Priller
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Priller
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Membre
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Dernière connexion :
19/07/2021 à 18:06:19
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Biographie
Josef "Pips" Priller (27 July 1915 - 20 May 1961)
JG 26 Kommodore
Having done all he could, Priller and his wingman, Uffz. Heinz Wodarczyk, headed for their Focke-Wulfs, which as usual were parked just outside the command post. The first Luftwaffe response to the invasion was underway.
The pair took off into the gray skies at 0800. Priller's only orders to Wodarczyk were to stick close. They headed west at low altitude, spotting Spitfires above them as far east as Abbeville. Near Le Havre the duo climbed into the solide cloud bank. When they emerged, the ships of the largest assault landing in history were spread before their eyes. After a shouted "Good luck!" to Wodarczyk, Priller dived for the beach at 650 kilometers per hour. The British soldiers on Sword, the easternmost of the five landing beaches, jumped for cover as the two fighters roared overhead at fifty feet, their machine guns and cannon clattering. The fleet's antiaircraft guns opened fire with every gun that could track them, but the Focke-Wulfs flew through the barrage unscathed. After traversing the beach, the two pilots climbed for the clouds, honor satisfied.
- June 1944
From 1940 - 1944, Oberst Josef “Pips” Priller flew over 1300 combat missions with the German Luftwaffe, scoring a combat career of 101 victories. Each of these victories was recorded over the Western Front - arguably the more challenging front of the European Theater. Naming his many aircraft “Jutta” - after his wife, he was one of the first Luftwaffe Experten to fly the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and even claimed a victory while conducting an early test flight. Of his 101 combat victories, 68 of them were against the venerable Supermarine Spitfire, in which he became the leading ace to claim the type.
JG 26 Kommodore
Having done all he could, Priller and his wingman, Uffz. Heinz Wodarczyk, headed for their Focke-Wulfs, which as usual were parked just outside the command post. The first Luftwaffe response to the invasion was underway.
The pair took off into the gray skies at 0800. Priller's only orders to Wodarczyk were to stick close. They headed west at low altitude, spotting Spitfires above them as far east as Abbeville. Near Le Havre the duo climbed into the solide cloud bank. When they emerged, the ships of the largest assault landing in history were spread before their eyes. After a shouted "Good luck!" to Wodarczyk, Priller dived for the beach at 650 kilometers per hour. The British soldiers on Sword, the easternmost of the five landing beaches, jumped for cover as the two fighters roared overhead at fifty feet, their machine guns and cannon clattering. The fleet's antiaircraft guns opened fire with every gun that could track them, but the Focke-Wulfs flew through the barrage unscathed. After traversing the beach, the two pilots climbed for the clouds, honor satisfied.
- June 1944
From 1940 - 1944, Oberst Josef “Pips” Priller flew over 1300 combat missions with the German Luftwaffe, scoring a combat career of 101 victories. Each of these victories was recorded over the Western Front - arguably the more challenging front of the European Theater. Naming his many aircraft “Jutta” - after his wife, he was one of the first Luftwaffe Experten to fly the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and even claimed a victory while conducting an early test flight. Of his 101 combat victories, 68 of them were against the venerable Supermarine Spitfire, in which he became the leading ace to claim the type.
