Lutz-Wilhelm Burckhardt Explained

Lutz-Wilhelm Burckhardt
Birth Date:	5 February 1919
Birth Place:	Bremen
Death Place:	Bollschweil
Nickname:	"Lutz"
Allegiance:	(to 1945)
Branch:
Rank:	Hauptmann (Wehrmacht) Oberstleutnant (Bundeswehr)
Unit:	JG 77, JGr Süd, JG 1, EJG 2
Commands:	I./JG 77
Battles:	World War II Siege of Sevastopol (1941–1942) North African Campaign Italian Campaign Defense of the Reich
Awards:	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Ludwig-Wilhelm "Lutz" Burckhardt (5 February 1919 – 2 January 1993) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace credited with 57, potentially up to 69 enemy aircraft shot down, the majority of which claimed on the Eastern Front. He was "ace-in-a-day" once, shooting down five or more aircraft on a single day.

Born in Bremen, Burckhardt initially served with the anti-aircraft artillery of the Luftwaffe. Upon his request in 1940, he transferred to the Jagdwaffe (fighter force). Following flight training, he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing). Flying with this wing, Burckhardt claimed his first aerial victory on 9 May 1942 on the Eastern Front. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 October 1942 made Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 4. Staffel (4th squadron) of JG 77 in November 1942. In August 1943, Burckhardt was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of JG 77. In December 1943, he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1–1st Fighter Wing), a unit fighting on the Western Front in defense of the Reich. In March 1945, Burckhardt commanded II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" (JG 7—7th Fighter Wing), a jet fighter unit. Following World War II, Burckhard served in the West German Air Force and died on 2 January 1993 in Bollschweil, West Germany.

Career

Burckhardt was born on 5 February 1919 in Bremen, at the time a federated state of the Weimar Republic. He began his military with the anti-aircraft artillery of the Luftwaffe, serving with this branch until June 1940. Following flight training, Burckhardt served with Ergänzungsgruppe, a supplementary training unit, of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing). On 29 November 1941, this unit was ordered to relocate to North Africa and flew from Bucharest Pipera Airfield via Sofia to Saloniki. The next day, the Ergänzungsgruppe continued their journey and moved to Athens where they stayed for two days when their orders were cancelled, returning to Bucharest Pipera Airfield on 3 December. In April 1942, Burckhardt was transferred to the Gruppenstab (headquarters unit) of II. Gruppe (2nd group) of JG 77, at the time based at Sarabus on the Eastern Front and fighting in the Crimean campaign. There on 29 April, he crash landed his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 (Werknummer 7602—factory number) at Sarabus due to technical failures of the aircraft. On 1 May, II. Gruppe moved to an airfield named Fernheim, located on the Sea of Azov, approximately 15abbr=offNaNabbr=off west-northwest of Kirovske. Operating from Fernheim on 3 May, Burckhardt claimed his first aerial victory, a Polikarpov I-153 fighter, over the Kerch Strait during the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula. On 14 July following aerial combat with Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft, Burckhardt was forced to make a landing with a partially deployed landing gear, resulting in minor damage to his Bf 109 F-4 (Werknummer 13172).

Burckhardt flew his last mission on the Eastern Front on 2 October, shortly after he fell ill with jaundice and was hospitalized. On 12 November, Burckhardt was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 4. Staffel of JG 77, succeeding Hauptmann Heinrich Setz who had been transferred. On 5 December, II. Gruppe moved to North Africa where they were based at Zarzur. On 7 January 1943, Burckhardt claimed a Supermarine Spitfire fighter shot down south-southeast of Buerat. His opponent may have belonged to the Royal Air Force No. 92 Squadron. Three days later, he stepped on land mine at Zarzur and was injured. In consequence, Oberleutnant Heinrich Osswald replaced him as Staffelkapitän. Following convalescence, Burckhardt was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of JG 77 on 19 August. He succeeded Oberleutnant Armin Köhler who had temporarily led the Gruppe after Major Heinz Bär had been transferred on 6 August.

Defense of the Reich

On 22 December 1943, the commanding officer of 6. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1–1st Fighter Wing), Hauptmann Harry Koch, was killed in action. In consequence, Burckhardt was transferred to JG 1, taking command of 6. Staffel as Staffelkapitän on 25 December. According to the authors Prien and Rodeike, this transfer was considered a demotion and disciplinary action, a measure for redemption in combat. The authors state, that particularly Oberstleutnant Johannes Steinhoff, the commander of JG 77 at the time, had a number of pilots transferred to JG 1 for redemption in defense of the Reich combat, this measure included pilots Burckhardt, Bär, Leutnant Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert, Oberfeldwebel Alexander Preinfalk, and Oberfeldwebel Herbert Kaiser. In consequence, command of I. Gruppe of JG 77 was passed to Hauptmann Theo Lindemann.

On 19 February 1944, Burckhardt was transferred to III. Gruppe of JG 1 where was given command of 7. Staffel. Command of his former 6. Staffel was then given to the previously demoted Bär. Burckhardt had requested transfer to III. Gruppe, the reason for this request was that Burckhardt had difficulties adapting to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 while III. Gruppe was still operating the Bf 109. On 22 April, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force sent 803 heavy bombers against German ground transportation, primarily targeting the marshaling yard in Hamm. JG 1 was scrambled at 17:45 and vectored to vectored to a point of intercept over the Rothaar Mountains where III. Gruppe ran into a large formation of North American P-51 Mustang fighters. For the loss of twelve of their own, III. Gruppe pilots claimed four P-51 fighters shot down, including one by Burckhardt. In this encounter, Burckhardt was also shot down near Edersee Dam. Forced to bail out of his Bf 109 G at low altitude, he came under immediate fire by strafing fighters, but was unhurt.

On 2 July, Burckhardt fell ill with Malaria and had to be taken off combat duties. Following various staff positions, he was transferred to III. Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 2 (EJG 2—2nd Supplementary Fighter Wing) in early 1945 for conversion training to the then new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft. Command of 7. Staffel was then given to Oberleutnant Fritz Bilfinger. In early March, Burckhardt commanded II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" (JG 7—7th Fighter Wing) at Neumünster airfield in northern Germany. JG 7 "Nowotny" was the first operational jet fighter wing in the world and was named after Walter Nowotny, who was killed in action on 8 November 1944. Nowotny, a fighter pilot credited with 258 aerial victories and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), had been assessing the Me 262 under operational conditions. II. Gruppe had just been formed in February 1945 under the command of Major Hermann Staiger.

Later life

Following World War II, Burckhardt reentered military service in the Bundeswehr as an Oberstleutnant in the West German Air Force, at the time referred to as the Bundesluftwaffe. Burckhardt died on 2 January 1993 at the age of in Bollschweil, West Germany.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Burckhardt was credited with 69 aerial victories. Obermaier lists him with 58 aerial victories claimed in 245 combat missions. While Dixon lists him with 57 aerial victories claimed in 254 combat missions. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for more than 57 aerial victory claims, including 53 claims on the Eastern Front and at least four claims over the Western Allies.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 35392". 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 – Kerch, Sevastopol, Izium — May/June 1942
1	9 May 1942	12:38	I-153		Stab II./JG 77	6	18 May 1942	16:12	R-5		Stab II./JG 77
2	12 May 1942	16:02	Il-2		Stab II./JG 77	7	8 June 1942	13:14	I-16	PQ 35392, Sevastopol	Stab II./JG 77
3	13 May 1942	08:09	II-2		Stab II./JG 77	8	8 June 1942	16:52	MiG-1	PQ 35363	Stab II./JG 77
4	17 May 1942	13:32	I-153		Stab II./JG 77	9	17 June 1942	07:28	LaGG-3		6./JG 77
5	17 May 1942	13:55	I-16		Stab II./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Eastern Front – Summer offensive — 28 June – 7 November 1942
10	5 July 1942	13:55	I-180 (Yak-7)		6./JG 77	32	31 July 1942	17:02	Il-2	PQ 92344 vicinity of Voronezh	6./JG 77
11	6 July 1942	03:58	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	33	31 July 1942	17:10	MiG-1	PQ 92154 25km (16miles) north of Voronezh	6./JG 77
12	8 July 1942	12:40	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	34	8 August 1942	06:21	LaGG-3	PQ 92471 25km (16miles) southeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
13	8 July 1942	16:40	Il-2		6./JG 77	35	8 August 1942	06:36	LaGG-3	PQ 92442 25km (16miles) east of Voronezh	6./JG 77
14	9 July 1942	12:20	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	36	13 August 1942	08:48	LaGG-3	PQ 93771 50km (30miles) north of Voronezh	6./JG 77
15	9 July 1942	16:08	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	37	13 August 1942	09:00	LaGG-3	PQ 93791 50km (30miles) north-northeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
16♠	12 July 1942	06:38	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	38	13 August 1942	13:44	LaGG-3	PQ 83723 50km (30miles) south-southwest of Yelets	6./JG 77
17♠	12 July 1942	06:45	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	39	13 August 1942	13:52	LaGG-3	PQ 93511 30km (20miles) west-southwest of Lipetsk	6./JG 77
18♠	12 July 1942	06:52	MiG-3		6./JG 77	40	14 August 1942	14:00	Il-2		6./JG 77
19♠	12 July 1942	10:48	Il-2		6./JG 77	41	16 August 1942	17:52	Il-2	PQ 83811 50km (30miles) north-northeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
20♠	12 July 1942	10:53	Il-2		6./JG 77	42	18 August 1942	15:11	Pe-2	PQ 93782	6./JG 77
21♠	12 July 1942	10:55	Il-2		6./JG 77	43	18 August 1942	17:10?	LaGG-3	PQ 82272 45km (28miles) west-northwest of Voronezh	6./JG 77
22	13 July 1942	09:25	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	44	18 August 1942	17:19	LaGG-3	PQ 82263 25km (16miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	6./JG 77
23	13 July 1942	14:10	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	45	3 September 1942	04:51	LaGG-3	PQ 93873 55km (34miles) northeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
24	13 July 1942	14:13	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	46	12 September 1942	12:48	LaGG-3	PQ 92811 20km (10miles) north of Sloboda	6./JG 77
25	13 July 1942	19:35	Il-2		6./JG 77	47	14 September 1942	12:09?	P-39	PQ 92513	6./JG 77
26	15 July 1942	16:48	R-5		6./JG 77	48	15 September 1942	06:54	LaGG-3	PQ 92323 10km (10miles) north of Voronezh	6./JG 77
27	20 July 1942	13:59	LaGG-3		6./JG 77	49	15 September 1942	07:04	LaGG-3	PQ 92183 15km (09miles) north of Voronezh	6./JG 77
28	23 July 1942	15:52	Il-2		6./JG 77	50	15 September 1942	07:08	Pe-2	PQ 82763 25km (16miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	6./JG 77
29	23 July 1942	15:58	Il-2	PQ 82222 45km (28miles) northwest of Voronezh	6./JG 77	51	20 September 1942	09:45	Il-2	PQ 92153 25km (16miles) north of Voronezh	6./JG 77
30	23 July 1942	16:00	Il-2	PQ 83881 50km (30miles) north-northwest of Voronezh	6./JG 77	52	20 September 1942	09:48	Il-2	PQ 92223 50km (30miles) northeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
31	25 July 1942?	13:53	MiG-3		6./JG 77	53	22 September 1942	16:22	LaGG-3	PQ 92133 40km (30miles) north-northeast of Voronezh	6./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Western Front – Mediterranean Theater, North Africa — 1 – 10 January 1943
54	7 January 1943	12:05	Spitfire	50km (30miles) south-southeast of Buerat	4./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 77 on the Western Front – Mediterranean Theater, Italy — 19 August – December 1943
55	16 September 1943	18:28	Spitfire	east of Salerno	Stab I./JG 77		17 November 1943		P-51	Corsica	Stab I./JG 77
	16 October 1943	09:30	Spitfire	Volturno	Stab I./JG 77
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 1 on the Western Front – Defense of the Reich — January – 5 June 1944
56	2 March 1944	14:30	P-47	PQ 05 Ost S/PM, south of Verviers	7./JG 1		4 May 1944		P-47		7./JG 1
	23 March 1944		P-47		7./JG 1		7 May 1944		P-47		7./JG 1
	9 April 1944		P-47		7./JG 1		22 May 1944		P-51		7./JG 1
	11 April 1944		P-51		7./JG 1		22 May 1944		P-38		7./JG 1
57?	13 April 1944	14:10	P-51	PQ 05 Ost S/RT	7./JG 1		29 May 1944		P-47		7./JG 1
58	22 April 1944	18:10	P-51	PQ 05 Ost S/LS-9, northeast of the Rothaar Mountains	7./JG 1
– Claims with Jagdgeschwader 1 on the Western Front – Invasion of France — 6 June – 2 July 1944
	10 June 1944		P-51		7./JG 1

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 October 1942 as Leutnant and pilot in the 4./Jagdgeschwader 77
• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 19 October 1942 as Leutnant and pilot

References

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