Information About ™Hans-arnold Stahlschmidt |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HANS-ARNOLD STAHLSCHMIDT | |
| 1920 births | |
| 1942 deaths | |
| luftwaffe pilots | |
| german world war ii flying aces | |
| german military personnel killed in world war two | |
| recipients of the german cross | |
| recipients of the knights cross | |
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Death The 7th September 1942 dawned as any other, Lt Stahlschmidt had set off with his flight on an early morning fighter sweep over El Alamein . South East of El Alamein they were 'jumped' by spitfires. As one of the last fighters landed at their base in Quotaifiya the pilot reported that he was involved in a low-level dog-fight with a formation of RAF fighters. Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt did not return as was posted as missing in action. He was missing in action and continued to be missing in action, his exact fate remains unknown to this day. After over 400 combat missions in Africa with 59 kills he had crashed somewhere in the African desert. On 3 January 1944 he posthumously became the 365th recipient of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, he was also promoted to Oberleutnant on that date. In the space of three weeks Jagdgeschwader 27 had been rocked by the deaths of its three top aces. Stahlschmitt's death coming only 24 hours after the death of another JG27 ace Gunther Steinhausen (40 kills),and then followed three weeks later on the 30th September 1942 by the death Hans-Joachim Marseille, 'The Star of Africa' (158 kills). Morale fell so low that the Gruppe was withdrawn to Sicily in October. It returned breifly to the North Africa but then was withdrawn from the Theatre for the final time in December of 1942. |
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