Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Aug 8, 2026

Kurt Knappe

Kurt Knappe 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, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. On 3 September 1943, Knappe was killed over Evreux, France after attacking a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. During his career he was credited with 56 victories, 51 on the Eastern Front and 5 on the Western Front.

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Kurt Knappe
Born2 June 1918
Berlin
Died3 September 1943(1943-09-03) (aged 25)
Evreux, France
Cause of death
Killed in action
Buried
Saint-Désir-de-Lisieux German war cemetery, Lisieux, Normandy
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Branch
 Luftwaffe
Service years
?-1943
Rank
Oberfeldwebel
UnitJG 51
JG 2
Conflicts
World War II
AwardsKnight's Cross of the Iron Cross

Kurt Knappe (2 June 1918 – 3 September 1943) 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, and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. On 3 September 1943, Knappe was killed over Evreux, France after attacking a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. During his career he was credited with 56 victories, 51 on the Eastern Front and 5 on the Western Front.

Career

On 3 November 1942, Knappe was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) for 51 aerial victories claimed.12

On 3 September 1943, Knappe was killed in action in aerial combat with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. His Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 (Werknummer 470016—factory number) crashed on the road north of Le Neubourg, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Evreux.3 He is interred at Saint-Désir-de-Lisieux German war cemetery near Lisieux, Normandy, France.4

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Knappe was credited with 56 aerial victories.5 Matthews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 55 aerial victory claims with 51 claimed on the Eastern Front and four heavy bombers on the Western Front.6

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 64512". The Luftwaffe grid map (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 360 square miles (930 km2). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.7

Chronicle of aerial victories
  This and the – (dash) indicates unconfirmed aerial victory claims for which Knappe did not receive credit.
  This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Bock, Mathews and Foreman.
Claim Date Time Type Location Claim Date Time Type Location
– 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –
Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 5 December 1941
1 26 July 1941 12:35 DB-38 5 13 September 1941 10:10 DB-3 east of Konotop9
2 26 August 1941 18:15 Douglas 15 km (9.3 mi) east of Kaluga10 6 28 September 1941 10:00 Pe-29
3 30 August 1941 17.40 Pe-210 7 11 October 1941 11:07 Pe-29
4 6 September 1941 13:35 R-310 8 17 November 1941 14:32 DB-39
– 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" –
Eastern Front — 6 December 1941 – 30 April 1942
9 21 January 1942 12:27 Pe-211 15 6 March 1942 11:45 I-1812
10 6 February 1942 12:45 R-Z12 16 6 March 1942 12:15 Pe-212
11 19 February 1942 10:50 I-1612 17 7 March 1942 14:10 I-18 southwest of Medyn13
12 4 March 1942 15:55 I-1612 18 7 March 1942 14:15 I-18 southwest of Medyn13
13 6 March 1942 09:53 I-1812 19 29 March 1942 07:59 Pe-2 northeast of Dugino14
14 6 March 1942 10:00 I-1812 20 31 March 1942 13:37 Il-2 southeast of Yukhnov14
– 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" –
Eastern Front — 1 May – 4 October 1942
21 22 May 1942 12:00 R-Z15 36 13 August 1942 08:52 Il-2 PQ 6451216
22 22 May 1942 12:03 R-Z15 37 18 August 1942 08:15 Yak-1 PQ 5421116
—
 29 May 1942
—
 unknown15 38 22 August 1942 12:10 MiG-3 PQ 5576416
23 4 June 1942 06:15 MiG-117 39 22 August 1942 18:12 MiG-3 PQ 64171, west of Belyov16
24 4 June 1942 06:20 MiG-117 40 23 August 1942 10:05 LaGG-3 PQ 64171, west of Belyov18
25 12 June 1942 12:10 Il-217 41 23 August 1942 10:08 LaGG-3 PQ 64171, west of Belyov18
26 7 July 1942 11:23 MiG-319 42 9 September 1942 10:57 Il-2 east of Rzhev20
27 9 July 1942 07:35 MiG-319 43 9 September 1942 11:01 Il-2 northeast of Rzhev20
28 9 July 1942 07:37 MiG-319 44 9 September 1942 17:30 Il-2 PQ 4775420
29 9 July 1942 07:47 MiG-319 45 14 September 1942 10:01 MiG-3 PQ 47584, southeast of Rzhev20
30 17 July 1942 13:05 MiG-121 46 14 September 1942 10:14 I-180 PQ 47581, Dugino20
31 2 August 1942 13:05 Il-2 PQ 4756321 47 21 September 1942 08:02 R-5 PQ 4781220
32 2 August 1942 18:17 Pe-2 PQ 4757221 48 23 September 1942 15:05 I-16 PQ 4761220
33 4 August 1942 10:16 MiG-3 PQ 4759122 49 1 October 1942 09:35 R-5 PQ 4621423
34 4 August 1942 14:25 Pe-2 PQ 4756322 50 4 October 1942 13:05 LaGG-3 8 km (5.0 mi) east of Peno23
35 5 August 1942 18:10 Pe-2 PQ 5643222 51 4 October 1942 13:10 LaGG-3 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Peno23
– 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" –
On the Western Front — December 1942 – June 1943
52 30 December 1942 11:45 B-17 PQ 14 West 581324 54 28 June 1943 19:03 B-17 PQ 15 West 60425
53 23 January 1943 14:12 B-17 PQ 14 West 4975, Carhaix26
– 10. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" –
On the Western Front — September 1943
55?Note 1 2 September 1943 20:25 Spitfire Béthune28 56 3 September 1943 09:50 B-17 vicinity of Paris28

Awards

Notes

Notes

  1. This claim is not listed by Mathews and Foreman.27
References

References

Citations

  1. Weal 2006, p. 122.
  2. Aders & Held 1993, p. 244.
  3. Prien et al. 2010, p. 507.
  4. Dixon 2023, p. 283.
  5. Zabecki 2014, p. 1618.
  6. Mathews & Foreman 2015, pp. 650–652.
  7. Planquadrat.
  8. Prien et al. 2003, p. 282.
  9. Prien et al. 2003, p. 285.
  10. Prien et al. 2003, p. 284.
  11. Prien et al. 2005, p. 93.
  12. Prien et al. 2005, p. 94.
  13. Prien et al. 2005, p. 95.
  14. Prien et al. 2005, p. 96.
  15. Prien et al. 2006, p. 295.
  16. Prien et al. 2006, p. 303.
  17. Prien et al. 2006, p. 296.
  18. Prien et al. 2006, p. 304.
  19. Prien et al. 2006, p. 299.
  20. Prien et al. 2006, p. 305.
  21. Prien et al. 2006, p. 300.
  22. Prien et al. 2006, p. 302.
  23. Prien et al. 2006, p. 306.
  24. Prien et al. 2004, p. 291.
  25. Prien et al. 2010, p. 502.
  26. Prien et al. 2010, p. 500.
  27. Mathews & Foreman 2015, p. 652.
  28. Prien et al. 2010, p. 503.
  29. Patzwall 2008, p. 119.
  30. Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 237.
  31. Fellgiebel 2000, p. 262.
  32. Scherzer 2007, p. 452.

Bibliography

  • Aders, Gebhard; Held, Werner (1993). Jagdgeschwader 51 'Mölders' Eine Chronik – Berichte – Erlebnisse – Dokumente [Fighter Wing 51 'Mölders' A Chronicle – Reports – Experiences – Documents] (in German). Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-613-01045-1.
  • Bergström, Christer [in Swedish]. "Bergström Black Cross/Red Star website". Identifying a Luftwaffe Planquadrat. Archived from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  • Dixon, Jeremy (2023). Day Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe: Knight's Cross Holders 1939–1942. Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 978-1-52677-864-2.
  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer [in German] (2000) [1986]. Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945 — Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung des Zweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bearers of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945 — The Owners of the Highest Award of the Second World War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in German). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 978-3-7909-0284-6.
  • Mathews, Andrew Johannes; Foreman, John (2015). Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims — Volume 2 G–L. Walton on Thames: Red Kite. ISBN 978-1-906592-19-6.
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