Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer

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Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (born February 16, 1922 in Calw , Württemberg ; † July 15, 1950 near Biarritz , France ) was an officer in the German Air Force in World War II and is the most successful night fighter pilot in history.

Life

As a 17-year-old he passed his Abitur with distinction in November 1939 . After passing the entrance exam as an officer candidate for the Air Force , Schnaufer flew almost all types of German aircraft during his training. In April 1941 he received the lieutenant's license and was assigned to a front association.

For his first shot down on June 2, 1942 with the Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1), he received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, and for the sixth shot, the Iron Cross, 1st class. The German cross in gold was awarded to the first lieutenant on July 3, 1943 after 15 night kills. On August 1, 1943, he became the squadron captain of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on December 31, 1943 after 42 night kills.

Vertical tail of a Bf 110 Schnaufers

For five nights in a row, he shot down four four-engined RAF Bomber Command bombers . In May 1944 he was promoted to captain . On June 24, 1944, after his 84th kill, he was awarded the oak leaves and a little later on July 30, 1944 the swords. After the 100th kill he received the diamonds of the Knight's Cross on October 16, 1944 as the 21st recipient. He was known to the Allies as the "Ghost of St. Trond ". At this point in time Schnaufer was group commander in Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) and stationed at Dortmund Air Base .

From November 1944 the 22-year-old Schnaufer led the night fighter squadron 4 in the position of a commodore , and was stationed in Gütersloh with the II Group until the end of March 1945 .

On his birthday in 1945, the piece of music "The Night Ghost" was played by a London orchestra especially for him on the BBC . On February 21, 1945, the night fighter achieved its greatest numerical success when it shot down two "Lancaster" bombers early in the morning and another nine before midnight within 17 minutes. In March 1945 he was still testing the Dornier Do 335 from Gütersloh for night use. At the end of March he had to withdraw to Wunstorf with the rest of his unit and his last military deployment took place on April 9th. On April 19, Schnaufer took over the protection of the site in Eggebek in order to secure the escape of part of the squadron to Faßberg .

At the end of April 1945, Captain Schnaufer surrendered to the British with his Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 in Eggebek . By this time, Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 had shot down a total of 579 bombers and lost 102 aircrews in the process. Schnaufer became a British prisoner of war , from which he was released in November 1945 after suffering from diphtheria .

His crew, consisting of the radio operator Leutnant Fritz Rumpelhardt and the rifleman and observer, Sergeant Wilhelm Gänsler, was the most highly decorated aircraft crew of the Second World War , as they both also held the Knight's Cross.

The British Air Force exhibited Schnaufer's last machine, which had markings on the number of bombers downed, in Hyde Park , London . Above the Messerschmitt Bf 110 there was a sign: “This Messerschmitt machine was flown by the world's most successful night fighter, 23-year-old Major Heinz Wolfgang Schnaufer.” The left tail unit with the launch markings is in the Imperial War Museum in London and the right in the Australian Was to visit Memorial near Canberra . The left-sided vertical stabilizer of his main aircraft that was damaged by fighter bomber fire - Schnaufer was not at the wheel on this evacuation flight from Gütersloh at the end of March 1945 (destination was Wunstorf) - was auctioned at an auction in 2015 .

On July 13, 1950, Schnaufer was seriously injured in a traffic accident through no fault of his own near Biarritz , France , and died of his injuries two days later.

With a total of 2,300 take-offs and 1,133 flight hours , Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer was the most successful night fighter (121 bomber kills on 164 enemy flights ) of the Second World War.

After breath is Heinz-gasp Street in Calw-Heumaden named.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ernst Obermaier: The knight's cross bearers of the air force. Volume I fighter pilots 1939–1945. Verlag Dieter Hoffmann Mainz 1966; ISBN 3-87341-065-6 ; P. 36.
  2. ↑ Schnaufer's last Bf 110, Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum, October 5, 2013
  3. ↑ a b c Veit Scherzer : Knight's Cross bearers 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. 675.
personal data
SURNAME Schnaufer, Heinz-Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German major and pilot in the Wehrmacht
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Calw , Württemberg
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1950
Place of death near Biarritz , France