SCHÖNAUER: The first Gruppe of our Geschwader is getting the “188” now. Aircraft are there already. The “188” has just been fitted with the “801” engine, and is very good and carries quite a lot.
DIEVENKORN: Is it a bomber?
SCHÖNAUER: Yes. It is faster and above all climbs better.349
The engine was considered the most important element in a warplane, which is why the first thing Schönauer pointed out was that the Junkers 188 had a new BMW rear engine, making it superior to its predecessor the Ju 88. Luftwaffe POWs spent an enormous amount of time debating the merits of this engine vis-à-vis the Daimler-Benz inline motors DB 603 and 605 and the Junkers Jumo 213. Planes were only as good as the capacity of their engines, and by 1942 the POWs agreed that German motor development was lagging behind the enemy’s. They pinned their greatest hopes to the creation of the piston engine Jumo 222, which was supposed to have between 2,000 and 3,000 horsepower. “The Jumo 222,” First Lieutenant Fried raved in February 1943, “I have seen it myself, it is terrific… 24 cylinders.”350 And First Lieutenant Schönauer was also enthusiastic four months later: “The new Jumo engine—if it is a success, with 2700 hp. at take-off rating—
Amid all the pride German POWs felt for their own equipment, there was grudging admiration for the British and later the Americans. Symptomatic in this regard were the judgments of a first lieutenant and squadron leader of a fighter wing who was shot down over England in September 1940:
At a height of 7000 m. the Spitfire is a shade superior to the “109.” Over 7000 m. they are equal. As soon as you understand that, your fear of the Spitfire is banished. The “109” is even superior to the Spitfire if it has a pilot who knows how to fly it well. I would always prefer a “109” to a Spitfire! You always have to fly in long, wide curves, then the Spitfire can’t keep up.353
The admission that, when battling at lower altitudes, German pilots had a “fear” of the RAF’s Spitfire shows the Luftwaffe’s great respect for their English counterparts at the high point of the Battle of Britain. Also in September 1940, another pilot even complained:
50% of our old fighter pilots are gone, they know that here, too. These mass attacks are senseless; that is not the way to destroy the English fighters. They’ll have to bring over our new fighter a/c, or our fighting branch will look silly! The new “Focke-Wulf” with the radial engine and the air cooling must come over. What will happen if they shoot down one experienced fighter pilot after another?354
The POWs agreed that new, technologically improved planes would be needed to turn the tide of the air war, and the complaints about and grudging admiration for the capabilities of enemy aircraft never ceased. “I believe we have bitten off more than we can chew with regard to the G.A.F.,” First Lieutenant Henz opined in June 1943. “To be quite honest, we haven’t got anything to put up against the four-engined (bombers) at the moment. I have the feeling that we’ve been asleep for some time.”355 A year later, Sergeant Mäckle seconded that assessment: “The English have much faster air-craft: for instance, none of our aircraft can come up to their Mosquitoes; that’s impossible.”356
