His death marked the end of the Luftwaffe’s capacity to effectively oppose the growing American bombing campaigns against Germany with the heavily equipped twin-engine Me 110G and Me 410 aircraft
Hauptmann Eduard Tratt, 24, was the highest-scoring Zerstörer pilot in World War II with 35 victories officially recorded. His death marked the end of the Luftwaffe’s ability to effectively use the heavily armed twin-engine Me 110G and Me 410 aircraft against the growing American bombing operations against Germany.
Tratt was credited with shooting down three Hawker Hurricane planes over Dunkirk on June 1, 1940, while flying the Me 110 heavy fighter with I./ZG 1 beginning in 1939. Before being wounded on August 12, he downed ten more RAF aircraft over the course of the subsequent ten weeks of Channel battles.
After the Zerstörer’s failure as an escort fighter in the Battle of Britain, as explained by Douglas C. Dildy in his book “Big Week”, 1944, Operation Argument and the breaking of the Jagdwaffe, it was re-purposed primarily as a ground-attack fighter-bomber, which Tratt successfully piloted in the invasion of Russia. He is credited with downing nine Soviet aircraft, destroying another 17 on the ground, along with 24 tanks and 312 vehicles. On April 12, 1942, he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes (Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross).
His leadership of Erprobungskommando 25 allowed him to test the new Me 410A-2 Hornisse (Hornet) in the heavy bomber interceptor role and bring down two B-17s in May and June 1943 after he had recovered from his fourth set of wounds. He was consequently given command of the resurrected II./ZG 26, which was operating the Me 410 out of Hildesheim in central Germany.
He was more than ready to take on the P-38, the USAAF’s equivalent heavy fighter, and he was also given credit for downing four Lightnings. On February 20, 1944, the opening day of “Big Week” (Operation Argument), he gained his final victory over a retiring 1st Bomb Division Fortress.
When the 91st BG attempted to bomb Oschersleben on February 22, Tratt and his gunner Oberfeldwebel Gillert were reported to have “single-handedly attacked” them. Their Me 410B-1/U2 may have suffered damage from retaliatory fire from a 401st BS Fortress. However, the main assault was to the south, where 99 B-17s were bombing Halberstadt, Bernburg, and Aschersleben. 46 P-51s from the 354th FG escorted them.
Captain Robert J. Brooks’s 356th FS observed an estimated 16 Me 110Gs (ZG 26) arriving from 11 o’clock at 23,000ft, being escorted by a high cover squadron of Me 109Gs, five minutes after joining the 40th CBW. Once the two formations clashed, a downward-spiraling dogfight started. Four aircrewmen from I. Gruppe, two from III./ZG 26 Zerstörers, all eight of Major Johann Kogler’s Zerstörers, and five other aircrew members were killed or wounded. Four fighters were lost by the Me 109G units, but no pilots.
Tratt’s Me 410B was shot down over the Harz Mountains north of Nordhausen by Captain Jack T. Bradley (CO 353rd FS) and his wingman, Lieutenant Wah Kau Kong, as shown in the following image. Tratt and his gunner were killed. Soon later, a Me 110G cannon fire hit Kong’s P-51B hard, causing it to explode in midair.
“Big Week,” 1944, Operation Argument and the Breaking of the Jagdwaffe is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by: Graham Turner via Osprey and Unknown source