Fritz Tegtmeier
Fritz Tegtmeier (30 July 1917 – 8 April 1999) was a World War II Luftwaffe 146 aerial victories Flying ace and recipient of the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognize extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. Military career. Fritz Tegtmeier was posted to the 2. "Staffel" (2nd Squadron) of "Jagdgeschwader" 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) in October 1940. He was severely injured  on 17 November 1940 when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-1 ("Werknummer" 6043—factory number) suffered engined failure, resulting in crash landing at Jever Airfield. He returned to his "Staffel" in the spring of 1941 and claimed his first aerial victory on 22 June 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa on the Eastern Front. On 8 September, I. "Gruppe" moved to an airfield at Siversky located southwest of Leningrad. There, on 11 September he was again severely injured in a collision in his Bf 109 F-2 resulting in a crash landing at Siversky. He returned to active duty in April  1942 and was assigned to the 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 aerual victories. He claimed aerial victories number 36 and 37 on 23 January. On 3 May 1943 he claimed numbers 51–53 and was posted to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost as fighter pilot instructor. He returned to front line duty, this time with the 3. "Staffel" of JG 54, in September 1943. In November 1943 he  achieved his 75th aerial victory. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 28 March 1944 following his 99th aerial victory. Tegtmeier was promoted to "Leutnant" 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. In October 1944 he was made "Staffelkapitän" of the 3. "Staffel" of JG 54. By the end of 1944 his score of aerial victories stood at 139 claims. When he was transferred to "Jagdgeschwader" 7 (JG 7—7th Fighter Wing) for flight training on  the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in March 1945 his score stood at 146 aerial victories. Fritz Tegtmeier had been nominated for the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross (). Summary of career. Aerial victory claims. According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Tegtmeier was credited with 146 aerial victories. Matthews and Foreman, 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. Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = "Planquadrat"), for example "PQ 01852". The Luftwaffe grid  map () 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 . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 × 4 km in size.