Ernst copper

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Ernst Kupfer (born July 2, 1907 in Coburg ; † November 6, 1943 near Thessaloniki ) was a " Stuka " pilot in the German Air Force and general of the attack pilots in World War II and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Early career

While studying law at Heidelberg University , Ernst Kupfer joined the 5th Squadron of the 17th Bavarian Cavalry Regiment of the Reichswehr on October 1, 1928 . He also joined the Allemannia Heidelberg fraternity in 1926 and successfully completed his law degree in March 1937. He received his doctorate on "military jurisdiction and Party jurisdiction of the NSDAP: A Comparison", was shortly afterwards squadron and 1939 captain promoted. In the same year, however, he switched to the Air Force, where he was initially trained at a flying school for reconnaissance.

Second World War

At the end of 1939, Kupfer was trained as a Stuka pilot and on August 31, 1940 initially joined the supplementary Stuka group in Lippstadt , but was transferred to Stuka Squadron 2 "Immelmann" in France on September 7, 1940 . On October 1, he took over the leadership of the 7th season of the III. Group that from now on was referred to as the 7th Squadron due to Copper's origins from a cavalry regiment.

Copper experienced his first combat mission during the Merkur operation , when he sank the light cruiser HMS Gloucester by a direct hit on May 22, 1941 .

In June 1941 the squadron was transferred to the Eastern Front. Here you were first assigned to Army Group Center , but a little later to Army Group North . On September 23, 1941, the squadron launched an attack on the Baltic fleet in the port of Kronstadt ; Kupfer sank a Soviet cruiser. His machine was badly damaged in the process, but he was able to land behind his own lines. During the next attack he damaged the battleship Oktjabrskaja Revoljuzija badly, but was again forced to make an emergency landing himself. During the third mission against Kronstadt, his Ju 87 was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire, during the emergency landing the machine overturned and Kupfer was seriously injured. With multiple fractures of the base of the skull , many other bone fractures and a severe concussion , he was admitted to the hospital , where he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on November 23, 1941.

Six months later, on April 1, 1942, Kupfer took command of Group II in SG 2 and was promoted to major . Here he saved an aircraft crew who had not landed from capture by landing next to the crew under enemy fire and bringing them safely behind their own lines. On January 8, 1943, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves to, then to the March 1, 1943 Commodore appointed the entire squadron, in September 1943, then with the rank of lieutenant colonel to general of the attack aircraft . In this role, he successfully campaigned for the outdated Junkers Ju 87 and Henschel Hs 123 aircraft to be replaced by the modern Focke-Wulf Fw 190 . In order to exchange experiences with the individual commodors of the battle squadrons, he therefore visited them at the front.

Accident and death

On the return flight from an inspection trip in Greece, the Heinkel He 111 with copper on board wrecked on November 6, 1943 in bad weather in the Belasiza Mountains near Thessaloniki. By his death, Kupfer had completed a total of 636 enemy flights and held the rank of lieutenant colonel , posthumously he was promoted to colonel immediately after the crash, and on April 11, 1944, he was awarded the knight's cross.

Awards

literature

  • Holger Nauroth: Stukageschwader 2 - "Immelmann" - from the origin to the present , Verlag KW Schütz, 1988, ISBN 3-87725-123-4 .
  • Ernst Obermaier: The Luftwaffe Knight's Cross Carriers 1939–1945 Volume II Stuka and Attack Airmen , ISBN 3-87341-021-4 .
  • Ernst Kupfer: Military jurisdiction and party jurisdiction of the NSDAP: A comparison , Erlangen 1937

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Willy Nolte (Ed.): Burschenschafter Stammrolle. List of members of the German Burschenschaft according to the status of the summer semester 1934. Berlin 1934. p. 279.
  2. ↑ See the DNB dataset at: http://d-nb.info/570817889
  3. ↑ a b Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearer 1939–1945. The holders of the Iron Cross of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and armed forces allied with Germany according to the documents of the Federal Archives. 2nd Edition. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis / Jena 2007, ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2 , p. 486.
personal data
SURNAME Copper, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pilot and knight's cross carrier in World War II
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Coburg
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1943
Place of death at Thessaloniki