ‘J.G. Baer’ with 16 (11) Me 262 A-1 and A-4 and 9 (9) pilots. For its part ‘J.G. 44’ had 12 (8) Me 252 and 27 (15) pilots. The following afternoon orders went out for a mobile worksop, Werft Abt. 102/XII , to relocate from Lechfeld to Erding once all the Me 262s and Jumo 004 engines had been evacuated. Specialist personnel, tools and equipment for the Me 262 must be taken along as well. It would appear that this was part of a general abandonment of Lechfeld since Ofw. Nitschke of 1.(F)/100 flew Ar 234 T5+BH (W.Nr. 140611) from there to München-Riem that afternoon.

With Lechfeld being evacuated as the Americans pushed on south and south eastward, the indications are that III./EJG 2 had also transferred to Riem. A note on the status of jet airfields in Luftgau VII as of 1900 (GMT+2) on 25 April shows both Lechfeld and Riem as klar (operational) but with the former’s typed entry struck through in blue pencil and initialled with the date ’25/4’. For 1800 hrs. (GMT+2) on the 24th, Lfl. 6 recorded a combined strength for ‘J.G. Baer’ and ‘J.G. 44’ of 41 (18) Me 262, 39 (29) pilots and 53 pupils as well as 5 (2) Fw 190 D-9 and D-11. As the next day’s figures were for ‘J.G. 44’ alone and no pupils were included, the implication is that III./EJG 2 no longer had any separate existence. On the 25th, Hptm. Bechtle, on the staff of Lfl. 6’s Operations Officer (Flying), filed a typewritten note about attacks on his airfields during the day. On the reverse are various remarks in blue pencil, including:

III./EJG 2 disbanded and ferried over to JV 44 → disbanded by order of OKL

Despite this, Lfl. 6’s Chief of Staff signalled Luftwaffenkommando West on the 26thl, demanding to know on whose authority III./EJG 2 had been disbanded and, if such instructions had been given before Lfl. 6 took over command, had OKL given its approval? Evidently Lfl. 6 was unaware of Kammhuber’s plan (see above). A list of Me 262s with JV 44 that day includes W.Nr. 111718 and 111748, described as ‘aircraft brought back from Lechfeld’ and W.Nr. 111899 from ‘Lechfeld-Messerschmidt’.

The evening of 26 April saw the US 12th Armored Division seize an intact bridge over the Wertach at Hiltenfingen. Next morning the 96th and 116th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons traversed the intervening 13 km to reconnoitre crossings of the Lech, taking Lechfeld aerodrome in the process and finding either ’40-50 ME 262's (approximately 20 in working condition)’.

At 2330 (GMT+2) that same evening, JV 44’s pilot roster included nine pilots from III./EJG 2, that Gruppe’s full complement of a few days before (see above):

This list is followed by a statement that, ‘Hitherto no pilots have been taken under command through requisition by JV 44’ which may perhaps indicate that those on strength from other units had arrived by less formal routes. Finally, ‘JV 44 did not take over any photographic Me 262s’.

The inference from all this is that once III./EJG 2 had quit Lechfeld ahead of the US Army, its aircraft and trained pilots were absorbed into JV 44 apparently on local initiative. While this was broadly what Gen. Kammhuber had proposed to the Quartermaster General, Lfl. 6 appears to have been unaware. It is noteworthy that the Gen.Qu. list of units disbanded in the period 10–24 April 1945 does not mention III./EJG 2 (I., II. and IV./EJG 2 were ordered to disband on 20 April) and nor is it included in any of the unit disposition lists compiled at the time of the German capitulation. In an “Overview of the Ergänzungs units of the Flying Formations” as of 23 April 1945, issued by the Luftwaffe’s Organisation Staff on 19 May, the elements of EJG 2 appear as follows:

Orders to disband these Gruppen (along with I. and III./KG(J) 54 and III./KG(J) 6) had gone out from Gen. Karl Koller to Lfl. Reich on the 15th with instructions that all serviceable aircraft and a like number of pilots should be incorporated into such units as remained. Orders of the 26th placed V./EJG 2’s aircraft and pilots at the disposal of IX. Flg.Kps., with its vehicles going to Luftgau VIII and remaining personnel to the Fallschirm Pz.Kps. Hermann Göring. On 29 April, Kammhuber made JV 44 made responsible with immediate effect for the ‘evacuation of Strahler a/c [jet aircraft], all spare parts as well as Strahler supplies from Riem. This all points to what was left of the high command losing track of III./EJG 2 sometime in late April and being unaware that it had been subsumed by JV 44, apparently on the initiative of officers on the spot.

As a postscript, the Askania-Werke, a manufacturer of precision optics and other instrumentation, was equally in the dark. As late as 30 April the company’s Herr Krüsmann signalled Lechfeld asking whether ‘Engineer Wemnicai’ (almost certainly a misspelling) was with the company Autobedarf Lechfeld or elsewhere. This was in connection with Adler, the EZ 42 gyroscopic gunsight, equipment fitted to at least one Me 262 of III./EJG 2, W.Nr. 170047, ‘White 1’, which ended the war at Innsbruck-Reichenau.

Click on the following images to enlarge them:

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