Presentation Date: November 20, 1997
Willi Kreissmann
Luftwaffe Pilot: Air War in Russia & the Arado Bomber Luftwaffe Pilot: Air War in Russia & the Arado Bomber Wilhelm Kreissmann had wanted to be a history teacher. But in April, 1938, the fact that he was born and raised in Austria meant Willi would fight for Germany. Kreissmann had just turned 18 years of age, and was planning on studying history when he was sent to boot camp for the Luftwaffe. Kreissmann was the featured speaker at the Wing's November dinner.
Flying started in Bavaria, and in October, 1939 he began multi-engine training on the Baltic coast in the Dornier-17 and -23 and Ju-52. That training was extended to June of 1940, at which time he was told he'd become a bomber pilot. Willi recalls it was July, 1940 and navigational training with former Lufthansa pilots, without uniforms and wearing airline caps. By September of the year, Poland and Norway had fallen and Willi says he and his fellow pilots thought, "Well we are going to miss the war."
The Battle of Britain had nearly ended by the time Willi was finally called to the 4th Group of Kamphgeschwader 53, and that meant further training in what was the state-of-the-art bombing simulator. Carpeting was laid out on the floor of a large room, painted to represent the streets and docks of London. From a chair 50 feet above the carpet, Willi "piloted" a wheeled metal scaffolding over the countryside, peering thru a sight to drop the bomb payload - - a capsule which indicated a hit or a miss. "And that was my Battle of Britain experience," he laughs.
Next, towing targets for antiaircraft guns, Kreissmann reached a point where he really wanted to see action. In late 1941, he got his wish, with a transfer to
Berlin, flying an officer among the occupied countries. In his time off he was frequently treated to opera and the symphony when the officer could not attend. He was also able to fly to his home
village in a Bf-108.
Then, Willi was assigned to KG 53 for a refresher on bombers. While flying formation practice in March, 1942, Kreissmann's He-111 lost an engine below 300 feet on final
approach. Injuries he sustained in the crash delayed his appointment to the Russian Front by three months. As a pilot in the 4th Group of KG 53, Kreissmann flew in combat the first time on a
ground support mission in September, 1942, the kind of missions he calls "flying artillery".
Many of KG 53's missions were to bomb the railway to Moscow. It seemed as fast as the bombers hit the rails, the Soviets rebuilt them. The missions proved more perilous than they should have because the bombers always flew at the same time and the same 18,000 foot altitude - - making them regular targets for Soviet anti-aircraft batteries. On one of these missions an AA shell ripped through the He-111's port wing and then exploded on the dorsal cupola, beheading the radio operator/gunner. Flak was the biggest threat, beyond the deadly cold.
"We were never afraid of Russian fighters," he says, given the protection the bombers had from JG 54's "Green Hearts" with experten Trautloft, Phillips, and Nowotny in their Me-109s.
Late 1942 brought a Soviet counterattack which culminated in the surrounding of 300,000 men of the German Sixth Army. For the next three months bombers became supply ships for the trapped soldiers. Kreissmann says, "We flew so low...had very heavy losses... and we flew so low that our props were touching the ground and split up...but I came out of it."
Germany next launched Operation Zitadelle (Kursk) in June, 1943, and that meant multiple daily missions for KG 53. "We started on July 5th, five o'clock in the morning, the first mission," says Willi. The second sortie at 7 am Kreissmann was leading a kette (three bombers), in which the other two bombers dropped their payloads. "I was all of a sudden all by myself, and that's when disaster struck." Four Soviet Yaks attacked the He-111, shot up the port side of the bomber, leaving white fluid streaming from the wing. Willi says one crew member thought it might be coolant, but it was fuel. They were near the front but behind Soviet lines, so Kreissmann ordered the crew to open windows and remove their harnesses.
"Luckily enough it was summer. The Russian wheat was waist high. And here I bellied-landed the plane, it was like velvet...The plane exploded and the ammunition was shooting out. Then we heard the sound of an engine coming, and we looked through (the wheat) and saw the cross, and it was a (German) tank. And they saved us."
As a result of attrition, in the face of a Soviet counteroffensive, Kreissmann's squadron was pulled from the front. He found himself with four weeks leave, and then posted to KG-53's fourth group was located on the Loire River. While there he studied law and history and dated a young French woman.
When he returned to the front, he was assigned to night missions between Rumania and the Black Sea. After crashing on one nocturnal flight, Willi was found deficient of carotene, which is necessary for night-vision. In March, 1944 he was sent to Junkers in Bammberg to ferry aircraft to different bases - - at first Ju-88G-1s and G-6s, then Me-410s and Ju-188s. "At that time, '44, there was an unbelievable production of airplanes, which Albert Speer took over when Ernst Udet committed suicide. Despite all the bombing, there was a higher production of airplanes and weapons than anytime of the peacetime."
In November, 1944 his ferrying took a new twist. The Arado Ar-234 jet had become operational, and he was involved in delivering the twin engined bomber/recon planes. Kreissmann's logbook holds entries for his piloting 25 of the 200 Ar-234s built. He says he became most aware of the Luftwaffe's frailty when it came to fueling the aircraft. The jets were towed to the end of the runway and their engines were minimally warmed before take-off.
Kreissmann's final delivery was an Me 262 to Adolf Galland in Munich.
When the National Air and Space Museum recently announced the restoration of one of the captured Ar-234s, Willi was startled when he noted the serial number - - 140312 - - one of the 25 planes he'd ferried. The page of Willi's logbook registering that flight was copied for display at the museum.
When the armistice was signed in May, 1945 Willi Kreissmann became an Austrian again. Now Dr. Wilhelm Kreissmann, he has lived in the United States since 1964
and resides in the Bay Area.