Alexander Preinfalk Explained

Alexander Preinfalk
Birth Date:	6 February 1920
Birth Place:	Baku, Azerbaijan
Death Place:	Bruchsal Child: yes Death Cause: Killed in action
Serviceyears:	?–1944
Rank:	Oberfeldwebel
Unit:	JG 51, JG 77, JG 53
Battles:	World War II Operation Barbarossa Battle of the Caucasus North African Campaign Defense of the Reich
Awards:	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Alexander Preinfalk (6 February 1920 – 12 December 1944) 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 was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Alexander Preinfalk was shot down on 12 December 1944 by an American P-47 over Bruchsal, Germany and died after he bailed out. He was credited with between 78 and 85+ aerial victories.

Career

Preinfalk was born on 6 February 1920 in Baku, at the time the capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. Following flight training, he was briefly posted to Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing) in 1941 before he was transferred to II. Gruppe (2nd group) of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing).

Om 26 March 1943, Preinfalk claimed a Supermarine Spitfire fighter shot down 10km (10miles) northeast of El Hamma. On 4 April, he claimed another Spitfire shot, this time 25km (16miles) northeast of Maknassy. In June 1943, Preinfalk was posted to 1. Staffel of Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Süd—a supplementary training unit—as a fighter pilot instructor.

Defense of the Reich and death

In July 1944, Preinfalk was posted to II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) based in Hustedt in northwestern Germany. The Gruppe under command of Hauptmann Julius Meimberg was fighting in defense of the Reich and largely staffed by inexperienced young pilots. In consequence, Meimberg made Preinfalk a leader of a Schwarm, a flight of four aircraft, within 6. Staffel led by Oberleutnant Alfred Hammer.

In early December 1944, II. Gruppe was based at Malmsheim Airfield, flying missions against the fighter-bombers of the USAAF Ninth Air Force. Preinfalk was killed in action on 12 December in aerial combat with a Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter 1.5abbr=offNaNabbr=off southwest of Graben-Neudorf. Although he managed to escape of his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-14/AS (Werknummer 165741—factory number) at low altitude, his parachute failed to fully deploy and he fell to his death.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Preinfalk was credited with 78 aerial victories. Spick also lists him with 78 aerial victories, approximately 50 of which on the Eastern Front with the remaining claims over the Western Allies, claimed in an unknown number combat missions. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 80 aerial victory claims, including 60 claims on the Eastern Front and 30 claims over the Western Allies.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 82121". The Luftwaffe grid map (German: Jägermeldenetz) 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 360sqmi. These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3x in size.

Chronicle of aerial victories
Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location	Unit	Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location	Unit
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Eastern Front – Operation Barbarossa — June – December 1941
1	17 October 1941	11:17	I-16		5./JG 77	2	26 October 1941	14:20	I-15		5./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Eastern Front – March – April 1942
3	19 March 1942	12:02	I-15		5./JG 77	5	27 April 1942	17:30	Yak-1	Yevpatoria	5./JG 77
4	9 April 1942	17:45	I-16		5./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Eastern Front – Kerch, Sevastopol, Izium — May/June 1942
6	9 June 1942	19:30	I-153		5./JG 77	8	13 June 1942	18:31	Il-2		5./JG 77
7	13 June 1942	12:20	MiG-1		5./JG 77	9	14 June 1942	14:52	LaGG-3		5./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Eastern Front – Summer offensive — 28 June – 7 November 1942
10	6 July 1942	14:30	Boston		5./JG 77	36♠	6 August 1942	18:08	Pe-2	PQ 82121 65km (40miles) northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
11	9 July 1942	18:25	LaGG-3		5./JG 77	37	12 August 1942	05:54	Il-2	PQ 83592 50km (30miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
12	9 July 1942	18:36	MiG-3		5./JG 77	38	12 August 1942	05:56	Yak-1	PQ 83863 55km (34miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
13	16 July 1942	14:15	Pe-2		5./JG 77	39	12 August 1942	14:03?	MiG-1	PQ 83812 50km (30miles) south of Yelets	5./JG 77
14	16 July 1942	14:20	Pe-2		5./JG 77	40	12 August 1942	14:11	MiG-1	PQ 83532 20km (10miles) south-southwest of Yelets	5./JG 77
15	17 July 1942	18:47	Pe-2		5./JG 77	41	13 August 1942	10:52	Il-2	PQ 83673 30km (20miles) south of Yelets	5./JG 77
16	21 July 1942	18:41	Hurricane		5./JG 77	42	18 August 1942	14:57	MiG-3	PQ 83673 30km (20miles) south of Yelets	5./JG 77
17	21 July 1942	19:16	Hurricane		5./JG 77	43	23 August 1942	10:26	LaGG-3	PQ 92791 10km (10miles) northwest of Sloboda	5./JG 77
18	23 July 1942	19:08	Il-2		5./JG 77	44	5 September 1942	17:14	LaGG-3	PQ 82173 65km (40miles) east-northeast of Tim	5./JG 77
19	23 July 1942	19:14	Il-2		5./JG 77	45	5 September 1942	17:20	Il-2	PQ 82151 65km (40miles) northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
20	24 July 1942	05:36	LaGG-3		5./JG 77	46	5 September 1942	17:22	LaGG-3	PQ 82121 65km (40miles) northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
21	24 July 1942	05:48	LaGG-3		5./JG 77	47	9 September 1942	15:46	Il-2	PQ 82752 20km (10miles) northwest of Sloboda	5./JG 77
22	24 July 1942	11:25	Pe-2		5./JG 77	48	13 September 1942	15:00	P-39	PQ 92114	5./JG 77
23	25 July 1942	18:42	Pe-2		5./JG 77	49	15 September 1942	17:03	LaGG-3	PQ 92141 25km (16miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
24	26 July 1942	10:31	Il-2		5./JG 77	50	15 September 1942	17:04	LaGG-3	PQ 92143 25km (16miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
25	28 July 1942	06:27	MiG-3		5./JG 77	51	17 September 1942	05:51	LaGG-3	PQ 92123 15km (09miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
26	28 July 1942	18:18	P-39	PQ 92393 20km (10miles) southeast of Voronezh	5./JG 77	52	17 September 1942	05:52	LaGG-3	PQ 92154 25km (16miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
27	29 July 1942	06:51	MiG-1	PQ 93554 15km (09miles) south of Lipetsk	5./JG 77	53	17 September 1942	05:54	Il-2	PQ 92132 30km (20miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77
28	31 July 1942	15:45	Il-2	PQ 82194 60km (40miles) northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77	54	17 September 1942	05:57	Il-2	PQ 92122 30km (20miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
29	31 July 1942	15:50	Il-2	PQ 83761 60km (40miles) south-southwest of Yelets	5./JG 77	55	18 September 1942	17:16	MiG-1	PQ 92173 15km (09miles) north of Voronezh	5./JG 77
30	5 August 1942	08:46	Hurricane	PQ 83463 25km (16miles) east of Yelets	5./JG 77	56	18 September 1942	17:19	MiG-1	PQ 92312 10km (10miles) east of Voronezh	5./JG 77
31♠	6 August 1942	10:25	Pe-2	PQ 93314 25km (16miles) west-northwest of Lipetsk	5./JG 77	57	18 September 1942	17:24	MiG-1	PQ 92443 25km (16miles) east of Voronezh	5./JG 77
32♠	6 August 1942	11:11	MiG-1	PQ 83852 60km (40miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77	58	22 September 1942	15:33	Il-2	PQ 92152 vicinity of Devitsa	5./JG 77
33♠	6 August 1942	11:13	MiG-1	PQ 83892 50km (30miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	5./JG 77	59	22 September 1942	15:37	LaGG-3	PQ 92352 10km (10miles) east of Voronezh	5./JG 77
34♠	6 August 1942	18:05	Pe-2	PQ 82174 65km (40miles) east-northeast of Tim	5./JG 77	60	1 October 1942	15:38	LaGG-3	PQ 92454 40km (30miles) east of Voronezh	5./JG 77
35♠	6 August 1942	18:06	Pe-2	PQ 82142 65km (40miles) east-northeast of Tim	5./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Western Front – Mediterranean Theater, North Africa — 1 January – May 1943
61?	26 March 1943	10:37	Spitfire	28km (17miles) southwest of El Hamma	5./JG 77	67	7 April 1943	09:10	Spitfire	5km (03miles) southeast of Skhira	5./JG 77
62	31 March 1943	18:49	P-40	9km (06miles) southeast of El Guettar	5./JG 77	68	20 April 1943	17:15	P-51	15km (09miles) southwest of Mateur	5./JG 77
63	1 April 1943	10:42	Spitfire	62km (39miles) northwest of La Fauconnerie	5./JG 77	69	21 April 1943	09:28	Spitfire	20km (10miles) southwest of Tunis	5./JG 77
64	2 April 1943	19:12	Boston	32km (20miles) northwest of Gafsa	5./JG 77	70	21 April 1943	12:58	P-40	40km (30miles) east of Tunis	5./JG 77
65	4 April 1943	17:17	Spitfire	25km (16miles) northeast of Meknassy	5./JG 77	71	25 April 1943	13:05	Spitfire	5km (03miles) north of Majaz al Bab	5./JG 77
66	6 April 1943	15:28	Spitfire	60km (40miles) southwest of La Fauconnerie	5./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Western Front – Mediterranean Theater, Italy — May/June 1944
72	31 May 1944	17:09	Spitfire	PQ 14 Ost S/2372, Tuscania	1./JG 77	74	9 June 1944	09:23	P-51	20km (10miles) southwest of Udine	2./JG 77
73	31 May 1944	17:12	Spitfire	PQ 14 Ost S/2375	1./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 53 on the Western Front – Defense of the Reich — August – 12 December 1944
75	26 August 1944	15:07	P-47	PQ 05 Ost TC-4/2 Rouen	6./JG 53	79	25 November 1944	12:42	P-51	PQ 04 Ost N/AQ-6/3 Haguenau	6./JG 53
76	2 October 1944	15:07?	P-51	PQ 04 Ost N/BN-9 north of Vézelise/Nancy	6./JG 53	80	1 December 1944	16:00	P-51	PQ 04 Ost N/AR-5, southwest of Rastatt	6./JG 53
77	6 October 1944	16:53	P-47	PQ 04 Ost N/FN-5/1 Thionville	6./JG 53	81	12 December 1944	14:02	P-47	PQ 05 Ost UR-4 Linkenheim	6./JG 53
78	20 October 1944	10:50	P-47	PQ 04 Ost N/CP southwest of Strasbourg	6./JG 53

Awards

• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 13 September 1942 as Unteroffizier and pilot
• German Cross in Gold on 3 October 1942 as Unteroffizier in the II./Jagdgeschwader 77
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 14 October 1942 as Unteroffizier and pilot in the 5./Jagdgeschwader 77

References

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