Fritz Tegtmeier

Tegtmeier was born on 30 July 1917 in Sundern, now part of Stemwede, then in the Province of Westphalia within the German Empire.^[3] He joined the military service of the Luftwaffe and following flight and fighter pilot training,^{[Note 1]} Tegtmeier was posted to the 2. Staffel (2nd squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) in October 1940.^[5]

At the time, his Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Rudolf Unger and subordinated to I. Gruppe (1st group) of JG 54 headed by Hauptmann Hubertus von Bonin.^[6] The Gruppe had just been withdrawn from the English Channel where it had fought in the Battle of Britain and ordered to Jever Airfield for a period of rest and replenishment. The Gruppe was then split up, with 2. Staffel initially based at Westerland Airfield before moving to Wangerooge where they flew fighter patrols over the German Bight. Here, Tegtmeier was severely injured on 17 November when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 (Werknummer 6043—factory number) suffered engine failure, resulting in crash landing at Jever Airfield.^[7]

On Friday 1 September 1939 German forces had invaded Poland which marked the beginning of World War II. Following his injuries sustained on 17 November 1940, Tegtmeier returned to his Staffel in the spring of 1941.^[3]

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began on 22 June 1941 which opened up the Eastern Front. In the fortnight prior, JG 54 had been moved to an airfield in Lindenthal near Rautenberg, East Prussia, present-day Uslowoje in Kaliningrad Oblast. Tasked with supporting Army Group North in its advance through the Baltic states towards Leningrad, the unit began combat operations shortly afterwards.^[8] In the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa, Tegtmeier claimed his first aerial victory.^[9]

On 8 September, I. Gruppe moved to an airfield at Ziverskaya located southwest of Leningrad.^[10] There, on 11 September he was again severely injured in a collision in his Bf 109 F-2 resulting in a crash landing at Ziverskaya.^[11] He returned to active duty in April 1942 and was assigned to 1. Staffel of JG 54. By the end of 1942 he had claimed 24 aerial victories.

On 14 January 1943, Tegtmeier became an "ace-in-a-day" for the first time. That day, pilots of I. Gruppe had claimed 30 aerial victories (Luftsiege).^[12] He claimed aerial victories number 36 and 37 on 23 January. On 3 May 1943 he claimed numbers 51–53. Tegtmeier was then posted to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost (EJGr Ost—Supplementary Fighter Group, East), a specialized training unit for new fighter pilots destined for the Eastern Front, where he served as a fighter pilot instructor. In September 1943, he returned to front line duty, this time with 3. Staffel of JG 54. In November 1943 he achieved his 75th aerial victory. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 28 March 1944 following his 99th aerial victory.^[13] Tegtmeier was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 20 April 1944. He claimed his 100th and 101st aerial victory on 3 May 1944. He was the 71st Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark.^[14] On 1 September 1944, he was made Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 3. Staffel. He succeeded Leutnant Otto Kittel who was transferred.^[15] By the end of 1944 his score of aerial victories stood at 139 claims. When he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 7 for flight training on the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in March 1945 his score stood at 146 aerial victories. Tegtmeier had been nominated for the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub).^[3][16]

Tegtmeier died on 8 April 1999 at the age of 81 in Greven, Germany.^[17]

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Tegtmeier was credited with 146 aerial victories.^[18] Mathews and ubForeman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 146 aerial victory claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.^[19]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 01852". 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.^[20]

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class^[5]
• Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe (5 October 1942)^[3]
• German Cross in Gold on 23 January 1943 as Oberfeldwebel in the I./Jagdgeschwader 54^[52]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 28 March 1944 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the 2./Jagdgeschwader 54^{[53][Note 12]}