Erich Hohagen Erich Hohagen ( 9 January 1915 – 8 March 1990 ) was a German Luftwaffe flying ace during World War II and a General in the post war Bundeswehr . A holder of the " Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes " ( Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ) , Hohagen led several Luftwaffe units during the war and became a well - respected fighter commander . During his career in military aviation Hohagen accumulated several thousand hours of flying time on over 60 different aircraft types and survived over 500 combat missions during World War II . Career . Erich Hohagen was one of the very few of the Luftwaffe ' s veterans to have flown in combat almost continuously throughout the war . Hohagen flew on the Channel Front with 4 . / JG 51 in 1940 and then in the campaign against the Soviet Union during 1941 - 42 with 4 . / JG 51 and Stab II . / JG 51 . He then served on the Western Front in 1943 - 44 with 7 . / JG 2 and Stab I . / JG 2 , and the " Reichsverteidigung " or " Defence of the Reich " in 1944 - 45 with Stab I . / JG 2 and JV 44 . As a " Leutnant " based on the Channel Coast with 4 . / JG 51 he scored his first aerial victory - an RAF Supermarine Spitfire over Southern England on 5 July 1940 . Eleven more RAF fighters fell to his guns before late May 1941 , when his unit was transferred to the East for Operation Barbarossa . Hohagen ' s most successful sortie on the Eastern Front was on 22 June 1941 when he shot down three Soviet SB - 2 bombers in the space of five minutes . Hohagen received the Ritterkreuz on 5 October 1941 , after 30 victories . Hohagen was posted to 7 . / JG 2 in January 1943 , serving in the West . On 1 June 1943 Oblt . Wilhelm Steinmann of 3 . / JG 27 claimed an RAF Supermarine Spitfire shot down , however he had made an identification error and in fact shot down the Bf 109 G - 6 flown by " Hauptmann " Hohagen . Hohagen was forced to bail and was wounded . On 16 September 1943 Hohagen , now " Gruppenkommandeur " of I . / JG 2 , was piloting an Fw 190A - 6 fighter ( W . Nr . 550532 ) leading the Stab I . / JG 2 in a sharp engagement with USAAF B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers . Hohagen was again wounded and crash landed his damaged aircraft near Rennes , France . During the subsequent belly landing , Hohagen suffered a severe cranial injury when his head hit the gunsight mount . Recovering from his wounds and still suffering from headaches he was deemed fit for operations . Hohagen led the I . / JG 2 from 19 August 1943 until 24 September 1944 . In January 1944 elements of JG 2 were sent to bolster the Mediterranean theatre to counter the Allied invasion at Anzio . Hohagen ' s I . / JG 2 , flying Fw 190A - 6 ' s , was stationed at Castiglione del Lago and later at Canino . Hohagen ' s unit was withdrawn to France in April 1944 after heavy losses . On D - Day Hohagen was in combat over the front and at 17 . 25 hours claimed an RAF fighter shot down around Beaumont - le - Roger ; probably a Mustang I ( Serial No . AG465 ) of No . 430 Squadron RCAF flown by F / O J . S . Cox , who was killed . Major Hohagen flew the new Me 262 jet aircraft for one week at Lechfeld with III . / EJG 2 , before being posted to the command of III . / JG 7 , based at Bradenburg - Briest airfield . In the latter months of 1944 Hohagen helped to convert pilots to the new jets . Soon , Hohagen was declared unfit for further combat operations and sent immediately to a Fighter Pilots ' Hospital near Berlin for a more thorough recuperation from his many and still troublesome wounds . In early 1945 " Generalleutnant " Adolf Galland and " Oberst " Johannes Steinhoff recruited Hohagen from hospital to join the new Jagdverband 44 ( JV 44 ) forming at Bradenburg - Briest . Galland had received permission to create and staff the unorthodox fighter group from Luftwaffe Chief , " Reichsmarschall " Hermann Göring . Hohagen became the Technical Officer for JV 44 and assisted with the conversion of newly arriving pilots to the Me 262 . The unit transferred to München - Riem on 31 March 1945 . He served as JV 44 ' s Technical Officer until the crash of " Oberst " Johannes Steinhoff on 18 April 1945 , and Hohagen replaced the injured Steinhoff as the unit ' s " Einsatzchef " ( Operations Chief ) . Hohagen remained operational with JV 44 until the end of the war . He was one of the surviving JV 44 pilots who transferred with the unit ' s jet aircraft to Salzburg , Austria in May 1945 . He is credited with 56 aerial victories , including 13 four - engined bombers in the West and 17 Soviet aircraft in the East .