"...From a slightly higher altitude Knacke unleased bursts of fire at the starboard wing, allowing the bullets to tear into the fuselage. The tail gunner was constantly correcting his aim, and when we opened up he could see us better. We had the advantage of speed though, and we quickly veered from his starboard to port side and dipped out of his line of sight. The Stirling began to burn, and pieces started to come off, swept along by the slipstream. We circled at a constant altitude and watched as the bomber plunged earthwards. At the point of impact there was an enormous explosion. I made a note of the time and the circumstances of the attack and based on information from ground control estimated the wreck's location. Ground control asked if we had seen any parachutes. We replied in the negative. But it wasn't always that easy. On average a night fighter had to mount two or three attacks. Often during the second or third attack we would take hits ourselves, which made us stand out from the other crews. Knacke was young, (b. 1919) very courageous but not crazy or foolhardy. In spite of that, he tended to get in too close to the enemy. I think he was afraid that he would miss, since I noticed more than once that he wasn't a particularly good marksman..."

 Ofw. Kurt Bundrock flew as Bordfunker (radio operator) with NJG 1 ace Hptm. Reinhold Knacke (44 night victories). On his death he left behind a 200 page unpublished manuscript of his experiences (some of the text appeared in an edition of Der Landser entitled Kampf am nächtlichen Himmel. These are the first  extracts in English from this account..

Lt. Reinhold Knacke (born 1-1-1919, KIA 3-2-1943) and Uffz. Kurt Bundrock (born 6-2-1917) formed a crew in 3. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 1 (ZG 1 - Hptm. Wolfgang Falck) just days before the German attack in the west in May 1940.

In June 1940, 2./ZG 1 and 3./ZG 1 formed the first Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. Bundrock was still flying with Knacke when the pilot registered his first nocturnal kill ( (2/3 May 1941) Other Bordfunker who flew with Knacke were Günther Heu, Erich Konarske and Helmut Fischer.

When 1./NJG 1 left Venlo to become the nucleus for the new III.NJG 4 (in May 1942), a new 1./NJG 1 was established in Venlo. In the mean time, Knacke had been promoted to Oberleutnant and he became Staffelkapitän of this new 1./NJG 1 and was Staffelkapitän when he died in February 1943.

On the last night of his life, Knacke flew a Messerschmitt Bf110 F-4 (W.Nr.4683, code G9+DK). Bundrock described how they were hit by defensive fire from a Halifax bomber, their last victim. With the cockpit ablaze, Bundrock scrambled to bail out but the pilot was found dead close to the wreckage, three kilometers east of Achterveld, a small village in the Netherlands. During the 1980's some parts of the wreckage were excavated and removed.

Bundrock's memoir was published in the late seventies in German in a Landser Grossband booklet. The text is notable for Bundrock's rather outspoken comments regarding his pilot's flying abilities.

 In this extract from his account Kampf am nächtlichten Himmel, Einsatzerlebnisse eines Ritterkreuzträgers der Nachtjagd, the fledgling Bordfunker describes his first operational posting, becoming acquainted with his new pilot and their first sorties over the Low Countries in May 1940

 ...We finally reached our new unit on the evening of 5 May. Once again we had to endure the usual military drill; roll-call, chow, quarters, before being able to hit the sack..The aerodrome at Kirchhellen was north of the Ruhr near Gladbeck. It was a large meadow bordered by woods and bushes. The dispersals of the individual Staffeln were concealed at the edge of the woods. It was impossible to detect who or what was hidden there. Our quarters were situated some ten minutes from the field in a clearing in a pine wood under huge green camouflage nets..

 .. On the following afternoon we assembled at our dispersal for a lesson in navigation theory. Oberleutnant Streib sat down twelve of us Bordfunker on the grass around a blackboard. His own Bordfunker Oberfeldwebel Weng stood alongside him . He was a chubby fellow, round and red-faced and his eyes constantly darted from side to side. He had a shock of ginger hair under his rather battered cap. A silver Spanish Cross gleamed on his tunic next to the ribbon of the Iron Cross Second class and the wound badge. I was told later that Weng had been forced to bail out over Poland, but before scrambling clear of the plane had dismantled the MG 15, stuffed some cartridge cases inside his belt and jumped with the machine gun under his arm. On landing he had then fought his way back through to our lines... As for Streib, he wore no decorations. You wouldn't have thought him the sporty type either. He walked with something of a stoop and his most prominent feature was a rather pronounced hook-nose . I got the impression though that he was totally unflappable..

.. I had yet to meet my own pilot, Lt. Knacke. He evidently had better things to do than seek me out or offer to take me up for a practise flight. I did however show my face among the ground crew responsible for looking after the machine assigned to us "2N+ C1" ..

"So you're flying with Knacke then ..?" queried Obergefreite Oswald, our first mechanic, looking at me with curiosity

"yes I am .."

" well, if I was you I'd sit down and write out your will right now...he took her up earlier today for a test flight. When he came back in he'd throttled right back and she just fell out of the sky. I thought, well I'll be blowed. He was a whisker away from crashing it..He just doesn't seem to have the feel of the engines. He snatches at the throttle instead of easing it back.."

As I later discovered for myself, Oswald was partially correct in his assessment of  Knacke's abilities. As for Knacke, he himself later pointed out to me, after I'd made one or two cautious comments following a training sortie..

" you know this machine is a combat aircraft. To be successful in combat you need to fly it to its limits. You don't pussy-foot around when you're a combat pilot.." *

Well that told me. But as far as I could judge he hadn't developed any feeling for the aircraft. Even though he seemingly spent more time in the air than on the ground and must have built up a wealth of experience, the rate he got through them was proof enough of that.... 

*      "..Mit weicher Fliegerei ist im Luftkampf nichts zu holen.."

(to be continued)