Hans Weik

Squadron leader and end of war

On 10 February 1944, Weik was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 10. Staffel of JG 3. He succeeded Oberleutnant Alfred Humer who had been killed in action.^[10] The Staffel was subordinated to IV. Gruppe of JG 3, at the time based at Venlo Airfield and placed under command of Major Friedrich-Karl Müller. On 19 February, Weik logged his first practice flight with IV. Gruppe.^[11] On 6 March, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent a force of 730 heavy bombers escorted by 800 fighters on mission to Berlin. At 11:37, IV. Gruppe took off from their airfield at Salzwedel and intercepted the bombers near Braunschweig. In a frontal attack, Weik claimed one of the B-17 bombers shot down. Shortly after, the Gruppe regrouped and flew a second frontal attack and Weik claimed his second B-17 bomber shot down that day.^[12][13]

On 15 April 1944, Generalmajor Adolf Galland, at the time the General der Jagdflieger (General of Fighters), visited IV. Gruppe of JG 3 at the airfield in Salzwedel. Galland announced that the IV. Gruppe would be converted to a Sturmgruppe (assault group), the first of such units, as a means to combat the bomber formations of the USAAF. Similar to the experimental Sturmstaffel 1 (1st Assault Squadron) of JG 3, the Gruppe was equipped with the heavily armored variant of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A series. Every pilot of the Gruppe was asked to sign a contract, declaring that they would commit themselves to pressing attacks on the bombers to point-blank range, and that aerial ramming should be considered. Three days later, Hauptmann Wilhelm Moritz was officially appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of the IV. Sturmgruppe of JG 3. He replaced Hauptmann Heinz Lang, who had temporarily led the Gruppe after its former commander, Major Friedrich-Karl Müller had been appointed Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) on 11 April.^[14][15][16] On 8 May, Weik claimed two Consolidated B-24 Liberator and a single B-17 bomber shot down. One of the B-24 bombers claimed was in fact an Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from its combat box which was counted as an aerial victory.^[17] For this, Weik was awarded the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold) two days later.^[18]

On 7 July, a force of 1,129 B-17 and B-24 bombers of the USAAF Eighth Air Force had set out from England to bomb aircraft factories in the Leipzig area and the synthetic oil plants at Boehlen, Leuna-Merseburg and Lützkendorf. This formation was intercepted by a German Gefechtsverband (combat formation) consisting of IV. Sturmgruppe of JG 3, led by Moritz, escorted by two Gruppen of Bf 109s from Jagdgeschwader 300 (JG 300—300th Fighter Wing) led by Major Walther Dahl. Dahl and Moritz drove the attack to point-blank range behind the Liberators of the 492d Bombardment Group before opening fire. 492d Bombardment Group was temporarily without fighter cover. Within about a minute the entire squadron of twelve B-24s had been annihilated. The Germans claimed 28 USAAF 2nd Air Division B-24 bombers that day and were credited with at least 21. The majority to the Sturmgruppe attack.^[19] This figure includes one B-24 bomber claimed shot down by Weik.^[20] In total, Luftwaffe pilots claimed the destruction of 60 bombers while actual losses were 28 bombers destroyed and further bombers returned with various levels of combat damage.^[21] The authors Prien, Stemmer and Bock state that the consolidated attack flown in close formation by the Sturmgruppe resulted in overclaiming of aerial victories caused by the confusing combat situation. During these attacks, multiple pilots may have simultaneously fired at the same bomber. It was therefore unclear who was responsible for the destruction of the bomber.^[22]

On 18 July, the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force sent approximately 500 B-17 and B-24 bombers to targets in southern Germany, northern Italy. Memmingen Airfield was targeted by over 200 bombers, escorted by North American P-51 Mustang and Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters. At 09:38, IV. Sturmgruppe of JG 3 was scrambled at Memmingen Airfield. A formation of B-17 bombers was intercepted over Lake Starnberg. In this encounter, Weik claimed one of the B-17 bombers shot down, but was also hit by the defensive fire and wounded.^[23][24] His Fw 190 A-8/R2 (Werknummer 680747—factory number) crashed near Kempten. Consequently command of 10. Staffel was briefly passed to Leutnant Walther Hagenah before Oberleutnant Tichy took command of the Staffel on 3 August.^[25] During his convalescence, Weik was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 27 July for 36 aerial victories claimed and promoted to Hauptmann (captain) on 1 September.^[26][18]

Following his convalescence in April 1945, Weik served with III. Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 2, also known as Erprobungskommando Lechfeld, a replacement training unit which flew the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter Lechfeld.^[18]

Aerial victory claims

According to Obermaier, Weik was credited with 36 aerial victories claimed in 85 combat missions, including 25 victories over the Western Front.^[1] Forsyth states that he was credited with 22 heavy bombers shot down, making him one of the leading fighter pilots against the heavy bombers.^[27] Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 34 aerial victories, plus two further unconfirmed claims. Of this figure, he claimed eleven aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 23 over the Western Allies, including 22 four-engined bombers.^[6]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 34 Ost 98344". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km²). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.^[28]

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class^[3]
• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 15 May 1944 as Leutnant and pilot^[37]
• German Cross in Gold on 10 May 1944 as Leutnant in the 10./Jagdgeschwader 3^[38]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 July 1944 as Leutnant and Staffelführer of the 10./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet"^[39][40]