Hermann Wischnewski


Hermann Wischnewski 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, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. During his career Hermann Wischniewski was credited with between 24 and 28 victories.

Career

Wischnewski was born on 9 February 1917 in Rensefeld, present-day part of Bad Schwartau, in the Province of Schleswig-Holstein within the German Empire. He joined the Luftwaffe in early 1940 and following flight training, he was posted to Kampfgruppe z.b.V. 700 flying the Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft. On 29 July 1944, Wischnewski was shot down and wounded in aerial combat with North American P-51 Mustang fighters. He bailed out of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6/U2 near Apolda.

Later life

Wischnewski died on 28 November 1993 at the age of in Lübeck, Germany.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to Spick, Wischnewski was credited with 28 aerial victories, 18 of which by night, claimed in over 500 missions. Aders lists him with 16 nocturnal aerial victories and two daytime claims. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and state that he was credited with at least eight aerial victory, plus sixteen further unconfirmed claims. This figure of confirmed claims includes at least four four-engine heavy bombers, all on the Western Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference, for example "PQ 15 Ost S/GG-9". 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 in size.

Awards