Hans-Karl Stepp

Hans-Karl Stepp (born September 2, 1914 in Gießen ; † December 12, 2006 ) was a " Stuka " pilot in the German Air Force in World War II and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

Life

After being first in Tübingen , Wroclaw and Munich Jura had studied, he entered on April 6, 1936 as a cadet in the Air Force. He was trained as a Stuka pilot in Group I of Stuka Squadron 168. With his group, meanwhile renamed to I. Group in Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 , he took part in a maneuver near Neuhammer on August 15, 1939 . Due to the fog, many pilots misjudged their altitude and their machines crashed on the ground. This event went down in aviation history as the Neuhammer Stuka accident . Stepp was one of the few survivors.

With the I / SG 76 he fought in the Polish and French campaigns and then in May 1941 he became a group and squadron adjutant at Stuka Squadron 2 "Immelmann". Here he was awarded the German Cross in Gold on October 15, 1941. In January 1942 he was given command of the I. Group and Stepp was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on February 4, 1942 after more than 400 enemy flights. In the meantime promoted to captain , Stepp took over Group II on June 17, 1943 and finally became a squadron commodore on September 10, 1943 with the rank of major . On April 27, 1944, after 800 enemy flights, he was awarded the Oak Leaves Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. At the end of the war he served in the Reich Aviation Ministry in Berlin .

Hans-Karl Stepp died on December 12, 2006 in Leipzig, where he had lived since 2001. He was buried in the family circle in Leipzig's southern cemetery.

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
German cross in gold on October 15, 1941
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
- Knight's Cross on February 4, 1942
- Oak leaves on April 25, 1944 (462nd award)
Front flight clasp for combat and dive fighter pilots in gold with tag "Einsatzzahl 800"

literature

Nauroth, Holger: Stukageschwader 2 - "Immelmann" - from the origin to the present , Verlag KW Schütz, 1988, ISBN 3-87725-123-4
Heinz-Georg Wilhelm Migeod: The commander . Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8391-1091-1 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^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. 723.

personal data
SURNAME	Stepp, Hans-Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Stuka pilot
DATE OF BIRTH	September 2, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH	to water
DATE OF DEATH	December 12, 2006

[RKT-1] 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. 723.