Aces of JG 77 -Wolfdieter Huy
Aces of JG 77 - Johann Pichler

Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert was born on 2 February 1919 at Lindenthal, a suburb of Köln. His father was a Reichsbahn (German state railways) official. His first contact with aviation was as a spectator at the air display organised for Hindenburg's visit to the city in 1924. At only 13 years old he managed to join the DLV - Deutsche Luftsport Verband and became an accomplished glider pilot. On the completion of his Volkschule studies he trained as a mechanic and may well have joined the army had it not been for a chance meeting with an officer he had known when learning to fly gliders. In April 1939 he joined an A/B Schule and gained his "wings" as one of the best of his intake. In April 1941, Unteroffizier Reinert was posted to Ergänzungsgruppe/JG 77 in Vienna. Shortly afterwards, he was transferred to 4./JG 77, taking part in Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia. Escorting He 111 medium bombers on an airfield strike on 8 August 1941 Reinert's Staffel ran into five Ratas, one of them falling to the future ace. Six days later he claimed an I-17 and on 19 August another I-16. Three Soviet bombers fells to the guns of his Emil in the course of two sorties on 31 August 1941. During September Reinert had a falling out with his Staffelkapitän Hptm. Heinrich Setz - air-testing a 109 which was proving difficult to control in the air. Reinert elected to keep quiet about the possible cause of the defect in order not to miss the subsequent sortie. Flying as Kaczmarek to the Staffelkapitän, Reinert lost control of the aircraft - came close to ramming Setz's machine- and just managing to carry out a forced landing causing the aircraft to nose over. As part of his 'punishment' he was taken off the combat roster and assigned to the airfield protection Rotte. During one subsequent airfield attack the two 'defenders' were assailed by Ratas. Heavily outnumbered Reinert and his comrade managed to fight them off, both German fighters landing safely with heavy damage. Henceforth Reinert's score continued to mount with regularity and on 23 October he registered his twentieth. On 27 November II./JG 77 was in almost constant action with all serviceable fighters. Now with the rank of Feldwebel Reinert knocked down three machines from a formation of Soviet bombers escorted by fighters. One claim would later not be certified. Reinert's Emil was hit by the defensive fire of his second victim which did not prevent him from hacking down his third bomber. Soviet flak also scored hits on the 109. Reinert was forced to break off and turn for home but was set upon by two enemy fighters at a height of 300 m. Reinert struggled for height and jettisoned his canopy at 600 m. Seeing this the Soviet pilots broke off and headed for their own lines. With his engine ablaze Reinert prepared to jump but elected to carry out a force-landing, putting down just five hundred metres from the front lines - on the German side. Although he quickly came under aimed Soviet fire he was rescued by SS troops. Although Reinert's 109 was fit only for scrap, he was more fortunate than his comrade Ofhr. Roman Painczynk who was also forced down near Rostov but on the wrong side of the lines. He was listed as missing. This was the last action that Reinert saw during 1941. During December II./JG 77 was transferred back west to Wien-Aspern for rest and re-equipment with the Friedrich. The unit's Emils were handed over to I./LG 2 prior to their re-designation as I./JG 77. While on leave on 7 February 1942 Feldwebel Reinert was awarded the Ehrenpokal for 24 victories before returning to front line duty with II./JG 77 at Sarabus in the Crimea in mid-March 1942. He was quickly in the thick of the action, scoring a Polikarpov I-153 on 17 March and claiming a further three Soviet aircraft two days later. On 1 May he was credited with three Mig-3s in two sorties. He was awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 18 May for 44 victories, before passing fifty Luftsiege on 9 June.. The Ritterkreuz followed on 1 July. The constant round of sorties were starting to take their toll. While returning to land at Kastornoje on 13 or 14 July his Bf 109 F-4 (W.Nr. 13117) collided in midair - perhaps as a result of tiredness - with the fighter of Oberleutnant Erwin Clausen (132 victories, RK-EL, killed in action 4 October 1943) Staffelkapitän of 6./JG 77. Reinert's prop chopped through Clausen's canopy - Clausen miraculously escaped with only minor 'shrapnel' injuries that saw him taken off combat for a number of weeks. Reinert was unharmed and days later enjoyed his most successful day claiming eight victories on 17 July (72-79). He reported ;

" ...I recall that we were airborne at the crack of dawn that morning - during the first sortie of the day I shot down two Il-2s before 04h00. On landing I remained at Sitzbereitschaft - cockpit readiness - along with my wingman when we sighted contrails coming in from the east. Our Rotte quickly climbed for altitude and I was soon on the tail of Pe-2 reconnaissance aircraft which I dispatched at 06h34 at 7,000 metres altitude. We were about to head for home when a radio message came through indicating that another Pe-2 was heading in at 4,000 m. This one I shot down in the vicinity of our own airfield. Looking back towards the horizon I saw another contrail. On this occasion it was an American recce machine that I attacked at 06h50 at a height of 8,200m. I followed the enemy machine as it went down in flames - I saw the two crew parachute clear - but at about 500 m the aircraft appeared to level out as if preparing for a belly landing behind Soviet lines. I then emptied the last of my ammunition into it and the machine exploded before smashing into the ground. That evening I was credited with two further IL-2s.."

. The American machine was credited as a 'Lockheed' and was Reinert's 76th victory. On 23 July, however, he was hit in the engine by the defensive fire of a Pe-2 twin-engined bomber and took a round through the hand, successfully baling out of his Bf 109 F-4 (W.Nr. 13 137) over Plaskaja. A long convalescence followed. Reinert returned to the front in September and claimed three more victories almost straight away (5 September). On 9 September another three Soviet machines fell to the ace. On 3 October Fw. Reinert was airborne with his wingman Uffz. Rudolf Flindt to intercept a reconnaissance machine. Despite their efforts the Soviet machine eluded the two German pilots who were forced to land at the airfield at Kursk. About to set out for home the Rotte was scrambled to counter a large enemy formation that had been sighted heading towards the field. In the subsequent combat Flindt claimed two while Reinert passed his century with three claims. On 6 October he was awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr. 131) for 103 victories and returned to the Reich to receive this distinction.

On 5 December 1942 4. and 6. Staffeln of II./JG 77 flew into Zarzur, east of Tripoli in Libya to support the Germano-Italian Panzerarmee Afrika. Although JG 77 was largely outclassed in the skies of Africa, Reinert continued to score heavily - including four Spitfires and a Curtiss on 11 January (106-110), four enemy machines on 26 February (119-122), six on 13 March (130-135), five on 1 April (141-145) and his 150th on 19 April 1943 ). During this period he claimed his first four-engine bomber, shooting down a B-24 over Tripoli on 19 January 1943. One of his victims on 16 April was Spitfire ace and leader of 244 Wing Wing Commander Ian Gleed. On 20 April Reinert was promoted to the rank of Leutnant. On 6 May 1943 he scored his final African victory, shooting down another Spitfire near Medjez-El-Bab. By now the Tunisian retreat was turning to headlong flight and Lt. Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert was just one pilot to fly the hazardous over-water flight as the Geschwader evacuated as many personnel as possible to Sicily. Too tall to squeeze into the fuselage of a 109, Reinert took the controls of 'White 7', the Bf 109 G assigned to his superior, Oblt. Zeno Baeumel, while Baeumel and a mechanic crammed into the machine. En route to Sicily Reinert sighted a formation of Royal Navy Martlets and swung his heavily loaded fighter in behind one of the British aircraft to deliver the coup de grace before putting down in Sicily, no doubt to the immense relief of his terrified passengers.

Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert flew 715 missions, including 60 ground attack missions, and claimed 174 victories, of which 103 were over the Eastern Front and 71 were over the Western Front. He was also credited with 16 ground victories and 10 armoured vehicles and six locomotives.