Otto Würfel


Otto Würfel was a former Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. Würfel was credited with 79 arial victories all over the Eastern Front (World War II). In 1944 his aircraft had a mid air collision with another Luftwaffe aircraft over the Rogachev–Zhlobin offensive and he was captured by the Russians and died in a POW camp.

Career

On 10 March 1939, Würfel was assigned to 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51. In the fall of 1943, Würfel was briefly transferred to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost, a fighter pilot training unit for pilots destined for the Eastern Front, as an instructor.
On 23 February 1944, Würfel was piloting his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 over Rogachev when he Luftwaffe pilot, Oberfeldwebel Heinrich Dittlmann flying Fw 190 A-5 were involved in a mid-air collision. Following the collision, Dittlmann was reported as missing in action while Würfel bailed out over Soviet held territory. Taken prisoner of war, he contracted Typhus and died on 22 December 1944 at Camp 280/5 near Stalino. On 4 May 1944 while in Soviet captivity, Würfel had been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his 79 aerial victories claimed.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Würfel was credited with 79 aerial victories. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces – Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 77 aerial victory claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference, for example "PQ 47731". 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