Hubert Strassl


Hubert Straßl was an Austrian-born German fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe and fought during World War II. He was credited with 67 aerial victories—that is, 67 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—claimed in 221 combat missions. He was "ace-in-a-day" four times, shooting down five or more aircraft on a single day. On 8 July 1943, during the Battle of Kursk, Straßl was killed in aerial combat with Soviet fighters near Ponyri.

Career

Straßl was born on 24 May 1918 at Linz, Austria. Following completion of flight and fighter pilot training, he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 51 in late 1941.
On 5 July 1943, he became a triple-ace in a day when he shot down 15 enemy aircraft in four missions south of Orel in Russia during the Battle of Kursk. Over the course of the three days, Straßl shot down 30 enemy aircraft. He was forced to bail out of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-4 following combat with a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 south of Ponyri on 8 July. His parachute failed to fully deploy and he fell to his death. On 12 November 1943, Straßl was awarded a posthumous Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Straßl was credited with 67 aerial victories. Spick also lists Straßl with 67 enemy aircraft shot down, claimed in 221 combat missions, all of which on the Eastern Front. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces – Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 67 aerial victory claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference, for example "PQ 47722". 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