Walter Loos

[3] That day, Major Friedrich-Karl Müller took command of the Gruppe after Beyer had been killed in action.

The Sturmstaffel was an experimental unit flying the so-called Sturmböcke (battering ram) up-gunned Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-7 and A-8 aircraft.

Gruppe made a head-on attack and Loos was credited with an Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from its combat box which was counted as an aerial victory—over a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber.

[8] Loos joined the Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) of Jagdgeschwader 301 (JG 301—301st Fighter Wing) in April 1945.

The Geschwaderstab of JG 301 had been equipped with the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H in March and was commanded by Oberstleutnant Fritz Aufhammer.

[9] That day, fellow JG 301 pilot Oberfeldwebel Willi Reschke was also awarded the Knight's Cross.

[11] Loos claimed his first two aerial victories flying the Ta 152 on 24 April when he downed two Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters near Berlin.