Günther Specht

Günther Specht (13 November 1914 – 1 January 1945) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II.

Having joined the Luftwaffe in 1935 and completed his pilot training, at the start of the war Specht was a Leutnant in 3./ZG 26 "Horst Wessel" (the 3rd squadron of the 26th Heavy Fighter Wing). In 1939 he was wounded by an RAF tail gunner and blinded in one eye. After his recovery he chose to return to active service but was shot down again in France and was seriously injured. These injuries kept him grounded for the next two years. In 1942 he returned to active duty with 1st Fighter Wing (Jagdgeschwader 1 Oesau; JG 1). He was then made Group Commander (Gruppenkommandeur) of II Group of JG 11 (II./JG 11) and promoted to Major. He was appointed as Wing Commander (Geschwaderkommodore) of JG 11 and was listed as missing in action during the attack on the Allied bases at Asch and Ophoven as part of Operation Bodenplatte. He was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel and was recommended for the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross, which was never actioned amongst all the confusion in the last months of the war.

Specht was considered one of the best fighter leaders during the war and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. During his combat career he was credited with 34 enemy aircraft destroyed, all downed on the Western Front. He was shot down six times during the war.

Personality Specht was born on 13 November 1914 in Frankenstein (modern Ząbkowice Śląskie) of Prussia (modern Poland). Specht was short in stature but full of energy. He had a distinguishing patch of gray in his hair just above his forehead. He was a perfectionist with a high sense of duty, and expected his men to follow his high standards. Although he lost his left eye in late 1939, according to Squadron Leader Heinz Knoke of 5./JG 11, he could see like a vulture and was an excellent marksman. Specht also had an eye for detail, and he wrote detailed mission log reports for future use.

Specht's personal emblems adorning his aircraft included a design by Specht of a pencil superimposed on a chevron (termed a winged pencil) as a wry comment on being deskbound following his injuries. His single-engine aircraft with JG 11 sported a green spinner and a Knight's Cross painted on the cowling after he was awarded the honour in April 1944.

Specht would not allow women on the group base, considering them an unnecessary diversion. According to Knoke, one time Specht's wife came to visit him on the II./JG 11 base but was held at the guard room on Specht's orders and refused to receive calls from the guard. Instead he asked Knoke to pass a message to her to 'put herself on ice', saying that he would have time for her only after the war. Specht however did not survive, dying five months before the war in Europe came to an end.

Formation leadership After taking command of II./JG 11, Specht led the group on every mission in which it participated. Following each mission, he wrote detailed and analytical mission reports. He soon gained a reputation as one of the most reliable formation leaders, with II./JG 11 reputed to be one of the best units among the fighter force on Reich air defense .

On 17 August 1943 Specht led the group from Gilze en Rijen on an intercept and sighted the B-17 Flying Fortresses of 381 Bombing Group near Antwerp. He waited for 30 minutes until the escorts turned back at Eupen before attacking. Within the next half hour, sixty percent of the bombers went down. Specht himself was credited with downing two as his 16th and 17th victories.

On 11 September 1944 Specht and the JG 11 Headquarters-flight led a combined formation of II. Gruppe Jagdgeschwader 4 (Sturm) and III./JG 4. Due to Specht's skills, they positioned themselves against thirty-four B-17s of the "Bloody 100th" and fifteen B-17s were downed before the escorting P-51s arrived. Specht was credited with one P-51.

Military career A Bf 110 similar to one flown by Specht. Notice the shark's mouth painted on the nose

Having joined the Luftwaffe in 1935 and completed his pilot training, when war started in September 1939 Specht was a Leutnant in 3./ZG 26 "Horst Wessel" (the 3rd squadron of the 26th Heavy Fighter Wing). Supposedly equipped with the new, twin-engine, Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter, its production was so far behind schedule that 7 of the 10 Zerstörergruppen (including Specht's I./ZG 26) had to be equipped with old Messerschmitt Bf 109C and D single-engined fighters. They thus took no role in the Polish campaign, instead based on the North Sea coast near Wilhelmshaven.

This was virtually the only part of the Western Front, during the Phoney War, where there was significant aerial activity in the early months of the war, as RAF bombers flew unescorted raids on the German naval bases. So it did not take long for Specht to score his first victories: two Handley Page Hampden medium bombers in a squadron conducting an armed reconnaissance operation near Heligoland, shot down on 29 September. Needing a long-range fighter to better intercept the British bombers at distance, I./ZG 26 was thus the next Gruppe selected for re-equipping onto the Bf 110.

On 3 December 1939, 24 RAF Vickers Wellington bombers from Marham and Mildenhall bases attacked Heligoland. These were intercepted by I./ZG 26 along with other Messerschmitt Bf 109 units. Specht scored his third victory, shooting down a bomber over the North Sea. But he was also hit by return fire from the Wellington's tail gunner, seriously wounding him in the face. Ditching into the sea, he was picked up by rescue craft. Losing the sight in his left eye, he spent the next six months in recovery. He was shot down by Corporal Copley of No. 38 Squadron RAF.

However, he returned to active service, as Gruppe Adjutant of I./ZG 26. Still able to fly combat missions, his aircraft sported a pencil under his Adjutant's chevron – bemoaning the combat pilot's universal loathing of paperwork! During the French campaign, on 23 May 1940, Spitfires were encountered by Bf 110s and Bf 109s for the first time. The engagement resulted in the loss of two Bf 110s and two Bf 109s. However, Specht would claim three RAF Supermarine Spitfire fighters shot down. The British No. 92 Squadron RAF involved lost three Spitfires in the entire engagement. Squadron Leader Roger J Bushell became a prisoner of war while Paul H. Klipsch and Patrick Alexander George Learmond were killed in action. During the course of this battle, Specht and his rear gunner/radio operator were wounded, force land near Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer with a damaged aircraft.

For this mission Specht wore his full dress uniform with medals instead of his flight suit. JG 11 was based at Darmstadt-Griesheim, Zellhausen, and Gross-Ostheim. I./JG 11, III./JG 11 (Fw 190 A–9), and II./JG 11 (Bf 109 G) mustered sixty-five aircraft for this mission. Specht flew Fw 190 A-9 (Werknummer 205033—factory number) "Black 4". Overall the operation was a major failure. With the large proportion of inexperienced, green pilots, flight coordination was extremely difficult and due to the extreme secrecy many pilots were shot down by their own FlaK antiaircraft, who were not pre-warned of the operation. It also resulted in the loss of a number of irreplaceable combat leaders.

As regards JG 11 specifically, at 08:08 am the aircraft took off and assembled over Aschaffenburg with two Junkers Ju 188 'Pathfinders' to navigate. After assembling, Specht ordered all aircraft to fly at to the target area, climbing to prior to commencing the attack. Some P-47 Thunderbolts of the 390th Fighter Squadron, 366th FG, were already airborne and Mustangs of the 487th Fighter Squadron, 352nd FG, were on the runway. The formation was disrupted by flak, and several German aircraft were shot down.

The P-47 and P-51s took a heavy toll of JG 11; some 25 pilots were lost, including Specht, who was posted as Missing In Action, along with other senior officers of JG 11.

Death and subsequent confusion There was some confusion over the circumstance of Specht's death. Lt. Melvin Paisley and his wingman Flight Officer Dave Johnson were flying 366th FG P-47s; Johnson shot down two German fighters before his aircraft was heavily damaged from return fire. Bailing out, he landed in a field near Asch. A Bf 109 he had shot down had belly landed close by and Johnson rode a borrowed bicycle over to inspect it. The aircraft was intact but the pilot was dead. Johnson took the pilot's identification card and gun and rode back to base. The identification card identified the pilot as an Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel); however, the card actually belonged to Oberleutnant August Engel of 8. Staffel.

Further research has revealed more detail. German records confirmed Specht flew a Fw 190, not a Bf 109, and that he was a Major at the time, confirming Johnson's victim was most likely to have been Engel. Johnson's claim form revealed he had claimed a Bf 109, not an Fw 190. The ID card of Johnson's victim was passed on to a member of the ground crew who spoke German. This individual stated that the rank was given as lieutenant colonel. The incorrect identification was most likely a language error and misunderstanding of German ranks. This may have caused the belief that Johnson had killed Specht. Johnson died in October 1976, and aviation historians were unable to secure his version of events.

Specht was officially listed as missing in action over Maastricht, but he has recently been confirmed dead. He crashed his plane after taking heavy fire. Specht was promoted posthumously to Oberstleutnant and nominated for the Eichenlaub (Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross) though this was never awarded in the bedlam of the final weeks of the war. Shot down six times in his career, he preferred to try landing his damaged aircraft rather than taking to his parachute. Specht was credited with 34 aerial victories, which according to Obermaier included 17 heavy bombers, all achieved over the Western Front.

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 31 aerial victory claims, including 15 heavy bombers, plus three further unconfirmed claims, all of which claimed on the Western Front.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 05 Ost TN-6". The Luftwaffe grid map 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 . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.

Chronicle of aerial victories Claim Date Time Type Location Claim Date Time Type Location – Claims with 3. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 26 –"Phoney War" — 1 September – 5 December 1939 1 29 September 1939 10:01 Hampden southeast of Heligoland 3 3 December 1939 Wellington northwest of Heligoland 2 29 September 1939 10:05 Hampden southeast of Heligoland – Claims with 3. Staffel of Zerstörergeschwader 26 –Battle of France — 10 May – 5 December 1939 4 23 May 1940 Spitfire vicinity of Calais 6 23 May 1940 Spitfire vicinity of Calais 5 23 May 1940 Spitfire vicinity of Calais – Claims with 10. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 1 –German Bight — January – March 1943 7 26 February 1943 12:18 B-17 northwest of Borkum – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 11 –Defense of the Reich — 1 April – 31 December 1943 8 14 May 1943 12:10? B-24 east of SchleswigEckernförde Bay 17 4 October 1943 10:16 B-24 PQ 05 Ost TN-6 9 15 May 1943 10:55 B-17 SchönbergElbe estuary 18 8 October 1943 16:39 B-24 PQ 05 Ost AR-6, over seanorthwest of Nordholz 10 19 May 1943 13:17 B-17 PQ 05 Ost 85/6/2, south of Pellworm 19 9 October 1943 15:30 B-17 PQ 05 Ost ML-8 11 11 June 1943 18:05 B-17 PQ 05 Ost 7/1/8 20 13 November 1943 11:20 P-38 PQ 05 Ost FQ-7/3Fürstenau 12 25 June 1943 08:52 B-17 PQ 05 Ost AQ-5/6off the Frisian Islands 21 26 November 1943 12:20? B-17 PQ 05 Ost ER-2/7 13 26 July 1943 11:42 B-17 PQ 05 Ost FS-5/4north of Wagenfeld 22 29 November 1943 15:30 P-47 PQ 05 Ost S/EQ-5/7 14 28 July 1943 09:02 B-17 PQ 05 Ost RS-4/7south of Darmstadt 23 20 December 1943 11:50 P-51 Bremen 15 17 August 1943 15:00 B-17 north-northeast of Diest 24? 22 December 1943 P-47 16 17 August 1943 15:20 B-17 west of Hergarden – Claims with II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 11 –Defense of the Reich — January – June 1944 25? 5 January 1944 P-38 28 21 February 1944 13:54 P-47 PQ 05 Ost S/GT/GU, vicinity of Liethe 26? 23 May 1940: Oberleutnant May 1943: Hauptmann 8 April 1944: Major, (or possibly 1 May 1944) (posthumously) Oberstleutnant