Walther Hagenah was born in 1919 and completed fighter pilot training in
1942, beginning operations with the first Gruppe of JG3 flying Bf 109s on
the Russian front . His first success in aerial combat was achieved as a
member of 2./JG 3 on the Eastern front when he shot down on 12th August 1942
a LaGG-3. His final victories on Eastern front were recorded on 14th
October 1942 when he downed two Il-2 Stormovik to record his 5th and 6th
victories. After nine months on the eastern front Hagenah's Gruppe was pulled
back to Germany to fly the Me 109G in the Reichsverteidigung . As
member of 10./JG 3 he claimed his 7th victory, a B-24 Liberator on 19th December
1943. On 12th May 1944 he claimed one Herausschuss of B-17 but he had to
force-land near Dornholzhausen with his Bf 109G-6. Between December 1943
and May 1944 his personal score amounted to five heavy bombers.
In July 1944, with the rank of Leutnant he accepted an invitation to join IV.(Sturm) Gruppe of JG3 under Hauptmann Wilhelm Moritz based at Illesheim, this being the first of several Sturmgruppen being formed with the object of inflicting really heavy losses on the American bomber formations. Flying the heavily armed and armoured Fw190A-8/R8 Sturmbock he shot down a B-24 Liberator in the battle over Oschersleben on 7th July 1944. He became Staffelkapitän of 10./JG3 when Lt Hans Weik was shot down and severely wounded on July 18. On 30th July he downed a P-38 Lightning, his 15th victory.
Heavily
armed Focke-Wulf 190 A8/R8 of IV./JG 3.This picture
is an edited still from the Deutsche
Wochenschau coverage filmed at Illesheim in July 1944. More pictures
in this sequence can be seen in Peter Rodeike's 'Jagdflugzeug 190..'.
Schwarze 13 + ~ is a 11 Staffel machine.
The Sturmgruppen were elite units. Pilots for these missions had to pledge to ram an enemy aircraft if unable to destroy them with gunfire; to not carry out this pledge meant a charge of cowardice and possibly a firing squad . They also used special tactics, attacking different parts of the formation in Staffel strength, each pilot under strict orders to hold his fire until his leader fired. Their heavy cannon were ineffective at long range and thus dictated the short range engagement tactics employed by the Sturmgruppen. In the wing are two 20mm and two 30mm cannons. Two 13mm machine-guns over the engine were mostly dismounted.
On four occasions during Sturmgruppe actions in the summer of 1944 Hagenah managed to get into position behind an American bomber and from short range the 30mm explosive rounds of the MK108 could do great execution ," ..the structure of the enemy bombers literally falling apart in front of us.." Like all pilots volunteering to join a Sturmgruppe, Hagenah signed the Sturmgruppe affidavit, indicating an absolute moral commitment to bring down enemy bombers, by ramming if necessary although as he himself stated, " ..during the Sturmgruppe operations there were very few rammings. I did not do it and I never saw anyone else do it…". In fact, according to Hptm Wilhelm Moritz (quoted in Prien's IV./JG3 p118 ) the pilots signed declarations ( Verpflichtungserklärungen ) were ' unsinnig und überflüssig' ( senseless and superfluous ) and destroyed soon after Sturmstaffel 1 had been integrated into IV./JG3. In addition the Sturmgruppe pilots had received no instructions from High Command on how best to ram the enemy bombers .As a general rule if they held formation , weathered the bombers defensive fire and reached a firing position " .. it was a relatively simple matter to get a kill.." ( Hagenah quoted in Price )
In September 1944 he attended a fighter leaders course, a Verbandsführerslehrgang , then he went to Erfurt, to convert ex-bomber pilots on the Fw 190A to fighter operations, then to Luben to train new Sturmgruppe pilots. In March 1945 he was transferred to III./JG 7 in Lärz. On 10th April 1945 he shot down with Me 262 a P-51 Mustang with R4M rockets. It was his 17th and last victory.
Walther Hagenah flew about 140 combat missions and shot down 17 enemy aircraft, 6 shot down on the Eastern front . Of his 11 victories in the West 9 were four-engined bombers.