Gerhard Friedrich

Gerhard "Gerd" Friedrich (16 September 1917 – 16 March 1945) was a Luftwaffe fighter ace of World War II. He was a night fighter ace who scored 30 victories, all recorded at night.

World War II World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. Friedrich started his Luftwaffe career as a transport pilot with Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung 104 (KGr.z.b.v. 104—Fighting Group for Special Use) and participated in the invasion of Crete.

Night fighter operations 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.

Friedrich received training as a night fighter pilot and began his night-fighting era when he was posted to III. Gruppe (3rd group) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing) at the beginning of 1942. Friedrich claimed his first victory on the night of 16/17 June when he shot down an RAF Vickers Wellington at 03:08 west of Ijmuiden. Serving with II. Gruppe (2nd group) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 (NJG 4—4th Night Fighter Wing), he claimed his fourth victory on 24 October when he shot down the Handley Page Halifax bomber W1188 from No. 103 Squadron near Bar-le-Duc.

He was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 10. Staffel (10th squadron) of NJG 4 on 1 January 1943. On 10/11 April, 502 RAF bombers attacked Frankfurt. In total, the RAF lost 22 aircraft, ten of which shot down by NJG 4, including a Wellington bomber claimed by Friedrich at 03:23. On 16/17 April, during an attack of 327 bombers on Plzeň, Friedrich was shot down and wounded. He bailed out from his Messerschmitt Bf 110 and landed near Hochspeyer.

On 1 August 1943, IV. Gruppe of NJG 4 became the I. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 (NJG 6—6th Night Fighter Wing) and was based at Mainz-Finthen Airport. On 12 July 1944, he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of NJG 6. Friedrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 March 1945.

The RAF targeted the Wintershall oil refineries at Lützkendorf, which lies east of Mücheln, with 244 Lancaster bombers and eleven de Havilland Mosquito fast bombers on the night of 14/15 March 1945. In defense of this attack, Friedrich claimed three Lancasters shot down in timeframe 23:15 and 23:24.

On the night of 16/17 March 1945, Friedrich collided with the Lancaster PB785 from No. 576 Squadron RAF, piloted by Flight Lieutenant Frank Edmund Dotten, near Stuttgart. Friedrich and his crew, Leutnant Lewerenz, Oberfeldwebel Giesen and Unteroffizier Meyer, were killed in their Junkers Ju 88 G-6 (Werknummer 621801—factory number) along with the seven crew members of the British bomber.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims According to Obermaier and Spick, Friedrich was credited with 30 nighttime—aerial victories, claimed in an unknown number of combat missions. Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 33 nocturnal victory claims. Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces – Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Friedrich with 32 claims, all of which on the Western Front.

Chronicle of aerial victories Claim Date Time Type Location Serial No./Squadron No. – Stab III. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 – 1 17 June 1942 03:08 Wellington west of Ijmuiden 2 20 June 1942 03:13 Wellington north of Zandvoort 3 26 July 1942 02:12 Wellington west of Zieuwent – Stab II. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 – 4 24 October 1942 21:50 Halifax Bar-le-Duc Halifax W1188/No. 103 Squadron RAF – 8. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 – 5 6 December 1942 19:29 Halifax Courouvre – 10. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 – 6 9 March 1943 23:35 Lancaster northwest of Rinuthall 7 17 March 1943 00:16 Halifax Börnloss 8 11 April 1943 03:23 Wellington Lünebach-Weuir – 2. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 – 9? 6 September 1943 00:57 Halifax vicinity of Mannheim-Sandhofen – 1. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 – 10 26 February 1944 01:33 Lancaster Seeburg Lancaster LM158/No. 90 Squadron RAF 11 2 March 1944 04:04 Halifax southwest of Strasbourg 12 18 March 1944 22:32 Halifax Preist 13 31 March 1944 00:57 Halifax northwest of Nürnberg 14 11 April 1944 00:03 Lancaster Montdidier 15 11 April 1944 00:13 Halifax vicinity of Montdidier Halifax LV880/No. 51 Squadron RAF 16 28 April 1944 02:09 Halifax Switzerland, west of Friedrichshafen 17 28 April 1944 02:34 Halifax Schaffhausen 18 13 June 1944 01:25 Lancaster vicinity of Deelen – Stab I. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 – 19 12 September 1944 00:15 Lancaster south of Darmstadt 20 12 September 1944 22:46 Wellington northwest of beacon "Christa" 21 28 January 1945 23:53 Lancaster south of Wildbad 22 1 February 1945 19:20 Lancaster Ludwigshafen 23 2 February 1945 23:20 Lancaster Karlsruhe 24 2 February 1945 23:25 Lancaster Karlsruhe 25 21 February 1945 20:45 Halifax southwest of Worms 26 23 February 1945 20:00 Lancaster east of Pforzheim 27 23 February 1945 20:08 Lancaster east of Pforzheim 28 23 February 1945 20:12 Lancaster southeast of Pforzheim 29 23 February 1945 20:15 Lancaster south of Pforzheim 30 14 March 1945 23:15 Lancaster 31 14 March 1945 23:18 Lancaster 32 14 March 1945 23:24 Lancaster 33 16 March 1945 21:03 Lancaster south of Echterdingen Lancaster PB785/No. 576 Squadron RAF

Awards German Cross in Gold on 1 October 1944 as Hauptmann in the 1./Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 March 1945 as Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 6