Don't Miss Any Special Deals - Sign Up To Our Newsletter! Aircraft Search Signature Search Squadron Search Tank Search SEE THIS MONTH'S SPECIAL OFFERS Product Search

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL NICOLAS TRUDGIAN PRINTS BY TITLE

ALWAYS GREAT OFFERS : 20% FURTHER PRICE REDUCTIONS ON HUNDREDS OF LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS BUY ONE GET ONE HALF PRICE ON THOUSANDS OF PAINTINGS AND PRINTS FOR MORE OFFERS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER

Oberfeldwebel Rony Lauer

Rony Lauer joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 but was still in pilot training at the start of the war. In 1942 he was posted to join KG30, flying the JU-88 on operations over England and later in the Mediteranean theater. In June, 1944, he transferred to 1./KG51 for training on the ME-262 and flew in in combat a few months later. Rony flew one of the lead aircraft in the attack on the Bridge at Remagen, and flew the 262 until the end of the war. Rony Lauer was witness to the first recorded Allied destruction of a Me262, belonging to the unit known as Kommando Schenk, on 28th August 1944, claimed as destroyed by 78th FG pilots Major Joseph Myers and Second Lieutenant Manford O. Croy flying P-47 Thunderbolts. On August 28th 1944, General William Kepner's men came up against Oberfeldwebel Hieronymus 'Rony' Lauer, a straightforward, clean-cut young man who exuded quiet confidence and seemed incapable of being afraid. He had been living on the edge longer than any of the Americans who were fighting Hitler's jets. Lauer joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 and was in pilot training at the start of the war, in those early days when the Luftwaffe could afford the time for the same kind of rigorous training program that was typical of the Americans. That luxury would vanish, though, and Lauer would eventually find himself fighting alongside men with relatively little experience. With an initial assignment similar to that of his fellow pilot Hans Busch, Lauer flew the twin-prop Junkers Ju 88 in the Mediterranean theater. In 1944, he was transferred to unit 1/KG51 for training on the Me 262 and flew in combat a few months later. He appeared to have a natural feel for the jet aircraft and to be stoic about its flaws. Lauer was to achieve several firsts as a jet pilot and one was becoming the first Me 62 pilot claimed as an aerial victory by the Allies. It happened when Major Joseph Myers led the Surtax Blue Flight of P-47 Thunderbolts of the 82nd Fighter Squadron, 78th Fighter Group, on a fighter sweep at eleven thousand feet near Termonde, Belgium. At 7:15 p.m., Myers saw what he thought was a B-26 Marauder going south very fast and very low. He dove at forty-five degrees registering 450 miles per hour and got right above the aircraft at five thousand feet, observing that it was painted slate blue with no markings. The plane began doing ninety-degree-wide evasive turns, apparently demonstrating in the process what many pilots would conclude later - that it could not turn inside a P-47. Myers cut him off and closed in to within eight hundred yards. That is when Myers remembered that intelligence officers had shown him recognition plats of a new aircraft called the Me 262. The pilot: Rony Lauer. Lauer's guns weren't even loaded. He was ferrying the Me262 on a transfer from Juvincourt, near Reims, France, to Chievres, Belgium. Myers and 2nd Lt. Manford O. Croy Jr. latched on and chased Lauer. As Myers held his thumb over the firing switch, Lauer slowed down and crashed in a plowed field. Myers started shooting as the Me262 touched the ground and continued pumping bursts into it at close quarters, getting hits in the cockpit and both engines. The Me262 skidded across a field, on fire. Lauer leaped out and ran. By then Croy was opening up with his eight .50-caliber guns, and the after-action report indicated that Croy hit the pilot as he ran from the jet. In fact, Lauer was never touched. Myers and Croy are each credited with one-half of an air-to-air victory, officially the first American kill of a jet. Lauer wasn't finished being shot down - it would happen again - but at the very time Allied armies were making a breakout in France, there was a lull in engagements. Rony Lauer died in 2002.