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Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt (15 September 1920 – missing in action 7 September 1942) was a German fighter pilot and ace. A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat.[1] He scored all of his 59 victories against the Western Allies in North Africa flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Stahlschmidt was a close friend of the prominent ace Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 Kills).
Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt was born on 15 September 1920 in Kreuztal, Westphalia as son to the manufacturer Arno Stahlschmidt. He attended the Volksschule in Kreuztal and received his Abitur in April 1939 from the Oberschule in Weidenau/Sieg.[2]
Stahlschmidt completed his Reichsarbeitsdienst in Eichelsachsen near Gleiwitz. Afterwards he joined the military service in Salzwedel and became a professional soldier. In Salzwedel he completed his military basic training as a fighter pilot. He continued his training at the pilot training facilities in Breslau and the war-college at Vienna-Schwechat.[2] From here in January 1941, he was posted as an Oberfähnrich to 2./JG 27 (the 2nd squadron of the 27th Fighter Wing) based at Berlin. Also posted to I./JG 27 at the same time - but from a far different background - was Oberfähnrich Marseille, already an ace with 7 victories from the Battle of Britain.
Soon afterward, in March, I/JG 27 was sent to Sicily to see action over Malta. Pulled back in early April to Graz in Austria, it joined JG 54 and the rest of JG 27 as fighter for the Balkan invasion.[3] On 14 April, with air superiority assured, I./JG 27 was recalled to Munich for a short layover before being transferred to a new theater for the Luftwaffe: North Africa.
They were initially based at Ain-el-Gazala, just west of the besieged town of Tobruk. Amongst a cadre of experienced, veteran pilots, Stahlschmidt took time to adapt to the desert conditions. However, before he scored a kill in air combat, he succeeded in sinking two Allied vessels, leading to the capture of 32 men. He finally achieved his first victory over Tobruk, a Hawker Hurricane of the RAF 73 Squadron, on 15 June 1941. In August, as the remaining Gruppen of Jagdgeschwader 27 transferred in to North Africa from Russia as reinforcements, I./JG 27 rotated its own squadrons back to Germany to re-equip onto the Bf 109F.
It was November 1941, just as the British launched Operation Crusader to relieve Tobruk, that the now-commissioned Leutnant Stahlschmidt scored his next victories - a trio of SAAF Maryland bombers - southwest of Tobruk.[4] On 6 December he was appointed Gruppen Adjutant of I./JG 27, a position he held briefly until his return to 2./JG 27 in February 1942.[5] On 22 January 1942 No. 3 Squadron RAAF was bounced by Leutnant Stahlschmidt and his wingman. Stahlschmidt shot down Flying Officer James McIntosh, who was killed.[6]
On 21 February, Stahlschmidt was part of a formation led by his Staffelkapitän, Oberleutnant Gerhard Homuth. They observed 11 P-40 Kittyhawk aircraft near Acroma. In a letter to his mother he described the subsequent events:
I saw the Curtiss planes approximately 300 meters below us and falling away below. These aircraft were no threat to us whatsoever! Now I just wanted to level out of my turning bank, since my colleagues were already at a substantially higher altitude. Keppler (his wingman), overshot me. Once again, I saw the Curtiss planes 300 meters directly below me and counted eleven aircraft. Not suspecting anything untoward, I continued my level climb. All of a sudden there was a loud noise in my cockpit — I'd taken cannon [sic][Notes 1] fire. The crate immediately flipped uncontrollably onto its back. Fuel gushed into the cockpit; it began smoking and then I completely lost control of the Bf 109, spiraling down on my back through the Curtisses. Over the intercom I heard the angry voice of Homuth: "Which of you idiots just let himself get shot down?" Trailing a long column from my radiator I fell earthward. The water temperature climbed to 140 degrees. At an altitude of 1,000 meters I again regained control of the crate. With a bit of flair and fortune I managed to fly the 100 km to our own lines, during which I would only switch the engine [on] for short periods, in order to gain altitude for the long glide home.[7]
Crash landing in "no man's land", Stahlschmidt escaped the burning wreck with just a pair of singed eyebrows. Once again, as he ran on foot toward German lines, Stahlschmidt was fired on by an Allied truck convoy which he had just overflown. However he was picked up by a German reconnaissance unit.[8]
Back at Staffel HQ Stahlschmidt learned from Marseille and Homuth that the lead Kittyhawk had pulled up sharply and fired accurately; both were of the opinion that it was a wonderful shot. The Allied pilot was the leading Australian ace, Squadron Leader Clive Caldwell, CO of No. 112 Squadron RAF.[9][Notes 2]
Six days later, on 27 February 1942, flying his Bf 109F-4 (W.Nr 8497) Stahlschmidt was again shot down - this time while strafing an Allied supply column when his engine suddenly died. This time though, as he crash-landed he was taken prisoner by Free Polish soldiers, who beat him and stole his medals. Interrogated, then sent onto another camp he was able to escape on foot later that night. After a 16-hour trek he walked 60 kilometres (37 mi) through the desert he reached the German lines.[10]
Stahlschmidt was awarded the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold for fighter pilots in February 1942. He was the first pilot in Africa to complete 200 combat missions.[11] He was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 9 April 1942,[5][12] (also cited as being awarded on the 20 April[10][13])
Four days after his 9th victory on 22 May 1942, Rommel launched his counter-offensive that would eventually take the Axis forces right back across Libya and Egypt, almost to the gates of Alexandria. It was now that Stahlschmidt's combat success really started. He scored eight victories in June, including a pair of Hurricanes and a pair of Kittyhawks on the 26th, the day that the Geschwader finally crossed over onto Egyptian soil, at Sidi Barrani[14] By now his close friend, Hans-Joachim Marseille, was reaching legendary status, promoted to Staffelkapitän of 3./JG 27 and reaching 100 victories in mid-June.
A fortnight later, on 1 July 1942, Stahlschmidt was himself promoted: to Staffelkapitän of 2./JG 27. With the Allied forces now enjoying numerical superiority it became a target-rich environment and Stahlschmidt himself had great success in July, shooting down 25 aircraft (more than doubling his score in a month), as the front finally stabilised at the Alamein line. Strangely, the 'Gladiator' biplane he claimed on 7 July may more likely have been an Italian CR.42 biplane shot down in error![14] Two Hurricanes shot down on 1 August took his tally to 45 as another lull fell over the front, as both sides stopped to build up supplies for their next offensives, and 'Fifi' only scored three victories in August. He was, however, awarded the Knight's Cross on 20 August, for his 47 victories to date.
Everything changed again on 1 September 1942. As Marseille was putting in his claim for what would eventually be recognised as 17 victories on one day (a record at the time, and only beaten by Emil Lang (fighter ace) in Russia), Stahlschmidt himself claimed another pair of Hurricanes late int he day to take his score to 50 victories. A flurry of victories over the next few days took his total to 59, as the Allies flew a number of bomber and airfield-strafing missions.
Relating the strain of the activity, in another letter home to his family, he described the action on the 3 September:
Today I have experienced my hardest combat. But at the same time it has been my most wonderful experience of comradeship in the air. We were eight Messerschmitts in the midst of an incredible whirling mass of enemy fighters. I flew my 109 for my life. I worked with every gram of energy and by the time we finished I was foaming at the mouth and utterly exhausted. Again and again we had enemy aircraft fighters on our tails. I was forced to dive three or four times, but I pulled up again and rushed back into the turmoil. Once I seemed to have no escape; I had flown my 109 to its limits, but a Spitfire still sat behind me. At the last moment Marseille shot it down, 50 metres from my 109. I dived and pulled up. Seconds later I saw a Spitfire behind Marseille. I took aim at the enemy - I have never aimed so carefully - and he dived down burning. At the end of the combat only Marseille and I were left in the dogfight. Each of us had three kills. At home we climbed out of out planes and were thoroughly exhausted. Marseille had bullet holes in his 109 and I had 11 hits in mine. We embraced each other, but were unable to speak. It was an unforgettable event.[15]
Later that afternoon he shot down a further two aircraft to make 5 for the day - his most successful combat day.
On 7 September 1942 Stahlschmidt, flying Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 (W.Nr. 8704) "Red 4", was part of a Schwarm that had taken off on a freie Jagd (fighter sweep) south east of El Alamein.[16] They intercepted a tactical reconnaissance Hurricane covered by a strong escort of Hurricane MK IICs from No. 33 Squadron RAF and No. 213 Squadron RAF. However, Stahlschmidt's flight had failed to notice another flight, of Spitfire Mk Vc's of No. 601 Squadron RAF, which had been flying "up in the sun". Trapped between both flights, two 109s were shot down, including Stahlschmidt. His commander, Eduard Neumann, dispatched the 1st and 2nd Staffeln to search for the missing ace,[17] but Stahlschmidt was nowhere to be found. He was posted as missing in action, and his exact fate remains unknown to this day. Recent research suggests that he may have been shot down by an American ace, Flight Lieutenant John H. Curry (RCAF; 7.5 claims), of 601 Sqn.[18]
In over 400 combat missions in North Africa Stahlschmidt scored 59 victories, all but four being single-engine fighters. All were over Western Allied pilots, and unusually, all were scored in the African theatre. Behind Marseille (151) and Werner Schroer (61), Stahlschmidt was the third highest scoring Desert ace of the war. Sixteen months later on 3 January 1944 he posthumously became the 365th recipient of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross and was promoted to Oberleutnant.
In the space of three weeks I. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 27 was rocked by the deaths of its three top aces. Stahlschmidt's death only 24 hours after the death of 1./JG 27 ace Günter Steinhausen (40 victories) was followed on 30 September 1942 by the death of Hans-Joachim Marseille (the "Star of Africa"; 158 victories). I./JG 27 claimed 588 aircraft shot down in April 1941–November 1942. Stahlschmidt, Steinhausen and Marseille between them accounted for 250 of these; 42% of the unit's total.[19] Understandably morale fell so low that the Gruppe was withdrawn to Sicily in October. It returned briefly to North Africa but was withdrawn from the theatre for the final time in December 1942.
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