Does anyone know of any publications, etc. which might contain a comprehensive gallery of Luftwaffe fighter aces?  I am particularly interested in finding a photo of Lt. Gerhard Loos who was, at one time, a pilot with 9/JG54.  He was KIA in March 1944.   Any leads greatly appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Al,
 
Photograph at attachment - extracted from http://germanwatch.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1165589395&page=1 - may be your Oblt. Gerhard Loos; 'obviously some doubt on the submitter's part but I pass the photograph on to you anyway in the for-whatever-it's-worth category. If you don't already have a photograph, it's a start anyway.

Several German ace websites listing Oblt, Loos are available on-line at the follwoing URLs; they may provide some leads.

www.acesofww2.com/germany/Germany.htm 

www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/8226/aces.htm
 
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-world-war-ii-aces-from-germany

Good luck in your search.

Andy

[image]local://upfiles/10103/2AB17860BD434BE7AEB4C9D0E4709D5E.jpg[/image]

Attached Image(s)

duplicate posting removed

Al,

    Toliver and Constable’s Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe lists Loos as a Lt. with JG54, with a total of 92 victories. It also shows he was awarded the Knight’s Cross. Unfortunately, the book is not indexed, so it’s difficult to say if there is anything else about him there without a little more thorough review.
    JG54, Aces of the Eastern Front, by Jerry Scutts, contains a brief account of his loss. Loos was shot down by Lt. John Howell of the 357th FG. Apparently, he was caught alone at low altitude. He was able to pull up to 2,000 feet and bail out, but, according to the Americans, his parachute harness came apart.
    A  passage in Aircraft of the Luftwaffe Fighter Aces II, by Bernd Barbas, reports that Loos’ parachute opened properly, but he was drifting into high tension wires, and “chose to open his parachute harness prematurely at about 20 meters and fell to his death.”
    In the latter book, there is a group photograph of Loos, Walter Nowotny, and others, taken shortly after Nowotny scored the 1st Staffel’s 300th victory.
    By the way, the Toliver and Constable book has a very large list of Luftwaffe aces. The authors note that it is a partial list, with “official estimates” indicating that there were over 5,000 pilots who had five or more victories.

Reed Hammans

Al - My Dad , John C. Howell shot down Gerhard Loos on March 6 , 1944
East of Bremen.  I have Dad's Gun Camera Film which
shows hits on the Me - 109 and Loos Bailing out.
Loos's Chute was damaged and he fell to his Death.
Gerhard Loos was in JG 54 " Greenhearts " and had 92 Victories.
Lt. John C. Howell 357th FG , 364th SQ. C5 - L " Shoo Shoo Baby''.
Mike

  

triplicate posting removed - what's going on here?

Mike,

That's amazing.  So that's where "shooshoobaby" comes from--your father's plane?

Reed

Reed - Yes , His B , C and D were all  C5 - L  named " Shoo Shoo Baby ". 
80+ Missions  3 Air Victories
Lt. Col. John C. Howell Ret.  30 Years , Senior Command Pilot.
WW II
Berlin Airlift - 2 tours
Korean War - 2 tours
Operation Deep Freeze - Antarctic
Project Ice Scate - Arctic
Operation Pinetree - Arctic
Congressional VIP Pilot
Viet Nam - VIP Pilot , Dog and Pony Shows
Cheers,
Mike
 

Thanks, Mike. I'm always astounded at the connections that get made on this board. Someone posts a question about a rather obscure Luftwaffe pilot, and the next thing you know, the son of the man who shot him down is supplying information, and even has gun camera footage.

Looks like your father had quite a distinguished career.  A great-uncle of mine, who flew with the 492nd and 466th, retired in 1950 and went to work for Flying Tiger Airlines. One of his early jobs was putting in the DEW line in the Arctic--flying C-46's off frozen lakes. I wouldn't be surprised if your father and he were in the same areas at about the same time.

Reed

Reed, Mike, Andy-  Thanks for the infomation.  My interest in Loos is that, after much research over the past several years, I believe he is the pilot who shot down the B-17 piloted by my father on 20 December 1943 at Bremen.  Thank you all again for the info.

Hi Al,
 
Amazing this forum, guess the circle is closed ! Can you please give us the details on your Dad?
 
Take care,
 
Paul

Associate member of the Awon
http://www.awon.org/
__________________

Fighters for Victory (357th FG)

Reed - We were in St. Johns  , Newfoundland 1955 - 58. Dad was Planning Officer for Project IceSkate.
Establishing Bases in the Arctic and then flying in Ski equipped A/C to see if it worked!
Mission Planner for the Rescue of Scientists when the Ice Station broke up. His Good Friend Buzz Commons
flew Mission Control and Good friend Joe Sullivan landed and got them out.
We then went to Westover and he flew DEW Line Support Missions and flew VIPS and Generals to
the Lodge at Goose Bay.
Mike

Al - Gerhard Loos may have Been on the Eastern Front at that time. There was another
LW Pilot named Walter Loos that flew Combat on Western Front.
A Suggestion - Here is a Forum with a Lot of Luftwaffe Historians / Experten that can
probably give you an Answer.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net
Go to Luftwaffe/Axis Forum
It is Free - you have to register
Mike

    Mike, thanks for the additional information on your father’s service.
    Al, Mike is probably correct that Gerhard Loos would have been on the Eastern front in late 1943.
    The Toliver and Constable book cited above lists Oberfeldwebel Walter Loos as having flown with JG3, JG300, and JG301. He had 38 confirmed victories, including 22 4-engine bombers.
JG3 was on the Western Front flying Defense of the Reich missions at the time in question.. W. Loos transferred from JG300 to 301 in about April, 1945, making him one of the few pilots who flew the Ta-152 operationally. I don’t think JG 300 would have been flying many daylight missions in late 1943, so if you can find someone on the suggested board that knows that unit well, you may very well find the answer to your question. My best guess is the Loos flew with II Gruppe, since they were returned from the Don/Kursk area in August, 1943, and then flew operationally over the Netherlands.
    There is a very nice portrait of Walter Loos on p.252 of Jagdgeschwader 301/302, “Wilde Sau”, by Willi Reschke. Another nice photo, complete with Knight’s Cross, is in Aircraft of the Luftwaffe Fighter Aces, Volume II, by Bernd Barbas. Given all the excellent web resources, one or both of these pictures is probably out there.

Reed

Al,
    Hold the presses. I ‘googled’ around a bit and ran across an Excel spreadsheet with JG54’s victory claims. There was a whole string of them under Gerhard Loos, all with the First Staffel and all on the Eastern Front. Then at the very end there was one with 9 Staffel, listed as a B-17, date 20.12.43, time 1204 hours. How ‘bout that?
    JG54 and JG26 started exchanging units in ’43, with the idea of swapping the two geschwardern on the Eastern and Canal fronts. (Reference:  JG26, Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, by Donald L. Caldwell.)  It really didn’t work out, but when the experiment was over, III/JG54 remained in Germany as an operationally independent unit. (III Gruppe was eventually redesignated IV/JG26). Nine Staffel would have been part of Third Gruppe. That explains how, when, as Mike and I thought, almost all of JG54 was on the Eastern Front, Gerhard Loos would have been in the West for his rendezvous with your father’s B-17.
    By the way, how did you figure out Gerhard Loos was probably the guy?

Reed

Reed and PJP51-  Some time ago I ran across the Luftwaffe Archives Group on the net.  A fellow named Andrew Arthy from Queensland, Australia gave me a list of Luftwaffe claims for German air units at Bremen on 20 December 43.  From the times and map coordinates on that list I determined that it could most likely be Gerhard Loos. 
 
My father was leading the second element in the 381st Bomb Group formation that day.  They were supposed to be the low squadron but, instead, due to the sloppiness of the formation that day, they were actually flying up with the high squadron.  They were hit by fighters just at the IP at about 1146, losing #2 engine, the radios, wounding several of the crew and began to lag.  They dropped on the target, were hit by flak, lost #3 engine and caught on fire.  Just after bombs away they were again hit by fighters, killing the left waist gunner.  They cut short the turn to the rally point and came back under the formation for about 30 seconds.     They were slipping further behind the formation so Dad put the plane in a slightly nose down left turn with the autopilot and eight of the crew jumped.  Everyone except the bombardier, navigator and turret gunner were wounded.  As the plane was circling down two fighters(Loos?) picked it up and continued firing  on it until it crashed in a field near a farmhouse at Albstedt, northwest of Bremen.  The copilot, severely wounded, was finally able to jump about a mile from the crash site but his chute failed to open.  He crashed head first through a line of trees near a dirt lane in the hamlet of Finna.  The tail gunner died later that afternoon from wounds.  The left waist gunner went in with the plane.  Total 3 KIA, 7 POW.  In 2001 my wife and I visited the crash site and talked with witnesses who saw the copilot jump, saw the plane crash and saw the waist gunner's body the next day.  Also, went to Sandbostel and saw the remains of Stalag XB where my father spent several months in the hospital before being shipped to South Compound, Stalag Luft 3.  A very profound experience.   Anyway, based on the times/coordinates, etc. I believe that Loos is most likely the pilot.  I never cease to be amazed at the resources available through this forum.  Thanks again.  Regards.  Al Crosson

Mike- Is there any way one might get a copy of your father's gun camera footage of Loos' shootdown?

Hello Al,
I would be surprised if you didn't already know this, but there was a Ltn. Maetzke that had a B-17 credit also on that day. His was Bremen 8.000 m  12:20 and Loos' credit was DS: 8.500 m. (Bremen area) 12:04.  I'm not sure where your dad's plane was hit in relation to the credits I just listed. 
 
This is according to Tony Woods Claims and Casualties list of the Luftwaffe.
 
-Brian
 

Grandson of:
T/SGT William Aguiar
384th 544th
B-17 42-30031 (the Bad Penny)

Al,

Mark Spick' Luftwaffe Fighter Aces, gives the following statistics:

Gerhard Loos, Oberleutnant
JG54
Victory tally: 92 (78 Eastern Front, 14 Western Front inclusive of No.2 4 engine bombers)
Combat debut on Eastern Front late 1942
KIA Oldenburg March 6, 1944 (Oldenburg is somewhere east of Bremen as shooshoobaby said)
G. Loss shot down only 2 confirmed four engine bombers; the search is limited.
 
These are the victories of JG54 recorded on December 20, 1943 with the time/altitude they occurred:
 
20.12.43
Ltn. Gerhard Loos
9./JG 54
B-17
DS: 8.500 m. [Bremen area]
 
20.12.43
Uffz. Horst Sack
8./JG 54
P-47
DS: 4.000 m. [Bremen area]
12.05

20.12.43
Ltn. Alfred Kromer
9./JG 54
B-17
W. Oldheide: 7.500 m.
12.25

20.12.43
Fw. Gustav Wrobbel
9./JG 54
P-51
N.W. Varel: 5.700 m.
12.28

20.12.43
Ltn. Hüsing
7./JG 54
B-17
Insel Juist: 8.700 m.
12.35

There are only two kills in the Bremen area; one is a P47 Thunderbolt and only one is a B17.

For the record if Al's father B17 was shot-down on 20 December 1943 at Bremen it couldnt have been Walter Loss as his brief biography states he was still training.
Walter Loos was born on 11 April 1923 at Oppenheim in Rheinhessen. Following flying training he was sent to III./JG 3 in January 1944. He claimed his first aerial victory in the big aerial battle over Berlin on 6 March 1944 claiming a USAAF B-17.

Paolo

number one it is is not Walter Loos, and his final tally of claims has not been confirmed in fact it has been reduced greatly.

As for Gerhard it is still not proven the B-17 was his claim but what our Italien friend has expressed it could of been one of his staffel mates or a pilot of his III. gruppe.  III./JG 54 was one of the premier Reich defence units durong late 43 early 1944 equipped with the Bf 109G-6 and they were equipped with one underwing 20mm cannon for bomber hunting when on the task of high escort the underwing 20mm gun pods were removed.  Some pretty big tallies were asscociated with III. gruppe esepcially in the Normandie conflict where the greuppe was the highest socring LW unit, many of the pilots were high ranking aces and fell during this time of the war, later absorbed in to JG 26 flying the Fw 190D-9 and other variants.
during the March 44 time period the 109's had undernose yellow engine cowlings and a wide blue band on the fuselage for ID.  In the heavier bomber role with the underwing coannons they were no match for the more nimble P-51B's

Erich ~

Nur die jenigen, die man vergisst, sind wirklich tot