                                    Written by Santiago A. Flores 
  
  

On April 7th, 1945, elements of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Air Divisions of 
the 8th Air Force bomber command with their escorts flew across the European continent to bomb their assigned targets in Germany, as the formation of Boeing B-17s and Consolidated B-24s were heading towards their targets, allied radio listening posts were picking up the instructions that were being issue to 
the German fighters,that were taking off to intercept the attacking force.  

What they heard was the voice of a German woman, telling the German 
fighter pilots to engage and destroy the much hated Viermot (four-engine bombers), that had brought death and destruction to the Fatherland, and to avenge the death of their love ones, by ramming into the incoming bombers !!!  

What the allies were listening to, were the instructions that were being 
given to about 120 BF-109Gs and Ks of Schulungslehrgang Elbe(training Course Elbe), a volunteer unit formed from inexperience volunteer fighter pilots, under the command of Oberst. Hajo Herrman (An ex-bomber pilot, who later flew as a night fighter pilot, the creator of the Wilde Sau method of night fighting and current commander of 9 Fliegerdivision, with 9 allied bombers to 
his credit, he would later be captured by the Soviets and held Prisioner 
of war, for about ten years).  

His plan was to launch these light weight fighter, unarmored, virtually 
unarmed, with only one MG 131 with 50 rounds in the cowling, with the objective of ramming into a US bomber, using their propellers to hit the tail of the bomber, and hopefully the German pilot would bail out and return to base.  

Oberst Hermann plan was to inflict a massive number of losses on the 
bomber formations, to cause the allies to suspend temporary daylight bombing, so the Luftwaffe could bring in more Me-262s jet fighters into service.  

A majority of the German pilots were inexperience, that groups were led 
by experience pilots, to help guide them towards the bomber formations, while the Me-262s would take care of the escorting fighters.  

By the end of the day, about 53 Elbe aircraft had been shot-down by 
the defending fighter escorts, with the death of about 30 to 40 pilots. (Other sources put the death toll to 77 German pilots). In return about 13 bombers were reported loss to ramming attacks while three more were lost to Me-262s and one to flak. (While the German people were told in the army bulletins that 
64 bombers, had been brought down by ramming!!)  

The only losses suffered by the defending fighters were 5 North American 
P-51 Mustangs, three 
to friendly fire (One pilot being killed and two taken POW), plus two 
more lost in reported bad 
weather near Bremen, with both pilots being killed, while German sources 
claim that three 
P-51s, were shot-down by German fighters.  

The most notable Elbe  pilot was Unteroffizer Heinrich Rosner of 
III/JG.102, who brought 
down two B-24s of the 389th Bomb Group, he rammed the B-24 flown by the 
group commander 
Colonel John B. Herboth, this collided with the B-24 flown by the deputy 
group commander, as 
both bombers went down, Rosner managed to bail out, we he woke up, he 
had landed among 
farm buildings and after receiving medical aid he returned to Stendal, 
one of the 29 pilots of the 
operations participants>  
  

Transfer interrupted! 

s lay Dead or Wounded in hospitals in Northern Germany. 

In return the American fighter pilots claimed the destruction of 58 
German aircraft shot-down 5 
probables and 11 damaged, among the top scorers was a certain 1st 
Lieutenant of possible 
Hispanic heritage that would become the only Ace for his fighter 
squadron on that particular 
day against the Elbe group, and who came close to be an Ace in a Day.  

This honor fell upon 1st Lieutenant Richard Gomez Candelaria of the 
435th Fighter Squadron of 
the 479th Fighter Group, who would claim four BF-109s and one Me-262 
probable.  
  

                               THE TOP SCORER 

Candelaria, was born on July 14th, 1922 in Pasadena, California, he 
joined the U.S. Army 
Reserves, and was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. and received his wings on 
February 8th, 1944 at 
Williams Field, Arizona, he joined the 479th Fighter Group on September 
22nd, 1944.  

This particular fighter group, was assigned to the 8th Air Force since 
its arrival in May 1944 in 
Scotland, the unit initially flew the Lockheed P-38J twin-engine 
fighter, the group was assigned 
to the 65th Fighter Wing and was the last fighter group to be assigned 
to the VIII Fighter 
Command.  

They would be assigned to the 2nd Bomb Division, and finally to the 2nd 
Air Division with the 
65th Fighter Wings in January 1945.  

The 479th made its first operational mission on May 26th, 1944 with two 
fighter sweeps along 
the Dutch coast, while flying the Lockheed P-38J Lightnings from May to 
October 1944 the 479th 
would claim 52-2-13 German aircraft in the air and 102 destroyed and 66 
damaged on the 
ground.  

With the arrival of the North American P-51Ds and Ks, its reported 
that Lt. Candelaria was 
assigned a P-51K squadron code J2-K, s/n.44-11755, which was named My 
Pride And Joy, 
his crew chief was T/Sgt. Leslie A. Mullen and the armourer was Sgt. 
Morris Gohring.  

Lt. Candelaria opened his scorecard on December 5th, 1944 on a mission 
to support the bombers 
to hit targets in the Berlin and Munster area, a total of 89-13-20 where 
claimed in the air with 2 
damaged aircraft on the ground.  

While US losses were 18 P-51s with 10 pilots listed as KIA and 8 taken 
POW (10 P-51s were 
lost to enemy fighters and 1 to ground fire). On that day Lt. Candelaria 
shot-down 2 FW-190s, 
about NW of Berlin. While his squadron, the 435th shot-down 3 more 
German aircraft, 1 
damaged and one damaged Me-262 on the ground.  

On March 3rd, 1945, Lt. Candelaria with Lt. B.C. Means attacked German 
aircraft on the ground 
at Dummer Lake. Candelaria claimed 3 BF-109s damaged on the ground, 
while Lt. Means 
claimed a BF-109 destroyed on the ground.  

But his big day would be on April 7th while protecting the bombers from 
Schulungslehrgang 
Elbe , while other sources claim was Sonderkommando Elbe.  
  

                  I HAVE A BUNCH OF GERMANS CORNERED! 

This statement is reportedly what Lt. Candelaria radioed to his squadron 
mates on that particular 
day as noted in the book: The Last flight of the Luftwaffe by Adrian 
Weir:  

..one of the 435th FS pilots searched the sky around him for signs of 
contrails. Already 
feeling alone 1st Lieutenant Richard G. Candelaria had lost contact with 
the rest of his flight 
and on reaching the rendezvous with the bombers had decided to attach 
himself to the low 
squadron of Liberators. Finding no signs of the German fighters, 
Candelaria held his 
position and held on his tanks. Little did he know that he was about to 
experience a day to 
remember.  

While other elements from his squadron were engaging a rotten of 
Me-262s in which a jet 
fighter was shot-down by Capt. Verner E. Hooker. Candelaria would be in 
the fight of his life.  

From his position alongside the lower bombers, Lieutenant Candelaria 
was at last alerted to 
the presence of the jets when the bombers began to fire flares as a 
general warning to the rest 
of the group.  

Spotting a pair of Me-262s which had started to climb back towards the 
bombers, he turned 
towards the jets, facing the leading aircraft head-on. Hoping to divert 
the jets from their 
approach, Candelaria must have began to have doubts as to the wisdom of 
his move as the 
rotten made no attempt to alter its course.  

With only fractions of a second separating the fighters from a 
collision, the Me-262 pushed 
his aircraft into a shallow dive beneath the Mustang. In a very unusual 
move, Lieutenant 
Candelaria tried to drop his tanks on to the jet below, them half-rolled 
his fighter into a 
position on its tail just as the German pilot opened fire on the 
bombers.  

With the drop tanks tactic having no effect, Candelaria opted for his 
more conventional 
armament and let loose a burst which scored direct hits on both fuselage 
and wings.  

With the fighter still in his sights, his concentration was broken by 
the sight of streams of red 
and white tracers, the size of golf balls flashing past him.  

At that moment the second Me-262 was right behind him and firing on him, 
before he could free 
himself from the danger, he receive hits on his aircraft right wing, 
luckly the damage was not 
serious.  

At the same time the leading jet broke to the left and entered a 
half-roll which became a 
steep dive with smoke trailing behind. Hoping to catch the second jet 
Candelaria attempted to 
haul his fighter into a turn, but the jet was diving at high speed, 
perhaps in a attempt to assist 
his crippled Kamerad.  

Candelaria was later given a probable Me-262 destroyed, it appeared 
later that the jets were 
being used to draw away the escort fighters away from the bombers, so 
that the Elbe pilots 
would commence their attack runs, with no problems from the escorting 
P-51s.  
  

At that particular moment the 434th Fighter Squadron received the 
warnings from a lone pilot 
who had spotted a formation of about 15 BF-109s heading directly 
towards the bombers, as the 
pilots of the 434th immediately headed at full speed to assist the lone 
pilot, that had given the 
warning, that pilot Lt. Candelaria was preparing to meet the attack.  

The enemy formation consisted of three four aircraft flights lead by a 
experience leader, 
Candelaria decided to attack the nearest flight leader, but this tuned 
out to be a very competent 
German fighter pilot.  

Candelaria tried to put himself in the best firing position, as he 
followed after the the flight 
leader BF-109, he noted that the rest of the flight did not attemped to 
fire on him or even the 
bombers they simply followed the leader, as he made several passes on 
the bomber, which he 
shot-down one of the bombers.  

Its guessed that the flight was formed from pilots of the Elbe: group 
but probably lead by pilots 
from JG 300 and JG 301, and the aircraft that Candelaria was following 
had enough 
conventional ammunition to carry out a conventional attack on the bomber 
formation and flown 
by a experience pilot, but he failed to notice the P-51 that was right 
behind him as he was firing 
on the bombers even rolling his fighter.  

With mounting frustation Candelaria chased after the BF-109 and for a 
split moment found 
him in his sights. The luck of the Luftwaffe pilot had finally run out: 
the brief burst of fire 
struck his fighter. Perhaps in order to escape the confines of the 
bomber stream to 
concentrate on the annoying American.  

The BF-109 broke away from the B-24s with his formation remaining in 
close contact. None 
of the other BF-109s made any attempt to intercept the P-51, which 
reinforces the belief that 
they were very inexperienced in the techniques of aerial combat.  

The leading BF-109 now aware that the Mustang on his tail was out for 
blood, would have 
to fend for himself and eliminate the danger by his own skills. However 
with a number of 
aircraft in close proximity he selected the wrong direction to attempt a 
roll and the battery of 
Browning machine guns being aimed at him unleashed a burst of hot metal 
which ripped into 
the Messerschmitt.  

With a trail of smoke and coolant erupting from the BF-109, panic 
erupted amongst the now 
Leaderless Schwarn. Breaking their formation, they belatedly attempted 
to discourage 
Lieutenant Candelaria but the damage had already been done and the 
leading BF-109 
continued to lose altitude until the pilot jumped free at about 2,000 
ft.  

The leaderless flight formation tried to hit or chase away Candelaria, 
that a second Schwarn 
leader arrived to assist them, but the German pilot misjudge his speed 
and overshot the Mustang, 
which put him in the center of Candelarias K-14 gun sight, Candelaria 
opened fire after firing a 
short burst, the German pilot cut his speed that the two fighter found 
themselves flying side by 
side. Candelaria looked over to the BF-109 and saw the German pilot 
bailed out.  

Now with two Schwarn with no flight leaders, there was now confusion 
with the German 
fighters, now the subject of attention of many BF-109s Candelaria 
continued to fight it out.  

Able to out-turn his pursuers, he again opened fire and almost 
instantly a third BF-109 
stalled out and the pilot jumped free. A fourth BF-109 followed only 
seconds later as the pilot 
lost control of his fighter attempting to follow the Mustang. This 
Luftwaffe pilot was trapped 
in his wildly spinning machine as it crashed to earth.  

As Candelaria claimed this fourth BF-109, his fifth victim of the day, 
help finally arrived as 
other P-51s reached the bombers. The first pilots to arrived included 
1st Lieutenant Charles 
Heathman and William Barksky who were both in position to observe the 
final moments of 
Candelarias combat and confirm the burning wreckage of four BF-109s 
all within a radius 
of less than five miles.  

This combat is reported to have taken place between 1225 to 1230 hours.  

After his hectic aerial combat, Candelaria decide not to risked it and 
stayed with this Group of 
pilots for the remainder of the mission, later in his after combat 
report he credits the arrival of 
these P-51s that saved him for the surviving Bf-109s.  

For this particular mission Lt. Candelaria achieved the status of Ace 
with a score of six 
German aircraft destroyed plus one probable, while the rest of the 435th 
fighter Squadron put in 
claims for one Bf-109 and one Me-262 shot down by Capt. V. E. Hooker, 
while the rest of the 
479th claimed 4 more Bf-109s plus one Me-262 shot down plus one more 
damaged.  

But on April 13th 1945 the Germans got even with Lt. Candelaria, while 
straffing a German 
airfield South of Tarnewitz , he was shot-down by ground fire, while 
flying his P-51K My 
Pride and Joy as reported by Capt. Theo J. Sowrby of the 435th fighter 
squadron:  

I was leading lakeside on a dive straffing pass on Tarnewitz airfield 
at 1630 hours on the 
13th of April. On pulling up after the first run Lt. Candelaria called 
me on the radio and 
asked if he could make another pass as he had something spotted. I OK 
and he started a 
shallow dive 30 degress from the bay in toward the airfield. We picked 
up a lot of flack and 
soon called on the radio that he had been hit and had no oil pressure 
and asked for the best 
steer for friendly territory. I told him to fly 200 degrees which he did 
for about five (5) 
minutes. He them called and said his ship was pretty hot and guessed he 
would have to bail 
out. This was right near the town of Wittenburg. He bailed out O.K. and 
on reaching the 
ground ran into some near by woods. There was no traffic or persons seen 
near by. His plane 
exploded in the woods some ways to the North of where he landed in his 
chute. I think that 
Lieut. Candelaria had made good chance to escape.  

But Lt. Candelaria was captured and reportedly taken to a POW camp. But 
other sources say that 
he and a RAF aircrew man managed to escape by taking a German Officer 
hostage and driving 
his staff car westward, reaching an approaching British armor unit.  

After the war is reported that Candelaria became a restaurant owner in 
California, serving better 
food that the he had at the POW camp and served in the Air National 
Guard, reaching the rank of 
Colonel. He is reported to be living in California.  
  

                               APPENDIX NO.1  

      KNOWN SUCCESFULL SCHULUNGESLEHRGANG ELBE PILOTS 

Rank and Name Former Unit e/a Unit Status  
------------------------------------------------  

Uffz. Heinrich Rosner. (ex-III/JG.102). 2 B-24 389thBG. Survive.  
Obfw. Werner Linder. (ex-EJG.1). 1 B-17 388th BG KIA  
Fhr.Eberhard Prock 1 B-17 452nd BG KIA Shot-while descending in his 
parachute.  
Fw.Reinhold Hedwig 1 B-17 452nd BG. KIA  
Shot-down by 339FG P-51s.  
Uffz.Werner Zell 1 B-17 452nd BG WIA Shot-down by P-51s.  
Ogfr.Horst Siedel 1 B-17 452nd BG KIA  
Lt. Hans Nagel (ex-IV/JG.102) 1 B-17 490th BG KIA Shot it down by 
conventional armament, 
damaged a second B-17 by ramming .  
Uffz. Klaus Haus 1 B-17 WIA  
Unknown BF-109 pilot 1 B-17 100th BG KIA  
Unknown BF-109 pilot 1 B-17 490th BG KIA  

           KNOWN AMERICAN BOMBER LOSSES BY RAMMING. 

3RD AIR DIVISION  
388TH BG 2 Ramming attack  
452nd BG 1 Ramming attack + 3 to fighter attack.  
100th BG 1 Ramming attack + 1 Rammed damaged RTB.  
385th BG 1 Ramming attack  
490th BG 1 Ramming attack + 1 landed in Continent  
487th BG 1 Ramming attack damaged landed in Belguim.  

2ND AIR DIVISION  
389th BG 1 Ramming attack  

Total Bomber Losses:  
2AD: 3 B-24s  
3AD: 14 B-17s  

Minus one to Flak, one to accidental bombing and 3 to Me-262 jet 
fighters, its is calculated that 
13 bombers were destroyed by Elbe Pilots.  
  

                               APPENDIX NO.2  

 VICTORIES CLAIMED BY THE 479TH FIGHTER GROUP ON APRIL 7TH 1945 

Rank & Name Claims Location  
-----------------------------------  

434TH Fighter Squadron:  

Maj. Robert Olds 1 BF-109 +1 Me-262 Damaged Dummer L-Bremen  
Lt. G.E. Jacobson 1 BF-109 Celle  
Lt. R.L. Munson 1 BF-109 Celle  
Lt. J.K. Nagel 1 BF-109 Soltau  
Lt. H.O. Thompson 1 Me-262 Luneburg  

435th Fighter Squadron:  

Lt. R.G. Candelaria 4 BF-109 + 1 Me-262 probable SW Luneburg  
Capt. V.E. Hooker 1 BF-109 + 1 Me-262 SE Bremen  
  

                               APPENDIX NO.3  

    SHORT HISTORY OF THE 479TH FIGHTER GROUP Riddles Raiders 

The 479th Fighter Group was activated on October 15,1943 at Glendale, 
California, with the 
434th, 435th, and 436th Fighter Squadrons, after arriving in the ETO the 
479th, flew the Lockheed 
P-38Js Lightning twin engine fighters and later the North American 
P-51D and K models from 
September 1944 to the end of the war. With the P-51s the group claimed 
103-11-26 in the air 
and 166 destroyed and 95 damaged enemy aircraft on the ground plus 
flying a total of 351 
combat missions.  

On the debit side the 479th suffered 77 aircraft lost and 16 pilots 
killed during the war. This unit 
received the Distinguish Unit Citation for its actions while strafing 
enemy airfields on August 
18th, and 5th and 26th September, and air combat near Munster September 
26th 1944. Other 
Claims to fame accredited to the group was the last FG to Join the 8th 
Air Force, the first unit to 
fight enemy jet fighters, on 29 July 1944, when Capt. Arthur F. Jeffery 
shot-down a Me-163 
Komet jet fighter.  

The 479th also claimed the last air to air victory claimed by the 8th 
Air Force, during the war, 
when Lt. Hilton Thompson of the 434th FS shot-down an Ar-234 jet bomber 
on April 25th, 1945.  

After the end of the war the 479th, returned to the USA and was 
inactivated at Camp Kilmer New 
Jersey on December 1st 1945.  

                           479th Fighter Group Aces 

Lt. Col. Arthur F. Jeffrey 434th FS 14 aerial victories  
Maj. Robin Olds 434th FS 13 aerial and 11 ground victories  
Capt. George W. Gleason 434th FS 12 aerial and 2.5 ground victories  
Lt. Richard G. Candelaria 435th FS 6 aerial victories  
  
