# Franz Schwaiger

Franz Schwaiger (1 February 1918 – 24 April 1944) 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 - for the fighter pilots, it was a quantifiable measure of skill and success.

## Military career

Schwaiger was born on 1 February 1918 in Ulm in the Kingdom of Württemberg within the German Empire. Following flight training as a fighter pilot in the summer of 1941, he was posted, as an Unteroffizier, to 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" (JG 3—3rd Fighter Wing). This squadron was part of II./JG 3 under the command of Gordon Gollob and fighting with Army Group South. Schwaiger quickly earned his first air victory, on 16.08.1941, but by the end of the year had reached a total of eight victories at which time his unit was rotated back to the Reich for rest and re-equipping.
A short secondment for his Gruppe to the Mediterranean Theatre, from January to April 1942, yielded no further success for Franz, but upon their return to the Eastern Front in May he started scoring steadily. Again covering Army Group South and the advance across Ukraine toward Stalingrad, he scored his 20th victory on 31 July. The next week he was transferred to 2./JG 3, in the same sector. He scored his 30th victory on 17 August, and his 40th on 29 September, between which he had been transferred again, this time to 3./JG 3. Promoted to Feldwebel in early October, he scored his 50th victory on the 9th before being awarded the Knight's Cross, for 53 victories, on 29 October.
At the start of 1943 as the disaster at Stalingrad unfolded, and with 56 victories, Franz was sent for officer-training. Commissioned as a Leutnant, he returned to I./JG 3 as their highest-scoring pilot. In the intervening months the Gruppe had been recalled to Germany for Defence of the Reich duties against the increasingly intensive bombing raids of the 8th United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). This was a completely different type of aerial warfare - at high altitude and against the slow but very heavily armed box-formations of American bombers. Based around the industrial Ruhr heartland and Holland for the next year, he slowly added to his score.

### Squadron leader and death

On 28 February 1944, I. Gruppe moved to Burg bei Magdeburg where the 1. Jagd-Division (1st Fighter Division) was concentrating fighter forces. In March, Schwaiger was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 1. Staffel of JG 3 following the death of its former commander Leutnant Hans Frese on 8 March. On 24 April, the USAAF Eighth Air Force sent 745 heavy bombers, escorted by 867 fighter aircraft, against the German aircraft industry. At 12:15, I. Gruppe took off and joined up with other elements of JG 3. At approximately 13:15, the Luftwaffe fighters intercepted a bomber formation north of Augsburg. The Luftwaffe fighters flew several attacks against the bomber formation. Following this engagement, Schwaiger made a successful forced landing in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-5 (Werknummer 110186—factory number) near Neuburg an der Donau but was then killed by strafing North American P-51 Mustang fighters after he had left his aircraft. Command of 1. Staffel remained vacant until 10 May when Hauptmann Ernst Laube was appointed its Staffelkapitän.

## Summary of career
### Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Schwaiger was credited with 67 aerial victories. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 56 aerial victory claims, plus one further unconfirmed claim. This figure of confirmed claims includes 55 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and one on the Western Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 4931". 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 and the – (dash) indicates unconfirmed aerial victory claims for which Schwaiger did not receive credit.  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.  This along with the & (ampersand) indicates a endgültige Vernichtung (final destruction)—a coup de grâce inflicted on an already damaged heavy bomber.  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 |
| – 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 1 November 1941 ||||||||||
| 1 | 16 August 1941 | 06:55 | DB-3 | | 5 | 26 August 1941 | 16:15 | Pe-2 | east of Dnipropetrovsk |
| 2 | 19 August 1941 | 13:55? | I-153 | | 6 | 3 September 1941 | 07:55 | Pe-2 | |
| 3 | 21 August 1941 | 07:55 | DB-3 | | 7 | 8 September 1941 | 13:47 | SB-2 | |
| 4 | 21 August 1941 | 07:58 | DB-3 | | 8 | 6 October 1941 | 09:20 | Pe-2 | |
| – 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Eastern Front — 26 April – 31 July 1942 ||||||||||
| 9 | 27 May 1942 | 12:50 | Il-2 | | 15 | 24 July 1942 | 13:20 | Yak-1 | PQ 4931 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Bassargino |
| 10 | 29 May 1942 | 18:35 | V-11 (Il-2) | | 16 | 26 July 1942 | 08:15 | Il-2 | |
| 11 | 29 May 1942 | 18:40 | V-11 (Il-2) | | 17 | 26 July 1942 | 08:20 | Il-2 | |
| 12 | 4 June 1942 | 17:27 | Il-2 | | 18 | 27 July 1942 | 11:40 | Yak-1 | PQ 39251 10 km (6.2 mi) northwest of Pitomnik |
| 13 | 11 June 1942 | 12:27 | Il-2 | | 19 | 31 July 1942 | 13:55 | Il-2 | PQ 39192, Kalach 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Kalach |
| 14 | 22 July 1942 | 05:00 | I-16 | | 20 | 31 July 1942 | 14:00 | LaGG-3 | PQ 39184 20 km (12 mi) west of Kalach |
| – 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Eastern Front — August – September 1942 ||||||||||
| 21 | 4 August 1942 | 16:30 | MiG-1 | PQ 35 Ost 38285 30 km (19 mi) south of Shutow | 31 | 20 August 1942 | 10:32 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49451 Leninsk airfield |
| 22 | 5 August 1942 | 17:37 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49739 | 32 | 21 August 1942 | 17:42 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49124 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Gumrak |
| 23 | 9 August 1942 | 11:50? | Yak-1 | PQ 35 Ost 39417 10 km (6.2 mi) southeast of Kalach | 33 | 28 August 1942 | 05:18 | MiG-1 | PQ 35 Ost 40894 |
| 24 | 9 August 1942 | 12:00 | Yak-1 | 3 km (1.9 mi) southeast of Nadeshda vicinity of Bassargino | 34 | 29 August 1942 | 13:50 | P-40 | PQ 35 Ost 49261 20 km (12 mi) south of Stalingrad |
| 25 | 12 August 1942 | 04:22 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 3946 | 35 | 31 August 1942 | 16:07 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 49333 vicinity of Stalingrad |
| 26 | 13 August 1942 | 17:54 | MiG-1 | PQ 35 Ost 39432 10 km (6.2 mi) south of Pitomnik | 36 | 3 September 1942 | 04:55 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 40813 |
| 27 | 17 August 1942 | 16:51 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 30894 20 km (12 mi) north of Pitomnik | 37 | 4 September 1942 | 17:10? | Yak-1 | PQ 35 Ost 49241 5–10 km (3.1–6.2 mi) northeast of Stalingrad |
| 28 | 17 August 1942 | 16:52 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 40773, Katschalinskaja | 38 | 6 September 1942 | 17:05 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49134 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Grebenka |
| 29 | 17 August 1942 | 16:59? | Il-2 | PQ 40793 vicinity of Spartak | 39 | 29 September 1942 | 10:05 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 49251, northeast of Stalingrad 20 km (12 mi) east-northeast of Stalingrad |
| 30 | 20 August 1942 | 10:21? | Pe-2 | PQ 35 Ost 49631 | 40 | 29 September 1942 | 10:08 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 49222 20 km (12 mi) northeast of Stalingrad |
| – 3. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Eastern Front — September 1942 ||||||||||
| 41 | 29 September 1942 | 15:50 | MiG-3? | PQ 35 Ost 59161 | | | | | |
| – 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Eastern Front — September 1942 ||||||||||
| 42 | 30 September 1942 | 14:45 | LaGG-3 | 15 km (9.3 mi) north of Kotluban railway station | | | | | |
| – 3. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Eastern Front — October – November 1942 ||||||||||
| 43 | 4 October 1942 | 16:07 | La-5 | 6 km (3.7 mi) east of Tschagarniki | 50 | 9 October 1942 | 14:43 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49124 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Gumrak |
| 44 | 5 October 1942 | 07:12 | MiG-1 | PQ 35 Ost 40424 | 51 | 15 October 1942 | 07:58 | R-5 | PQ 35 Ost 59314 |
| 45 | 6 October 1942 | 14:02 | Il-2 | PQ 35 Ost 40442 | 52 | 29 October 1942 | 14:15 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 59321 |
| 46 | 6 October 1942 | 14:14 | MiG-1 | PQ 35 Ost 40432 | 53 | 31 October 1942 | 13:20 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 50171 |
| 47 | 7 October 1942 | 08:58 | Yak-1 | 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Kolobowka | 54 | 2 November 1942 | 06:20 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49491 40 km (25 mi) east of Stalingrad |
| 48 | 8 October 1942 | 08:40 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 50672 | 55 | 2 November 1942 | 06:58 | R-5 | PQ 35 Ost 49434 40 km (25 mi) east of Stalingrad |
| 49 | 9 October 1942 | 14:38 | LaGG-3 | PQ 35 Ost 49931 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Grebenka | | | | | |
| – 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Defense of the Reich — 1 May – 22 October 1943 ||||||||||
| —? | 30 July 1943 | — | B-17& | | 56? | 19 August 1943 | 19:00 | B-17* | PQ 05 Ost S/KL |
| —? | 12 August 1943 | 09:30 | B-17 | | | | | | |
| – 1. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet" – Defense of the Reich — 9 January – 24 April 1944 ||||||||||
| 57 | 19 April 1944 | 10:55 | P-51 | PQ 05 Ost S/LU-6 south of Hannoversch Münden, east of Kassel | | | | | |

### Awards

* Flugzeugführerabzeichen
* Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
* Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
* German Cross in Gold on 29 October 1942 as Unteroffizier in the 3./Jagdgeschwader 3
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 23 October 1942 as Unteroffizier and pilot in the 6./Jagdgeschwader 3 "Udet"