Howard Ellsworth
By Don Vaught
12/1/2004
Capt. Howard Ellsworth, U.S. Army Air Corps, 1944.
I had just dropped a load of napalm on a rail yard east of Aachen, Germany, when antiaircraft fire struck the left engine of my P-38, forcing me to bail out. I landed safely but was taken prisoner by German soldiers and marched to a small airfield called Sohie Bslad. I was interrogated, then put to work filling the craters made by Allied bombers.
On Dec. 26, my fifth day of captivity, a group of German Me-262s landed just as Allied B-17s began bombing. A German pilot leaped from his cockpit and sprinted for cover, leaving his plane running. Quickly I climbed in and pushed the throttles full open. The engines began to scream and the plane accelerated as guards shot at me. I lifted the plane off the ground but kept it low to avoid fire.
I couldn’t read the instruments or raise the landing gear, and the canopy, which was open when I got in, had torn away. Luckily, the compass was readable, and I soon crossed into friendly territory. Almost immediately I came under heavy fire. I closed the throttles and landed on a small hillside.
I was greeted by an Army truck filled with troops. The second lieutenant advised me I was under arrest for impersonating an American pilot. Several soldiers suggested I immediately be shot as a spy. I quickly explained my situation, asked to use the phone, and called the 474th Fighter Group Operations. Eventually, I was retrieved and returned to base. After being debriefed about the German jet, I returned to my squadron on the evening of Dec. 31.
— Ellsworth lives in Alexandria, Va.
Source: Military Officer Magazine, December 2004, "Christmas In Combat" by Don Vaughan
Extract for discussion, in accordance with fair use provisions.
Howard Ellsworth was the first American to fly an ME-262.
WOW! That is one hell of a story! Much more dramatic even than Hoover's escape!
Ping to post 73 for Howard Ellsworth's escape from Germany in an Me-262.
I worked with him in the Pentagon 1977-1980. He is a great guy. Someone else told me the outline of his story, so I marched into Howard's office with two cups of coffee and said nothing we were doing that morning was as important to me as hearing his story. So he told me, in a lot more detail than is reported here.