Gerhard Schöpfel

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Gerhard Schöpfel
Gerhard Schöpfel.jpg
Nickname Gerd
Birth date 19 December 1912(1912-12-19)
Place of birth Erfurt, Kreis Weißensee, Province of Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Death date 17 May 2003 (aged 90)
Place of death Bergisch Gladbach-Refrath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Federal Republic of Germany
Allegiance  Weimar Republic
 National Socialist Germany
Service/branch Polizei in der Weimarer Republik.jpg Police
Luftwaffe eagle.jpg Luftwaffe
Years of service 1931/32–1936
1936–1945
Rank Major
Unit JG 26, JG 54, JG z.b.V., JG 4, JG 6
Battles/wars World War II
  • Kanalkampf
    (channel fighting)
  • The Hardest Day
    (18 August 1940)
Awards Frontflugspange
Wound Badge (1939)
German Cross in Gold
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Gerhard "Gerd" Schöpfel (19 December 1912 – 17 May 2003) was a German officer of the Police and the Wehrmacht, finally Major of the Luftwaffe and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He was a flying ace (Flieger-As) with 45 aerial victories (Luftsiege) in c. 700 combat missions (Feindflüge).[1] He shot down all his enemies on the Western Front – including four four-engined Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Andrew Johannes Mathews and John Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces - Biographies and Victory Claims (Volume 4 S–Z, 2015), researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for nine further unconfirmed claims.

Life

From left: Gerhard Schöpfel, Adolf Galland, Joachim Müncheberg and Joachim Huth

After graduating from school, Schöpfel joined the Schutzpolizei (protection police) and later served with the Landespolizei (state police). He always had a great affinity for aviation and applied to the Luftwaffe with the desire to become a fighter pilot. His application was accepted and in early 1936, he was transferred to basic training and later to pilot school.

  • 1937: Transferred to I. Group/Jagdgeschwader 234 "Schlageter" (JG 234) as 2nd Lieutenant
  • 1.6.1938: Appointed Commander of the Staff Company/I. Group/JG 234 as 1st Lieutenant
    • On 1 November 1938, I. and II. Groups were incorporated into Jagdgeschwader 132 (JG 132), the III. Group came to Destroyer Wing 143 (ZG 143).
    • The headquarters of the fighter wing was in Düsseldorf, the I. Group in Cologne-Ostheim and the II. Group in Düsseldorf. The staff and the I. Group were equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf D-1, and from December 1938 with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1. The II. Group was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 D-1, and from January 1939 with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1.
    • On 1 May 1939, Jagdgeschwader 132 was renamed Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter".
  • 23.9.1939: Appointed Commander (Staffelkapitän) of the 9th Squadron/JG 26 "Schlageter"
  • 17.6.1940: Staff of the III. Group/JG 26 "Schlageter"
    • Schöpfel claimed his first two aerial victories during the Battle of Britain on 8 August 1940 (victories 5 and 6).
    • On 12 August 1940, one day before Adlertag, he claimed a Spitfire shot down near Folkestone.
    • On 18 August 1940, known to the British as "The Hardest Day", Schöpfel in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4 „Gelbe 1“ (Yellow 1) shot down four Hawker Hurricanes of No. 501 Squadron within two minutes in combat between Canterbury and Whitstable killing one RAF pilot and wounding three others.
  • 21.8.1940: Appointed Commander of the III. Group/JG 26 "Schlageter" as Hauptmann (Captain) and successor to Adolf Galland
  • 1.12.1941: Promoted to Major
  • 5./6.12.1941: Appointed Commodore (Kommodore) of JG 26 "Schlageter" as successor to Adolf Galland
    • In February 1942, Commodore Schöpfel led his Wing Staff Squadron and III. Group in Operation Donnerkeil. The objective of this operation was to give the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen fighter protection in the breakout from Brest to Germany. The Channel Dash operation (11–13 February 1942) by the Kriegsmarine was codenamed Operation Cerberus by the Germans. In support of this, the Luftwaffe, formulated an air superiority plan dubbed Operation Donnerkeil for the protection of the three German capital ships. They intercepted Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde, acting as Squadron Leader, No. 825 Squadron Fleet Air Arm, in a Fairey Swordfish. Frail and slow, the Swordfish forced German pilots to lower their undercarriages to prevent overshooting the biplanes. In the event all six Swordfish of this unit were shot down. Several managed to fire off their torpedoes at German ships but none found their mark. Lieutenant Commander Esmonde was shot down and killed by an Fw 190.
  • 3.1.1943: Appointed Chief of Operations (Ia) with Jagdfliegerführer 2 (Fighter Pilot Leader 2)
  • 1.4.1943: Appointed Chief of Operations (Ia) with Jagdfliegerführer 4 (Jafü 4)
  • July 1943: Appointed Chief of Operations (Ia) with Fighter Pilot Leader Southern Italy (Jafü Suditalien)
  • 9.9.1943: Appointed fighter pilot operations leader Calabria
  • 18.1.1944: Appointed fighter pilot operations leader Norway
  • 1.5.1944: Transferred to III. Group/JG 54
  • 6.6.1944 Appointed Commodore (Kommodore) of Jagdgeschwader z. b. V. (special purpose fighter wing)
  • 15.6.1944: Appointed Commodore (Kommodore) of Jagdgeschwader 4 (JG 4)
    • Hans-Günther von Kornatzki's II. Group, equipped with the heavily armored Fw 190 A-8/R2 "Sturmbock", was one of the Luftwaffe's three assault groups. However, due to their increased weight, the storm fighters (Sturmjäger) were easy prey for the enemy's faster and lighter fighters when their own fighter protection was lacking, although they were ideally suited to air combat against the four-engine terror bombing planes. In February 1945, the II. (Sturm-)Gruppe/JG 4 under Major Schroeder was stationed near Neuhausen and defended Cottbus. The group was able to destroy over 400 enemy vehicles, mostly armored, but its own losses that month were devastating and irreplaceable: 57 FW 190s lost, 26 pilots ⚔ or MIA, another 14 wounded.
  • 6.8.1944: WIA in his Bf 109 G-6, shot down by USAAF P-51 Mustangs northwest of Berlin
  • 1.10.1944 to 7.1.1945: Appointed fighter pilot operations leader Hungary
  • February 1945: Appointed Commander of the Luftkriegsschule (LKS 2) in Berlin-Gatow
  • 10.4.1945: Appointed Commodore (Kommodore) of JG 6 as successor to Gerhard Barkhorn (de)[2]
  • April/May 1945: Taken prisoner of war by the invading Soviets in Reichsgau Sudetenland near Reichenberg
    • Major Richard Leppla (1914–1988) took over the command of the fighter wing on 17 April 1945 which would mean, Schöpfel was either captured on this day or severely wounded.

Post-WWII

In December 1949, Schöpfel was released from a Soviet POW camp and was repatriated. At first, he worked as a chauffeur then became a merchant. In 1960, he returned to the aviation field as an executive of Air Lloyd in Bonn. The retired major was an active member of the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients (AKCR) and a popular contemporary witness. He often welcomed historians, authors and interested parties in his home and willingly reported on his experiences as a flying ace in the Second World War.

Awards and decorations

Gallery

  • Gerhard Schöpfel (Bf 109).jpg
  • Gerhard Schöpfel of Jagdgeschwader 26.jpg
  • Gerhard Schöpfel, Four In Two Minutes, Messerschmitt Bf109 E-4 Gelbe 1.jpg
  • Gerhard Schöpfel IV.png
  • Gerhard Schöpfel III.jpg
  • Gerhard Schöpfel, Adolf Galland and Joachim Müncheberg.jpg
  • Colonel Eduard Ritter von Schleich and Major Gerhard Schöpfel.jpg
  • Gerhard Schöpfel and artist Graeme Lothian.jpg

References

  1. ↑ Ernst Obermaier: Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939–1945 [The Knight's Cross Bearers of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force 1939 – 1945], Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz 1989
  2. ↑ Schöpfel, Gerhard 'Gerd' (JG 26 "Schlageter")
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