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The date is April 10, 1945. LT Joe Peterburs is on his 49th combat mission flying the North American P-51 Mustang. The P-51 is one of the most feared fighters of the war, and is considered invaluable to the Allied Victory. Chuck Yeager called it the best aircraft of WWII, and the best propeller aircraft ever built.
The 19 year old Lt Peterburs, in his Mustang, named after his fiancée, Josephine, is escorting a group of B-17 Flying Fortresses on their way to bomb targets in Berlin. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a German Messerschmidt Me 262 swooped down on the formation of flying fortresses and began to fire on them. The Me 262, the first operational jet powered fighter aircraft, was flown by German WWII ACE, Walter Schuck. Schuck began to score hits on the B-17, destroying four of them.
Lt Peterburs in his P-51 had an altitude advantage over Schuck and his Me 262. He dove down on Schuck and began to fire his machine guns at his jet fighter. The jet became riddled with bullet holes along the wings and engine. Schuck disengaged from his attack on the bombers and flew to the cover of nearby clouds where he was forced to bail out.
Lt Peterburs, feeling pretty good about having just shot down a jet fighter, headed down below the clouds looking for more targets. And he found one.
There, sprawled out in front of him was a German airfield full of aircraft. Lt. Peterburs began to strafe to German targets who were sitting ducks while parked on the tarmac. While being fired upon from the ground, Peterburs and his Mustang were able to damage five enemy aircraft and set one of the airfields hanger ablaze.
It wasn’t all good news for Joe Peterburs and his P-51, however. The German ground fire was successful. Mostly likely piercing the engines radiator, it caused its Rolls Royce Packard built Merlin engine to begin to overheat. Joe and Josephine began to quickly lose altitude.
He began to analyze the situation and consider his options. None of them were good. And it was about to get worse. A German Fw 190 spotted Joe and his crippled aircraft and attacked. More damage was inflicted to his aircraft which was now on fire and losing altitude even faster. Time was up. Josephine was going down.
Lt. Peterburs had only one option left. Bail out. He did so on the left side of the plane and was struck by its tail upon egress, but he wasn’t injured.
Once on the ground, Joe was captured by German troops and sent off to a nearby POW camp. He would soon be relocated to Stalag 3, which entailed a ten day forced march. But Joe’s luck was about to change.
Because the Germans were nearing a collapse at the hands of the Allies, Stalag 3 was lightly guarded. This enabled Joe to escape. He made his way on foot towards Berlin, discovering a Soviet tank unit along the way. He joined and fought briefly with them until he was discovered by an American patrol that recognized Lt Peterburs flight suit as being one of theirs.
Joe Peterburs continued to serve and fly during the Korean War, flying 76 sorties and sustaining several injuries. He would serve again during the Vietnam War. He retired from the United States Air Force in 1979 after 36 years of service after obtaining the rank of Colonel.
But the story doesn’t end there. Over 50 years after Joe shot down Walter Schuck, the two would meet again. With the help of a man, who as a boy, witnessed Joe bailout, land and be captured, the two former enemies were brought together again.
In 2005, Walter Schuck traveled to the United States were he and Joe met again. They shared details from each others perspective and became fast friends. They would remain so until Walter's death in 2015.
Joe Peterburs currently lives in California near his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We met him in November of 2023 at an event in Washington DC where he shared some of his story, and agreed to tell us more during a formal interview. In January, through the magic of the internet, Joe shared his story with us. Watch it on our website at: https://www.americansinwartime.org/explore/voices-of-freedom. You’ll want to hear Joe talk about his first choice of a career that was altered forever when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
If you would be willing to share your wartime experiences, contact Dennis Gill at: dgill@americansinwartime.org. Don’t live in the area, not to worry, we can now conduct your interview online. You will receive a copy of your interview and a limited edition Voices of Freedom challenge coin.
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