(with thanks to Michel Ledet, editor of Avions)

     As the Kampfgeschwader were gradually disbanded through 1944 a number of Luftwaffe ex-bomber pilots went on to become successful fighter pilots. Perhaps one of the best known was Gerhard Stamp who won the Knights Cross as a Ju 88 pilot with LG 1 before going on to lead I./JG 300 through the summer of 1944. However vey little has been written about another successful bomber pilot and LG 1 Ritterkreuzträger who was to claim a number of aerial victories after transitioning onto the Me 262 fighter in 1945; Oberfeldwebel  Franz Gapp. Born in Erbach near Ulm in 1919 into a large family (six children) of modest means,  Gapp was to count future ace pilot Anton Hafner among his schol pals and had an uncle who held a private pilots license.  A member of the Flieger-HJ, Gapp joined the nascent Luftwaffe in early 1937 after his Reicharbeitdienst and became a gunner/radio operator on Ju87s with  I./Stuka 165 at Kitzingen. He started basic pilot training in November 1938 at the FFS /AB Straubing and passed out on multi-engined aircraft at Zeltweg ; " on 18 February 1940 I was shifted to the bomber training school at Thorn where I flew the Do17, He 111, Ju 52 and Ju 86. My crew consisted of Alfons Ehrne (observer), Hans Heckman (radio operator) and Georg Schüler (gunner). We were to fly together until mid-1944 ". During 1940 Gapp passed his Blindflugscheine and flew the Ju88 for the first time with IV./LG1 at Greifswald. "..It was here that I met my future wife. As she was a civilian employee at the Air Ministry in Berlin we were always able to stay in contact during my many operational postings, whether I was in Africa, Sicily or the Crimea. A simple phone call to the Air Ministry would usually find her at her post.."

Gapp's crew was finally ready for their initial combat deployment during February 1941 and took charge of Ju 88 GN+OZ at München-Riem on Feb 14 , ferrying the aircraft directly to Sicily. There they were assigned to 8./LG 1, a Staffel led by the young Oblt. Hermann Hogeback. After two or three acclimatisation flights the new crew were deployed on anti-submarine duties during March and April 1941.

Gapp's crew  flew bombing strikes in LI+GS against Sarajevo and Kotor on 7 April 1941, during Operation Marita, the invasion of the Balkans, which had been launched the previous day. On 17 April Gapp flew his first anti-shipping strike in the Med against a Royal Navy convoy heading for Africa. These duties, along with raids on Malta, were to become the principal mission of Lehrgeschwader 1. On 18 April  III./LG 1 was shifted to Africa (Benina then Derna) under the Fliegerführer Afrika  to mount strikes on Tobruk. Gapp flew an important strike on 13 May 1941 attacking a convoy comprising battleships and destroyers including HMS Orion, Ajax and Perth. On 21 August 1941 III./LG 1 including Gapp at the controls of LI+GS sunk the torpedo boat Nizam off Mersa Matruh; " during the summer of 1941 we were often escorted into action by the Bf 110s of III./ZG 26. My crew and I probably owe our lives to one of my flying school friends,  Richard Heller, who went on to become an ace Zerstörer pilot. He could be relied upon to help beat off Allied fighter attacks.."

With Rommel defeated in Africa, III./LG 1 shifted to the Black Sea under X. Fliegerkorps in March 1942. Gapp flew sorties over the Kertsch peninsula and strikes against Sevastopol. During operation Störfang, the capture of the fortress, Gapp's crew flew their 200th combat sortie; they flew five sorties alone on 1 July the day the redoubt finally capitulated. During July III./LG 1 was shifted to Stalino and flew intensive sorties over Rostov, Kagalinskaja and Bataisk;  " enemy fighters gave us few problems. However Soviet anti-aircraft artillery was formidable. It was especially dangerous over Noworosisk..." Following rest and refit at Heiligenbeil, III./LG 1 were re-deployed to the Leningrad front in September 1942. Again withdrawn from the fighting in November 1942, III./LG 1 was shifted to Chantilly in France and re-designated III./ KG 6 to fly sorties against England from Creil, north of Paris. Gapp's crew flew their first sortie against England  on 9 January 1943, participating in the raid against port installations around Exeter. London was the objective on 18 and 20 January. On 13 May Gapp flew his 300th sortie against Chelmsford as a target marker or Beleuchter.

 During June 1943 Gapp married in Berlin, before taking up a posting as an instructor with IV./KG 6 at Brétigny under Kommandeur Schlaumeyer. Gapp was to lead his charges on formation training flights as far north as the Thames estuary to acclimatise his young crews to the searchlights and ack-ack of the British defenses !! During September 1943 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz for his long distinguished service, presented to him by none other than the Kommodore of KG 6 Hermann Hogeback, Gapp's first Staffelkapitän. During November and December 1943 Gapp and five other crews were seconded to fly night and day sorties out of Bordeaux-Mérignac. These were primarily to escort U-Boote returning to base on the surface.

IV./KG 6 shifted back to Germany during February 1944 and ceased all training activities following D-Day. During this period Gapp and his crew carried out often menial ground duties.  However highly trained pilots were increasingly in short supply and during October 1944 Gapp was posted to the new KG(J) 6 under Oberst Hogeback. There followed a crash training programme on single -engine types (Go 145 and Ar  96) during the fall of 1944 before Gapp flew his first training sorties on the Fw 190 (at Königswalde under fighter ace Major Franzisket according to a Bundesarchiv document), prior to being posted to III./ KG  (J) 6 under Hptm. Baasner, the only one of the Gruppen of the new KG (J) 6 to fly combat sorties. Gapp flew the 109 during December 1944 at Gbell  (Prague). Early in 1945 the Stab and III./KG (J) 6 were ordered to convert onto the Me 262, some forty pilots completing the training without incident. Gapp completed his first sortie at the controls of  8./KG (J) 6 Me262A "Red 2" on 23 March 1945. He was to go on to claim a number of victories over B-24 Liberators (30 March, 24 April) On 12 April he reportedly shot down a P-38 Lightning. Some unverifiable sources state that Gapp went on to claim at least four US bombers and a number of Russian Pe 2s and at least one P-51 Mustang while flying sorties with the Gefechtsverband Hogeback, an ad-hoc combat unit of Me 262s based in the Prague area but dispatched on sorties over Berlin. Four-engine bombers were encountered in combat on 14 and 19 April. On 7 May 1945 Gapp was authorised to take off and fly west wards  to escape Soviet captivity. Thirty three minutes later he bellied his Me 262 "Red 7" in a plowed field near Podersam (Saaz) and destroyed his aircraft.  Gapp had survived the war having flown over 400 operational missions in most Luftwaffe bomber and fighter types. Among his awards were the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold (21 August 1942)and the Goldene Frontflugspange. Joining the fledgling Bundesluftwaffe in 1956 he went on to become a test pilot on the joint French/German C160 Transall programme during the sixties. He retired from the air force in 1971 and at the time of writing still lives in Bavaria. 

Sources:

Lehrgeschwader 1 (two vols)  - Peter Taghon

Du Ju 88 au Me 262; Franz Gapp - un as pas comme les autres  - article by Peter Taghon in Avions 115

Luftwaffe over Czech territory  1945  -Rajlich, Janda - Japo

Me 262  - Classic Pubs (Vol 3) - Creek