Walter Schuck

Walter Schuck (born July 30, 1920 in Frankenholz , Saarland ; † March 27, 2015 ) was a German Air Force officer , most recently a lieutenant and highly decorated fighter pilot in World War II .

Life

Schuck was trained as a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe at the beginning of the Second World War. Then he came to the “Stavanger” hunting group and in April 1942 with the 7th squadron of JG 5 to Petsamo . He achieved his first aerial victory on May 15, 1942. He was awarded the German Gold Cross on August 2, 1943 for 54 aerial victories, and he was promoted to sergeant- major. On October 13, 1943, he was able to score three kills in one day.

The Knight's Cross was awarded to him as Oberfeldwebel on April 8, 1944 after 84 victories in the air. He was promoted to lieutenant on June 1, 1944. He achieved his 100th aerial victory on May 15, 1944. On June 17, 1944, he shot twelve opponents in one day. On September 30, 1944, he was awarded the Knight's Cross Oak Leaves for 172 aerial victories. As a first lieutenant, he became captain of the 10th squadron on January 1, 1945 and was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 7 in February 1945, where he was trained on the Me 262 . With the Me 262 he achieved eight more aerial victories and became captain of the 3rd squadron of Jagdgeschwader 7. In total, he achieved 206 aerial victories, 30 more were not confirmed to him. In 1945, Schuck became a British prisoner of war .

There is no verifiable information about Walter Schuck's life after the Second World War.

USAAF fighter pilot Joseph A. "Joe" Peterburs shot Walter Schuck in his Messerschmitt Me 262 on April 10, 1945, but was also shot down during the same mission. In 2005 they got to know each other personally, from which a close friendship developed.

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class
• German cross in gold on June 24, 1943
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with oak leaves
  • Knight's Cross on April 8, 1944
  • Oak leaves on September 30, 1944 (616th award)

See also

• List of German fighter pilots in World War II

Fonts

• Walter Schuck: Shoot down! From the Me 109 to the Me 262. Helios, Aachen 2007, ISBN 978-3-938208-44-1

literature

• Ernst Obermaier: The Air Force Knight's Cross, Volume I: Fighter Pilot , ISBN 3-87341-065-6
• Toliver, Raymond F./Constable, Trevor J. (1992): These were the German fighter pilot aces 1939–1945. 14th edition. Stuttgart, Motorbuch-Verlag. ( ISBN 3-87943-193-0 ).
• Edward H. Sims: Jagdflieger - The great opponents of yore Motorbuchverlag Stuttgart 16th edition 1996, ISBN 3-87943-115-9 , p. 33
• Mike Spick: The fighter breed of the German Air Force. Published by Bernard & Graefe (January 2000), ISBN 3-7637-5978-6

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jagdgeschwader 5 Eismeer and 7 Nowotny
2. ↑ Colonel Joe Peterburs USAF - Dinner Speaker for May 22, 2008 ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
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. 686.