Alfred Franke

World War II Luftwaffe fighter pilot (1918–1942) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alfred Franke (20 September 1918 – 9 September 1942) was a German Luftwaffe ace and a posthumous recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. As a fighter pilot, he was credited with 60 aerial victories, four on the Western Front and 56 on the Eastern Front.

Born20 September 1918

Jena, German Empire

Died9 September 1942 (aged 23)

Stalingrad, Soviet Union

Causeof deathKilled in action

Allegiance

Nazi Germany

Quick facts Born, Died ...

Alfred Franke
Born	20 September 1918 Jena, German Empire
Died	9 September 1942(1942-09-09) (aged 23) Stalingrad, Soviet Union
Cause of death	Killed in action
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Branch	Luftwaffe
Rank	Leutnant (posthumously)
Unit	JG 53
Conflicts	World War II Battle of France Battle of Britain Operation Barbarossa Siege of Leningrad
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Early life and career

Frank was born on 20 September 1918 in Jena, then in Thuringia within the German Empire.^[1] He joined the military service of Luftwaffe and following flight training,^{[Note 1]} he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) where he was assigned to 2. Staffel (1st squadron) in early 1940.^[3] At the time, the Staffel was commanded by Hauptmann Rolf Pingel and subordinated to I. Gruppe (1st group) which was headed by Hauptmann Lothar von Janson and based at Darmstadt-Griesheim Airfield.^[4]

World War II

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. On 10 May 1940, the first day of the Battle of France, I. Gruppe moved to Kirchberg. Flying from Kirchberg on 14 May, I. Gruppe flew missions in support of German forces fighting in the Battle of Sedan. That day, the Gruppe claimed 35 aerial victories, including the first two claims filed by Franke. On two separate missions, he claimed a Bloch MB.151 fighter and a Fairey Battle light bomber shot down south of Sedan.^[5]

On 6 June, I. Gruppe moved to Mannheim-Sandhofen Airfield.^[6] Following a maintenance overhaul of the aircraft, I. Gruppe moved to an airfield named Krzewicza located near Międzyrzec Podlaski, approximately 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Brest, from 12 to 14 June.^[7]

Operation Barbarossa and Malta

On 22 June, the Geschwader crossed into Soviet airspace in support of Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, which opened the Eastern Front. I. Gruppe took off on its first mission at 3:40 am, escorting Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers.^[8] On 1 July, Franke was shot down in aerial combat behind enemy lines, resulting in a forced landing in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 12621—factory number). Initially reported as missing in action, he later returned to his unit unhurt.^[9] On 16 July, he was shot down in his Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 5412) near Zhytomyr and was again reported as missing in action before returning unhurt.^[10]

Eastern Front and death

In early May 1942, I. Gruppe was transferred back to the Eastern Front. Prior to the relocation, the Gruppe received a full complement of 41 factory new Bf 109 F-4 aircraft at Schwäbisch Hall before heading for Prague Ruzyne Airfield on 28 May. The following day, I. Gruppe flew to Kursk. There, the Gruppe supported the German 4th Panzer Army in its advance towards Voronezh during Case Blue, the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942.^[11]

On 9 September 1942, Franke was shot down in aerial combat with Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery. His Bf 109 G-2 (Werknummer 13442) north of Stalingrad.^[12] His victor may have been Kapitan Pavel S. Vinogradov of the 694 IAP, 228 ShAD.^[13]^{[Note 2]} Posthumously, Franke was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 29 October 1942 for 59 aerial victories claimed.^[14] He was also posthumously promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant).^[15]

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Franke was credited with 60 aerial victories.^[16] Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 58 aerial victory claims. This figure includes 54 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and four over the Western Allies.^[17]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 40773". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km²). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.^[18]

More information Chronicle of aerial victories, Claim ...

Chronicle of aerial victories
This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Bock, Mathews and Foreman.
Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location	Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –^[15] Battle of France — 10 May – 25 June 1940
1	14 May 1940	11:20	MB.151	south of Sedan^[19]	3	31 May 1940	20:12	DB-7	vicinity of Saint-Quentin^[19]
2	14 May 1940	16:20	Battle	south of Sedan^[19]
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –^[20] At the Channel and over England — 26 June 1940 – 6 June 1941
4	18 August 1940	15:32	Hurricane^[21]
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –^[20] Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 7 August 1941
5?^{[Note 3]}	22 June 1941	17:37	Douglas	west-southwest of Brest-Litovsk^[22]	9	10 July 1941	12:17	DB-3^[23]
6	24 June 1941	09:32	SB-3^[22]		10	24 July 1941?^{[Note 4]}	14:16?^{[Note 4]}	DB-3^[24]
7	24 June 1941	09:34	SB-3^[22]		11	26 July 1941	10:45	DB-3	east of Bila Tserkva^[24]
8	6 July 1941	06:37	DB-3^[23]		12	26 July 1941	11:00	(Il-2)^[24]
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –^[25] Eastern Front — 28 May 1942 – 9 September 1942
13	10 June 1942	15:37	I-61 (MiG-3)^[26]		37	20 August 1942	10:59	Il-2	PQ 40773^[27] 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Gumrak
14	24 June 1942	03:41	R-10^[28]		38	21 August 1942	12:39	U-2	PQ 49881^[29]
15	27 June 1942	09:16	MiG-1	10 km (6.2 mi) north-northeast of Schtschigry^[28]	39	22 August 1942	09:40	Il-2	PQ 30894^[29]
16	28 June 1942	04:06	MiG-1^[28]		40	23 August 1942	05:43	I-180	PQ 49153^[29]
17	1 July 1942	12:01	P-39^[30]		41	24 August 1942	13:02	U-2	PQ 49244^[31] 10 km (6.2 mi) northeast of Stalingrad
18	1 July 1942	12:08	P-39^[30]		42	28 August 1942	14:35?^{[Note 5]}	MiG-1	PQ 40891^[31] 40 km (25 mi) northeast of Stalingrad
19	26 July 1942	13:43	LaGG-3^[32]		43	28 August 1942	14:44	LaGG-3	PQ 50781^[31] 60 km (37 mi) east-northeast of Stalingrad
20	31 July 1942	13:59	MiG-1	PQ 39194^[33] 15 km (9.3 mi) west-northwest of Kalach	44	29 August 1942	12:49	P-40	PQ 49251^[31]
21	2 August 1942	12:29	Il-2	PQ 39163^[33] 15 km (9.3 mi) south-southwest of Kalach	45	29 August 1942	12:56	MiG-1	PQ 49243^[31]
22	2 August 1942	12:38	MiG-1	PQ 39281^[33] 15 km (9.3 mi) east-northeast of Kalach	46	30 August 1942	16:10	I-180	PQ 49562^[31]
23	4 August 1942	11:30	MiG-1	PQ 49753^[34]	47	1 September 1942	10:45	Il-2	PQ 49253^[35]
24	12 August 1942	04:27	Il-2	PQ 29894^[36]	48	1 September 1942	10:46	Il-2	PQ 49324^[35]
25	12 August 1942	04:33	Il-2	PQ 39773^[36]	49	1 September 1942	15:43	Pe-2	PQ 49132^[35]
26	12 August 1942	04:39	LaGG-3	PQ 39772^[36]	50	3 September 1942	13:46	Yak-1	PQ 40873^[35]
27	12 August 1942	10:48	MiG-3	PQ 49882^[36]	51	4 September 1942	11:19	I-16	PQ 49361^[35]
28	13 August 1942	17:41	Il-2	PQ 39333^[36]	52	5 September 1942	05:35	MiG-1	PQ 49431^[35]
29	13 August 1942	17:44	MiG-1	PQ 39194^[36]	53	7 September 1942	13:30	Il-2	PQ 49283^[35]
30	13 August 1942	17:51	Il-2	northeast of Kalach^[36]	54	7 September 1942	17:16	I-153	PQ 49272^[37]
31	14 August 1942	10:44	Il-2^[27]		55	8 September 1942	06:44	Il-2	PQ 49391^[37]
32	18 August 1942	05:33	MiG-3	PQ 49164^[27]	56	8 September 1942	06:46	Il-2	PQ 49412^[37]
33	18 August 1942	12:48	Il-2	PQ 40771^[27] 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Gumrak	57	8 September 1942	06:49	Il-2	PQ 49332^[37]
34	18 August 1942	12:53	MiG-3	PQ 40772^[27] 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Gumrak	58	9 September 1942	13:48	Il-2	PQ 49182^[37]
35	19 August 1942	15:42	Er-2	PQ 40774^[27] 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Gumrak	59	9 September 1942	13:57	Il-2	PQ 49161^[37]
36	20 August 1942	10:56	Il-2	PQ 30894^[27]

Awards

Iron Cross (1939) 2nd Class and 1st Class^[3]
Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 September 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot^[38]
German Cross in Gold on 25 September 1942 as Oberfeldwebel in the I./Jagdgeschwader 53^[39]
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 29 October 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the 2./Jagdgeschwader 53^[40]^[41]

Notes

[1]
Flight training in the Luftwaffe progressed through the levels A1, A2 and B1, B2, referred to as A/B flight training. A training included theoretical and practical training in aerobatics, navigation, long-distance flights and dead-stick landings. The B courses included high-altitude flights, instrument flights, night landings and training to handle the aircraft in difficult situations.^[2]
[2]
IAP—Istrebitelny Aviatsionny Polk (Fighter Aviation Regiment—Истребительный Авиационный Полк)
[3]
This claim is not listed by Mathews and Foreman.^[20]
[4]
According to Mathews and Foreman claimed at 16:40 on 25 July 1941.^[20]
[5]
According to Mathews and Foreman claimed at 14:38.^[20]

References

Citations

[1]
Obermaier 1989, p. 112.
[2]
Bergström, Antipov & Sundin 2003, p. 17.
[3]
Dixon 2023, p. 277.
[4]
Prien et al. 2001a, pp. 363–364.
[5]
Prien et al. 2001b, pp. 318, 327.
[6]
Prien 1997, p. 244.
[7]
Prien 1997, p. 252.
[8]
Prien 1997, p. 260.
[9]
Prien et al. 2003, p. 114.
[10]
Prien et al. 2003, p. 115.
[11]
Prien 1998, p. 410.
[12]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 13, 42.
[13]
Bergström et al. 2006, p. 46.
[14]
Weal 2007, p. 122.
[15]
Mathews & Foreman 2014, p. 331.
[16]
Zabecki 2014, p. 1617.
[17]
Mathews & Foreman 2014, pp. 331–333.
[18]
Planquadrat.
[19]
Prien et al. 2001b, p. 327.
[20]
Mathews & Foreman 2014, p. 332.
[21]
Prien et al. 2002, p. 201.
[22]
Prien et al. 2003, p. 107.
[23]
Prien et al. 2003, p. 108.
[24]
Prien et al. 2003, p. 110.
[25]
Mathews & Foreman 2014, pp. 332–333.
[26]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 21.
[27]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 29.
[28]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 22.
[29]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 30.
[30]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 23.
[31]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 31.
[32]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 24.
[33]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 25.
[34]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 26.
[35]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 32.
[36]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 28.
[37]
Prien et al. 2006, p. 33.
[38]
Patzwall 2008, p. 79.
[39]
Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 119.
[40]
Fellgiebel 2000, p. 185.
[41]
Scherzer 2007, p. 316.

Bibliography

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