Dietrich Schmidt

Dietrich Schmidt (27 June 1919 – 6 March 2002) was a Luftwaffe night fighter 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.

Night fighter career A map of part of the Kammhuber Line. The 'belt' and night fighter 'boxes' are shown. Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, bombing missions by the Royal Air Force (RAF) shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector, named a Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.

Oberleutnant Schmidt was initially posted to 8./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing) in September 1941, based at Twente in the Netherlands. He claimed his first victory on the night of 24/25 March 1943, a Handley Page Halifax bomber over Enkhuizen. On 15 June 1943 Schmidt was appointed Staffelkapitän of 8./NJG 1, having claimed five victories by this time.

On the night of 1/2 January 1944, he claimed an Avro Lancaster bomber shot down near Ramsel for his 10th victory. On the night of 14/15 January 1944, Schmidt claimed his 12th aerial victory. The RAF had targeted Braunschweig with 498 bombers that night. Schmidt was credited with the destruction of Lancaster ND357 from No. 156 Squadron.

He claimed three victories in a single night on 3/4 May, 22/23 May, and 28/29 July. Schmidt was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 July for 32 victories. Schmidt transferred as Staffelkapitän to 9./NJG 1 in December 1944. He added five further victories to raise his victory total to 43 by the end of the war. Schmidt was then interned by British troops at Schleswig-Holstein, and released in August 1945.

He attended Heidelberg University obtaining a doctorate in Chemistry, married and fathered three children. Schmidt retired in 1984.

Dietrich Schmidt was credited with 43 victories in 171 missions. All his victories were recorded at night.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims Author Spick lists him with 39 aerial victories, claimed in 171 combat missions. Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 43 nocturnal victory claims. Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Schmidt with 40 aerial victories, plus one further unconfirmed claim.

Chronicle of aerial victories Claim Date Time Type Location Serial No./Squadron No. – 8. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 – 1 25 March 1943 01:36 Halifax northeast of Enkhuizen 2 5 May 1943 01:15 Lancaster Nordhorn 3? 5 May 1943 02:16? Wellington 4 14 May 1943 03:44 Lancaster southwest of Rühlertwist Lancaster "DX-X"/No. 57 Squadron 5 13 June 1943 01:30 Lancaster west of Ahaus 6 20 October 1943 20:45 Lancaster 7 3 November 1943 19:46 Halifax east of Sint-Truiden 8? 26 November 1943 22:54 Lancaster Emlichheim 9 16 December 1943 18:45 Lancaster west of Cloppenburg 10 2 January 1944 01:58 Lancaster Ramsel 11 14 January 1944 05:36 Mosquito vicinity of Kleve Mosquito DZ440//No. 109 Squadron 12 14 January 1944 20:35 Lancaster Kolhorn Lancaster ND357/No. 156 Squadron 13 16 March 1944 00:56 Lancaster southeast of Langweiler 14 18 March 1944 22:35 Halifax Kaiserslautern 15 22 March 1944 22:36 Halifax north-northwest of Paderborn-Minden 16 24 March 1944 23:04 Lancaster Erfurt 17? 24 March 1944 23:04 Lancaster Gotha 18 31 March 1944 00:49 Halifax north of Würzburg 19 23 April 1944 00:21 Lancaster south of Laon 20 23 April 1944 00:26 Lancaster southwest of Laon Stirling EH842/No. 218 Squadron 21 27 April 1944 00:47 four-engined bomber Dijon Lancaster LL919/No. 619 Squadron 22 4 May 1944 00:03 Lancaster southwest of Saint-Dizier 23 4 May 1944 00:19 Lancaster west of Saint-Dizier 24 4 May 1944 00:46 Lancaster south-southwest of Romilly-sur-Seine 25 22 May 1944 02:01 Lancaster south of Amsterdam 26 23 May 1944 00:42 Lancaster north of Ibbenbüren 27 23 May 1944 03:13 Lancaster North Sea 28 23 May 1944 03:48 four-engined bomber North Sea 29 13 June 1944 01:24 Lancaster north of Venlo 30 21 July 1944 01:16 Lancaster west of Duisburg 31 21 July 1944 01:41 Lancaster northwest of Volkel 32 29 July 1944 01:11 Halifax west of Hamburg 33 29 July 1944 01:37 Halifax north of Bruchsal 34 29 July 1944 01:50 four-engined bomber northwest of Helgoland 35 13 August 1944 00:47 Lancaster south of Braunschweig 36 23 September 1944 23:31 Lancaster southern edge of Zuiderzee 37 6 December 1944 20:14 Lancaster northwest of Twente 38 18 December 1944 06:36 four-engined bomber west of Duisburg – 9. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 – 39 15 January 1945? 21:15 Lancaster northeast of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder 40 21 February 1945 01:10 Lancaster 41 21 February 1945 23:18 Lancaster west of Venlo 42 21 February 1945 23:25 Lancaster southwest of Goch 43 22 March 1945 04:00 Lancaster Cologne

Awards Flugzeugführerabzeichen Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 24 April 1944 as Oberleutnant and pilot German Cross in Gold on 1 October 1944 as Oberleutnant in the 8./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 27 July 1944 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 8./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1