1 January 1945 during Operation Bodenplatte, a Luftwaffe mass attack against Allied airfields in the Benelux area. One of Bär's 'aerial kills' may not have been airborne. Historian Norman Franks states both aircraft, from No. 438 Squadron RAF, were taxiing when hit. Flight Lieutenant Pete Wilson was wounded and later died from his injuries after Bär's strafing attack. The second Typhoon did get airborne. Its pilot, Flight Officer Ross Keller, was killed. This version of events is contradicted by a witness, Pilot Officer 'Bill' Harle, who thought both aircraft were airborne. Combat in the Me 262 On 14 February, Bär was transferred to command the jet fighter training unit III. Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 2 (EJG 2). In March, the unit was equipped with the Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter and sent into battle. Bär shot down 13 Allied aircraft, many of them heavy bombers like the B-17 and the B-24. EJG 2 abandoned Lechfeld Airfield for the airfield was under constant attack and was now threatened by the United States Army. On 23 April, Bär transferred to the elite Jet Experten unit Jagdverband 44 (JV 44), led by Adolf Galland. The following day Bär briefed JV 44 pilots in Galland's absence. The air defences had detected an incoming American formation and Bär instructed the jet pilots on the appropriate tactical approach to take when the interception was made. Klaus Neumann, Walter Krupinski and Günther Lützow flew on the mission. Lutzöw was posted missing in action and remains missing to date. On 26 April, he assumed command of the unit after Galland was wounded. Bär possibly flew his first operational sortie with JV 44 on 27 April 1945. Flying the Me 262 A-1/U5, a six MK 108 cannon prototype, he was accompanied by Major Wilhelm Herget and the non-commissioned officer NCO (Unteroffizier) Franz Köster when the trio engaged American fighters over Munich-Riem Airfield; Bär claimed one aerial victory. While not flying operationally, Bär spent most of his time giving hasty instruction to the new pilots still being assigned to JV 44. With JV 44, he achieved his final four aerial victories (3 P-47s and 1 Mosquito) on 28 April, bringing his total to 220. All told, he had achieved 16 victories in the Me 262, making him the second most successful Jet Expert of the war, which he finished as a Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant). During the final days of the Second World