42 German World War II pilots

Siegfried Barth was a German bomber pilot in the Luftwaffe during World War II and commander of the fighter-bomber wing Jagdbombergeschwader 32 of the German Air Force. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, awarded by Nazi Germany to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. As a Bundeswehr officer, he served at the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) from 1969 to 1972.

Rainer Candidus Barzel was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 8th President of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984.

Werner Baumbach was a German bomber pilot during World War II. He commanded the secret bomber wing Kampfgeschwader 200 of the Luftwaffe, the air force of Nazi Germany. Baumbach received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for the destruction of over 300,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.

Hans Baur was Adolf Hitler's pilot during Hitler's political campaigns of the early 1930s. He later became Hitler's personal pilot and leader of the Reichsregierung squadron. Apprehended by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II in Europe, he was imprisoned in the USSR for ten years before being extradited to France on 10 October 1955, where he was imprisoned until 1957. He died in Herrsching, Bavaria, in 1993.

Hans Bertram was a German aviator, screenwriter and film director.

Georg Betz was an SS officer, who rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer during World War II. Betz served as Adolf Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was present in the Führerbunker in Berlin in late April 1945. On 1 May 1945, Betz took part in the break-out from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Early on 2 May 1945, Betz was wounded and died while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge which was under heavy fire from Soviet troops.

Erich Bloedorn was a German Luftwaffe bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Bernd von Brauchitsch was a German aristocratic Luftwaffe colonel during World War II and adjutant to Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring.

Artur von Casimir was a German Oberst and former bomber pilot who flew for the Luftwaffe during World War II. Since 2004 he has received a great deal of publicity in Norway. One of the Heinkel He 111 he flew was recovered from Jonsvatnet lake near Trondheim in 2004, where it had been submerged since falling through the ice during the spring thaw in April 1940. He commanded Kampfgruppe 100 during the German invasion of Norway, and led the air raids on Namsos on 20 April 1940. He assumed the position of Gruppenkommandeur over KGr. 100 on 16 February 1940.

Arved Crüger was a Luftwaffe wing commander during World War II and Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recipient. He married the German movie actress Carola Höhn in 1941. He was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Kampfgeschwader 77 in 1942. Crüger was posted as missing in action on 22 March 1942.

Eduard Wohlrat Christian Dietl was a German general during World War II who commanded the 20th Mountain Army. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany.

Oskar Dinort was a German general and ground attack aircraft pilot during World War II.

Georg Dörffel was a highly decorated Oberstleutnant in the Luftwaffe during World War II, and one of only 882 recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Georg Dörffel was killed on 26 May 1944, north of Rome. During his career he flew 1004 missions as a ground assault pilot. He was posthumously promoted to Oberstleutnant.

Oberleutnant Armin Faber was a German Luftwaffe pilot in World War II who mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and landed his Focke-Wulf 190 intact at RAF Pembrey in South Wales. His plane was the first Fw 190 to be captured by the Allies and was tested to reveal any weaknesses that could be exploited.

Fritz Fliegel was a German track cyclist, Luftwaffe bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. On 18 July 1941, Fiegel was killed in action flying a Focke-Wulf Fw 200 during the Atlantic War in an attack on convoy OB 346. He targeted the 7,046-ton freighter Pilar de Larrinaga. However, the gunners shot his starboard wing off and he crashed into the sea, killing all on board.

Heinz Haber was a German physicist and science writer who primarily became known for his TV programs and books about physics and environmental subjects. His lucid style of explaining hard science has frequently been imitated by later popular science presenters in Germany.

Walter Hagen was a pilot in the Luftwaffe during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.

Martin Harlinghausen was a German military aviator and general. Harlinghausen specialised in maritime interdiction and anti-warship operations. During World War II Harlinghausen was the leading exponent of anti-ship warfare with the destruction of 22 ships credited to him.

Joachim Helbig was a German bomber pilot during World War II. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and served almost all of his career with Demonstration Wing 1. With his unit, he participated in the Invasion of Poland, the Norwegian Campaign, the Battles of the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Britain in 1939–40. For his contributions in these campaigns, Helbig received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in late 1940. He was then transferred to the Mediterranean theater where he bombed Malta, the British Mediterranean Fleet and flew in support of the Afrika Korps. Helbig received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords in late 1942 for the support of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's 1942 summer offensive.

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was a high-ranking German SS and police official during the Nazi era and a principal architect of the Holocaust. He was chief of the Reich Security Main Office. He was also Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. He served as president of the International Criminal Police Commission and chaired the January 1942 Wannsee Conference which formalised plans for the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question"—the deportation and genocide of all Jews in German-occupied Europe.

Hubertus Hitschhold was a German general and ground-attack pilot during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.

Hermann Hogeback was a German bomber pilot during the Nazi era. He flew more than 100 operational sorties during the Spanish Civil War and 500 during World War II and was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany. Hogeback's last service position was commander of the 6th Bomber Wing.

Bernhard Jope was a German bomber pilot during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany. As part of Kampfgeschwader 40, Jope flew missions across the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean in support of the German navy, damaging in October 1940 the RMS Empress of Britain. In 1943, he led Kampfgeschwader 100 in the attacks on the Italian battleship Roma, the British battleship HMS Warspite and cruiser HMS Uganda, and the US cruiser USS Savannah.

Friedrich Kless was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Ernst Kühl was a German officer in the Luftwaffe during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.

Ernst Kupfer was a ground-attack pilot in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany during World War II who commanded a wing of Stuka aircraft. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords.

Walter Lehweß-Litzmann was a Major in the Luftwaffe during World War II, and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. After the war he served in the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic and worked for the East German airline Interflug.

Boy Lornsen was a German sculptor and author of children's literature, writing both in Standard German and in Platt.

Viktor von Loßberg was a German air officer during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Loßberg was instrumental in conceiving the concept of Zahme Sau, a night fighter tactic of the Luftwaffe.

Günter Luther was a German admiral who became Inspector of the Navy and Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe for NATO. During World War II, he served as a military pilot in the Kriegsmarine and a paratrooper in the Luftwaffe. After the war, he joined the newly founded West German Bundesmarine in 1956.

Hans Guido Mutke was a fighter pilot for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. He was born in Neisse, Upper Silesia.

Dietrich Peltz was a German World War II Luftwaffe bomber pilot and youngest general of the Wehrmacht. As a pilot he flew approximately 320 combat missions, including roughly 130 as a bomber pilot on the Eastern Front, 90 as a bomber pilot on the Western Front, and 102 as a dive bomber pilot during the Invasion of Poland and Battle of France.

Edgar Petersen was a German bomber pilot in the Luftwaffe during World War II and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany.

Rüdiger Proske was a prolific German author on politics and current affairs, a television journalist and a social democratic trades unionist. In 1961 he was a co-founder of the NDR current affairs programme Panorama.

Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many honors. Reitsch was among the very last people to meet Adolf Hitler alive in the Führerbunker in late April 1945.

Clemens Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid was a German Air Force officer who commanded Air Command Arad and 77th Dive Bomber Wing during the Axis-led invasion of Yugoslavia during World War II. He was killed in a flying accident at Sofia, Bulgaria on 30 August 1944. He was planning to attend a General Staff meeting when his aircraft crashed for unknown reasons.

Hans Seidemann was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves of Nazi Germany.

Hans-Karl Stepp was a German ground attack pilot and wing commander during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, a grade of the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Beate Uhse-Rotermund was a German pilot, entrepreneur and sex pioneer. She was one of the very few female stunt pilots in Germany in the 1930s. During World War II she ferried planes for the German Luftwaffe and after World War II she started the first sex shop in the world. The company she started, Beate Uhse AG, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Erich Warsitz was a German test pilot of the 1930s. He held the rank of Flight-Captain in the Luftwaffe and was selected by the Reich Air Ministry as chief test pilot at Peenemünde West. He is remembered as the first person to fly an aircraft under liquid-fueled rocket power, the Heinkel He 176, on June 20, 1939 and also the first to fly an aircraft under turbojet power, the Heinkel He 178, on August 27 the same year.

Otto Albert Bernhard Weiß was a World War II Luftwaffe attack aircraft pilot and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. He was the first attack aircraft pilot so honored. Weiß flew more than 500 combat missions with the Henschel Hs 123 and the Messerschmitt Bf 109.