Men & Units. The story behind the pilots who flew the Me262

Die Schwalbe 2000 is a Stormbirds.com website.

Within this section, `Aces` will attempt to give an insight into the notable pilots who flew the 262, occasionally through the eyes of surviving pilots themselves. `Me262 Units`, will explain the roles of the various Staffel formed to either use the 262 in the combat role, or to evaluate the machine for other purposes. Firstly, below is a list of Luftwaffe ranks, with an equivalent US or RAF rank given. this is to aid the reader in understanding the rank of an individual pilot, highlighted within the Aces section.

Understanding Luftwaffe Rank

Here is a comparative list of Luftwaffe, USAAF and RAF ranks. Note however that some Luftwaffe ranks had no equivalent in Allied air forces. These have been given their approximate meaning in brackets, although such ranks didn't exist in Allied air forces.

While ranks are equivalent, in reality Luftwaffe ranks carried a far greater range of responsibility. Also, while officers of the RAF were given `acting` higher ranks when given commands of larger units, German pilots retained their previous rank, regardless of how large a unit they commanded. For more on that, see the GERMAN CHAIN OF COMMAND.

Luftwaffe	USAF	RAF
Flieger	Airman	Aircraftsman
Gefreiter	Lance-Corporal	Leading Aircraftsman
Obergefreiter (Senior Lance-Corporal)	n/a	n/a
Unteroffizier	Corporal	Corporal
Feldwebel	Sergeant	Sergeant
Oberfeldwebel	Technical Sergeant	Flight Sergeant
Stabsfeldwebel	Staff Sargeant	Warrant Officer
Fahnenjunker Feldwebel (Colour Sergeant)	n/a	n/a
Fahnrich (Officer Cadet)	n/a	n/a
Oberfahnrich (Senior Officer Cadet)	n/a	n/a
Leutnant	2nd Lieutenant	Pilot Officer
Oberleutnant	1st Lieutenant	Flying Officer
Hauptmann	Captain	Flight Lieutenant
Major	Major	Squadron Leader
Oberstleutnant	Lieutenant Colonel	Wing Commander
Oberst	Colonel	Group Captain

Where there is no corresponding rank, an approximation has been given in bold-green type.

Material by J. Hatch & E. Petrinic 1998/2000

HOME