serviceyears branch death_date allegiance birth_date alt commands death_place battles rank image name caption relations birth_place unit awards nickname article_title
1931 -- 45 20px 24 april 1945 weimar republic -lrb- to 1933 -rrb- nazi germany 4 september 1912 the shown is short , and his facial expression is determined ; in looking into the camera . the head and shoulders of semi-profile a young man , shown in semi-profile . he wears . a military uniform with an iron cross displayed at the he front of his shirt collar . his hair isshort and wears combed to his right , his nose is short , a and his facial expression is determined ; looking into the military camera . uniform with head an iron cross displayed at the front of his shirt and collar . his hair isshort and combed to his right shoulders , his nose is short , and his facial expression of is determined ; looking into the camera . the head a and shoulders of a young man , shown in semi-profile young . he wears a military uniform with an iron cross man displayed at the front of his shirt collar . his , hair isshort and combed to his right , his nose 2 3 , jg 51 . j/88 i. / jg 3 , jg near donauwörth spanish civil war '' oberst '' -lrb- colonel -rrb- bundesarchiv bild 146-2006-0126 , günther lützow.jpg günther lützow günther lützow friedrich father-in-law -rrb- eberhard kinzel -lrb- uncle -rrb- lützow -lrb- father -rrb- kurt von priesdorff -lrb- kiel j/88 44 , jg 3 , jg 51 , jv spanish 's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves and cross swords in gold with swords and diamonds knight franz or franzl günther lützow

günther lützow

günther lützow -lrb- 4 september 1912 -- 24 april 1945 -rrb- was a german `` luftwaffe '' military aviator during spanish civil war and world war ii , a fighter ace credited with 110 enemy aircraft shot down in over 300 combat missions .
he claimed 5 victories in spain , the majority of his victories of world war ii were claimed over the eastern front , with 20 over the western front , including two victories flying the messerschmitt me 262 jet fighter and one four-engined bomber .
born in kiel , lützow volunteered for military service in the reichswehr of the weimar republic in 1931 .
in parallel , he was accepted for flight training with the `` deutsche verkehrsfliegerschule '' , a covert military-training organization and at the lipetsk fighter-pilot school .
following flight training , he was posted to `` jagdgeschwader '' `` richthofen '' -lrb- fighter wing `` richthofen '' -rrb- in 1934 .
in 1937 , he volunteered for service with the condor legion during the spanish civil war where he was appointed `` staffelkapitän '' of 2 .
`` staffel '' -lrb- 2nd squadron -rrb- of `` jagdgruppe '' 88 -lrb- j/88 -- 88th fighter group -rrb- .
from april -- september 1937 claimed five aerial victories .
for his service in spain he was awarded the spanish cross in gold with swords and diamonds , germany 's highest decoration of the spanish civil war .
after an assignment as fighter pilot instructor he was appointed `` gruppenkommandeur '' -lrb- group commander -rrb- of i. `` gruppe '' -lrb- 1st group -rrb- of `` jagdgeschwader '' 3 -lrb- jg 3 -- 3rd fighter wing -rrb- following the outbreak of world war ii on 3 november 1939 .
he led the gruppe through the battle of france and claimed his first victory of world war ii on 14 may 1940 .
lützow became `` geschwaderkommodore '' -lrb- wing commander -rrb- of jg 3 on 21 august 1940 .
during the height of the battle of britain on 18 september 1940 , he was awarded the knight 's cross of the iron cross after 15 aerial victories in world war ii .
lützow commanded jg 3 in the aerial battles of operation barbarossa , the german invasion of the soviet union .
there , after 42 aerial victories of world war ii , he was awarded the knight 's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves on 20 july 1941 .
three months later , following his 92nd aerial victory of the war , lützow was awarded the knight 's cross of the iron cross with oak leaves and swords on 11 october 1941 .
on 24 october , he claimed victories 99 -- 101 of world war ii , the second fighter pilot after werner mölders to claim 100 aerial victories .
from september to november 1941 , he also served as acting commander of `` jagdgeschwader '' 51 -lrb- jg 51 -- 51st fighter wing -rrb- , replacing friedrich beckh who had been injured in combat until the position was filed in by karl-gottfried nordmann .
subsequently he was instructed not to fly operationally anymore .
ignoring the order , he added two more victories before he was posted to the staff of `` general der jagdflieger '' -lrb- general of fighters -rrb- adolf galland serving as `` inspector of day fighters , east '' on 11 august 1942 .
in july 1943 , lützow was tasked with commanding fighter operations in italy .
from september 1943 to march 1944 , he led the 1 .
`` jagd division '' -lrb- 1st fighter division -rrb- , commanding all day and night fighter operations in north western germany , the netherlands and belgium .
lützow 's role in the `` fighter pilots revolt '' was considered mutiny by hermann göring and he exiled lützow to italy .
in april 1945 , he joined galland 's `` jagdverband '' 44 -lrb- jv 44 -- 44th fighter detachment -rrb- .
he was posted missing in action flying the me 262 on 24 april 1945 while attempting to intercept a united states army air forces b-26 marauder raid near donauwörth .
his body was never recovered .
