# Ernst Börngen

Ernst Börngen (7 February 1916 – 30 June 1989) was a Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Börngen claimed 41 victories in 450 missions.

## Career

Börngen was born 7 February 1916 in Meuselwitz, at the time in the Kingdom of Saxony within German Empire. In November 1937, he joined the military service of the Luftwaffe as a Fähnrich (cadet).

### North Africa

Following the withdrawal from the Eastern Front, II. Gruppe arrived in Döberitz on 24 July 1941. The entire personnel then went on vacation, returning to Döberitz on 18 August. Over the next three weeks, the Gruppe converted to the Bf 109 F-4 fighter. Relocation to the North African Theater began on 7 September, with 4. Staffel transferring south on 16 September and 5. Staffel on 27 September, where they were based at an airfield in Ain el Gazala. There, II. Gruppe joined I. Gruppe of JG 27 which was already based in North Africa.
On 20 May 1942, Börngen officially replaced Hauptmann (captain) Ernst Düllberg as Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 5. Staffel. Düllberg had been wounded in action on 22 November 1941 and Börngen had already acted as intermittent Staffelführer for some weeks. On 11 July 1942, Börngen's Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 trop (Werknummer 10 203—factory number) was damaged in aerial combat with Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters, resulting in a forced landing east of El Dabaa
Börngen led 5. Staffel until 16 July 1943. That day, he had claimed his 28th aerial victory over a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. During the attack, his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 18 371) took a cabin hit from the defensive fire of the bomber, wounding him severely. Despite being wounded, he crash landed the aircraft at San Vito dei Normanni.

### Defense of the Reich

In May 1944, the Allies initiated the Oil Campaign of World War II, targeting various facilities supplying Germany with petroleum, oil, and lubrication products. On 12 May, the Eighth Air Force sent an attack force of 886 heavy bombers, protected by 980 escort fighters, against the German refineries in central Germany at Leuna, Merseburg, Böhlen and Zeitz. In defense of this attack, I. Gruppe engaged a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers shortly past 12:30 just east of Eschborn. In this encounter, the Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe, Major Ludwig Franzisket was severely wounded. The next day, Börngen succeeded Franzisket as commander of I. Gruppe and surrendered his command of 2. Staffel to Leutnant Karl Wünsch.
On 19 May 1944, the Eighth Air Force targeted Berlin and Braunschweig with 888 heavy bombers, protected by 964 escort fighters. The German aerial defenses under the command Jagdfliegerführer Ostmark ordered I. Gruppe, led by Börngen and at the time based at Fels am Wagram, to take off at 11:43. Börngen's group was ordered to meet up with III. and VI. Gruppe to form a larger combat formation. This formation was then vectored to Magdeburg where at 13:00 they encountered the escort fighters of a formation of Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers northwest of the city. While III. and VI. Gruppe engaged the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and North American P-51 Mustang fighters, the Stabsschwarm and I. Gruppe managed to attack the B-24 bombers. Following the encounter, JG 27 claimed 17 aerial victories, including Herausschüsse (separation shots)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from his combat box which was counted as an aerial victory. In return, JG 27 suffered five aircraft lost, two pilots killed in action and one pilot severely wounded. At 13:15, Börngen had shot down a B-24 near Helmstedt and then at 13:20 engaged another bomber by ramming it with his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 441 101—factory number), sustaining severe injuries. He managed to bail out and was immediately taken to the Luftwaffe hospital at Helmstedt where his right arm had to be amputated. Börngen was then replaced by Major Karl-Wolfgang Redlich as commander of I. Gruppe.

## Summary of career
### Aerial victory claims

Börngen was credited with 41 enemy aircraft shot down in over 450 combat missions, the majority of which on the Western Front and two on the Eastern Front. This figure includes 16 four-engined bombers. Ring and Girbig list him with 45 aerial victories, including nine heavy bombers. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 35 aerial victory claims, plus four further unconfirmed claims. This figure includes two aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 33 over the Western Allies, including 14 four-engined bombers.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 15 Ost S/OT-2/3". 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 km$^2$). 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.
Chronicle of aerial victories :
| This along with the * (asterisk) indicates an Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from his combat box which was counted as an aerial victory. ||||||||||||
| Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location | Unit | Claim | Date | Time | Type | Location | Unit |
| – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – On the Channel Front – August – November 1940 ||||||||||||
| 1 | 18 August 1940 | 15:30 | Spitfire | Selsey Bill | 4./JG 27 | 2 | 18 August 1940 | 15:40 | Spitfire | Selsey Bill | 4./JG 27 |
| – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – During the Balkan Campaign – April 1940 ||||||||||||
| 3 | 15 April 1941 | 07:01 | Gladiator | west Trikkala | 4./JG 27 | | | | | | |
| – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – On the Eastern Front – June 1941 ||||||||||||
| 4 | 25 June 1941 | 11:02 | SB-3 | Usmana-Holszany | 4./JG 27 | 5 | 25 June 1941 | — | DB | | 4./JG 27 |
| – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – In North Africa – April 1941 – December 1942 ||||||||||||
| 6 | 21 December 1941 | 15:02 | Blenheim | 3 km (1.9 mi) southwest El Agheila | 5./JG 27 | 13 | 15 September 1942 | 17:02 | P-40 | south El Alamein | 5./JG 27 |
| 7 | 30 May 1942 | 17:05 | P-40 | southeast Fort Acroma | 5./JG 27 | 14 | 9 October 1942 | 12:20 | Spitfire | north Sanyet Quotaifiya | 5./JG 27 |
| 8 | 5 June 1942 | 11:51 | P-40 | 20 km (12 mi) northeast Mteifl Chebir | 5./JG 27 | 15 | 20 October 1942 | 09:20 | P-40 | east-northeast El Dabaa | 5./JG 27 |
| 9 | 26 June 1942 | 19:03 | P-40 | southeast Mersa Matruh | 5./JG 27 | 16 | 27 October 1942 | 15:03 | Spitfire | north Turbiya | 5./JG 27 |
| 10 | 3 July 1942 | 18:12 | P-40 | west El Alamein | 5./JG 27 | 17 | 27 October 1942 | 15:32 | Hurricane | northwest El Alamein | 5./JG 27 |
| 11 | 11 July 1942 | 16:07 | Spitfire | southwest El Alamein | 5./JG 27 | 18 | 11 November 1942 | 09:27 | P-40 | south Sollum | 5./JG 27 |
| 12 | 20 July 1942 | 18:23 | P-40 | El Alamein | 5./JG 27 | | | | | | |
| – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Sicily, Tunisia and Italy – April – July 1943 ||||||||||||
| 19 | 29 April 1943 | 11:27 | P-38 | 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest Marettimo | 5./JG 27 | 24 | 2 July 1943 | 11:15 | B-24 | 30 km (19 mi) east-southeast Lecce | 5./JG 27 |
| 20 | 22 May 1943 | 16:15 | P-38 | south-southwest Marettimo | 5./JG 27 | 25 | 2 July 1943 | 11:25 | B-24 | 20 km (12 mi) southwest San Cesario di Lecce | 5./JG 27 |
| 21 | 25 May 1943 | 11:32 | B-17 | northwest Marettimo | 5./JG 27 | 26 | 10 July 1943 | 16:07 | Spitfire | 30 km (19 mi) southeast Syracuse | 5./JG 27 |
| 22 | 28 May 1943 | 18:02 | B-24 | south Castelvetrano | 5./JG 27 | 27 | 12 July 1943 | — | Spitfire | | 5./JG 27 |
| 23 | 28 May 1943 | 18:06 | B-25 | southwest Marsala | 5./JG 27 | 28 | 16 July 1943 | 13:10 | B-24 | 25 km (16 mi) east-northeast Bari | 5./JG 27 |
| – Claims with Stab of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Defense of the Reich – April 1944 ||||||||||||
| 29 | 3 April 1944 | 10:46 | B-17* | 50 km (31 mi) south Budapest | Stab/JG 27 | | | | | | |
| – Claims with III. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Defense of the Reich – April 1944 ||||||||||||
| 30 | 6 April 1944 | 16:23 | B-17 | 30 km (19 mi) southeast Marburg | Stab III./JG 27 | 32 | 12 April 1944 | 12:12 | B-17* | west Lake Neusiedl | Stab III./JG 27 |
| 31 | 12 April 1944 | 12:10 | B-24 | southwest Lake Neusiedl | Stab III./JG 27 | 33 | 13 April 1944 | 11:48 | B-17 | 10 km (6.2 mi) east-southeast Raab | Stab III./JG 27 |
| – Claims with I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Defense of the Reich – April 1944 ||||||||||||
| 34 | 23 April 1944 | 14:50 | B-17 | west Willendorf, west of Wiener Neustadt | 2./JG 27 | | | | | | |
| – Claims with Stab of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Defense of the Reich – May 1944 ||||||||||||
| 35 | 12 May 1944 | 12:37 | B-17 | PQ 15 Ost S/OT-2/3, northwest Bamberg | Stab/JG 27 | 36 | 12 May 1944 | 12:57 | B-17 | PQ 05 Ost S/QB-4/5, Bad Orb | Stab/JG 27 |
| – Claims with I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27 – Defense of the Reich – May 1944 ||||||||||||
| 37 | 19 May 1944 | 13:15 | B-24 | 6 km (3.7 mi) east Helmstedt | Stab I./JG 27 | 38 | 19 May 1944 | 13:20 | B-24 | north Helmstedt | Stab I./JG 27 |

### Awards

* Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold (6 May 1941)
* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* Wound Badge (1939)
** in Black
** in Silver
* Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 25 January 1943 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän
* German Cross in Gold on 31 August 1943 as Hauptmann in the 5./Jagdgeschwader 27
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 3 August 1944 as Hauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 5./Jagdgeschwader 27