Franz Barten

Franz Barten (26 January 1912 – 4 August 1944) was a World War II fighter ace from Germany. He was born on 26 January 1912 at Saarbrücken. Barten was credited with having shot down a total of 52 Allied aircraft.

On 4 August 1944, Barten was shot down in a Messerschmitt Bf 109 in aerial combat with P-47 Thunderbolt belonging to the United States Army Air Forces near Reinsehlen. He bailed out of his aircraft, but was shot while hanging in his parachute.

Career

Barten was born on 26 January 1912 in Saarbrücken in the Rhine Province within the German Empire. Following flight training,Template:Refn he was transferred to the 2. Staffel (2nd squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) on 1 July 1939.Template:Sfn At the time, the Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Hannes Trautloft and subordinated to I. Gruppe (1st group) of JG 77 which was based at Breslau-Schöngarten.Template:Sfn

World War II

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. In preparation for the invasion in end-August 1939, I. Gruppe of JG 77, to which the 2. Staffel was subordinated, had been moved from Breslau-Schöngarten to an airfield at Juliusburg, present-day Dobroszyce. The Gruppe operated over the left flank of Army Group South, supporting the 8th Army advance into Poland. Its main task was flying combat air patrols but had relatively little enemy contact.Template:Sfn

On 25 August 1940, I. Gruppe of JG 77 relocated from Wyk auf Föhr to Marquise located near the English Channel to fight in the Battle of Britain.Template:Sfn Barten claimed his first aerial victory on 14 September. That day, I. Gruppe flew a combat air patrol in the area of Tonbridge. On this mission, the Gruppe claimed five aerial victories, including a Hawker Hurricane by Barten, for the loss of two of their own.Template:Sfn On 17 October, I. Gruppe flew a mission over southeastern England and to London. That day, Barten claimed two Hurricanes shot down.Template:Sfn On 21 November, I. Gruppe of JG 77 was redesignated and became the IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing). Consequently, Barten became a member of 11. Staffel of JG 51. On 7 December, the Gruppe was withdrawn from the English Channel, relocating to Mannheim-Sandhofen Airfield for a period of rest and replenishment. On 9 February 1941, IV. Gruppe returned to France, then based at an airfield near Le Touquet. There, Barten claimed a Spitfire fighter shot down on 15 April southeast of Boulogne.Template:Sfn

Operation Barbarossa

On 15 June, IV. Gruppe of JG 51 began transferring east and was located at an airfield named Krzewicze, located approximately west of Brest-Litovsk. On 22 June, German forces launched Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.Template:Sfn JG 51 was subordinated to II. Fliegerkorps (2nd Air Corps), which as part of Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2). JG 51 area of operation during Operation Barbarossa was over the right flank of Army Group Center in the combat area of the 2nd Panzer Group as well as the 4th Army.Template:Sfn

On 10 November 1942, Barten was injured when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 12878—factory number) aircraft suffered engine failure, forcing him to bail out near Surazh.Template:Sfn

On 13 July 1943, Barten was transferred and appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of the 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing). He succeeded Oberleutnant Hans Röhrig who was killed in action that day.Template:Sfn

Defense of the Reich and death

On 28 June 1944, III. Gruppe arrived by train in Bad Lippspringe and initially subordinated to the 3. Jagd-Division (3rd Fighter Division) where they would be based for flying missions in Defense of the Reich.Template:Sfn There, the Gruppe was assigned a number of inexperienced pilots directly coming from the Ergänungsgruppe, the supplementary training unit of JG 53. Over the next weeks, Barten and other experienced pilots further trained and prepared these pilots for their first combat missions.Template:Sfn The Gruppe received a full complement of Bf 109 G-6 aircraft, most of them equipped with the 20 mm MG 151/20 underwing gun pod. The Gruppenkommandeur Franz Götz ordered these gun pods removed as the additional weight had an adverse effect on the handling qualities, reducing the Bf 109s performance in fighter-versus-fighter combat.Template:Sfn The Gruppe flew its first operational mission on 28 July. That day, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force targeted German fuel production in central Germany.Template:Sfn

On 4 August 1944, Barten was shot down in aerial combat with USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters near the Luftwaffe airfield at Reinsehlen. He bailed out of his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 441575) but was then killed. According to records of the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt), a German government agency which maintained records of who were killed in action, Barten fell to his death because his parachute failed to fully deploy after a low altitude bail-out.Template:Sfn According to Weal, he was shot in his parachute by P-47 fighters. Posthumously, Barten was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 24 October 1944 and also promoted to Hauptmann (captain).Template:Sfn He was succeeded by Oberleutnant Martin von Vacano as commander of 9. Staffel.Template:Sfn

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to Obermaier, Barten was credited with 52 aerial victories, 39 of which on the Eastern Front, achieved in 895 combat missions.Template:Sfn Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 52 aerial victory claims. This number includes four claims during the Battle of Britain, 39 on the Eastern Front, and nine in the Mediterranean Theater including three heavy bombers.Template:Sfn

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 47612". 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.Template:Sfn

Chronicle of aerial victories
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
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 –Template:Sfn Action at the Channel and over England — 25 August – 21 November 1940
1	14 September 1940	17:00	HurricaneTemplate:Sfn		3	17 October 40	18:05	Spitfire	Tunbridge WellsTemplate:Sfn
2	17 October 1940	17:56	Hurricane	south of Tunbridge WellsTemplate:Sfn
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –Template:Sfn Action at the Channel and over England — 21 November 1940 – 7 June 1941
4	15 April 1941	08:55	Spitfire	southeast of BoulogneTemplate:Sfn
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –Template:Sfn Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 5 December 1941
5	22 June 1941	16:10	DB-3Template:Sfn		15	7 September 1941	17:12	SB-2Template:Sfn
6	24 June 1941	09:38	SB-3Template:Sfn		16	8 September 1941	05:30	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn
7	29 June 1941	18:38	SB-2Template:Sfn		17	9 September 1941	12:55	R-3Template:Sfn
8	4 July 41	14:50	SB-2Template:Sfn		18	9 September 1941	13:00	R-3Template:Sfn
9	11 July 1941	07:40	ZKB-19Template:Sfn?Template:Refn		19	10 September 1941	11:56	R-3Template:Sfn
10	13 July 1941	12:24	Pe-2Template:Sfn		20	6 October 1941	16:55	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn
11	15 July 1941	09:45	I-16Template:Sfn		21	23 October 1941	15:20	Yak-1Template:Sfn?Template:Refn
12	15 July 1941	16:20	DB-3Template:Sfn		22	27 October 1941	14:20	DB-3Template:Sfn
13	9 August 1941	12:05	Pe-2Template:Sfn		23	12 November 1941	08:10	SB-3Template:Sfn
14	27 August 1941	16:50	Pe-2Template:Sfn		24	12 November 1941	08:11	SB-3Template:Sfn
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –Template:Sfn Eastern Front — 6 December 1941 – 30 April 1942
25	4 February 42	12:55	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn		30	21 March 42	07:40	Pe-2Template:Sfn
26	13 February 42	12:45	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn		31	1 April 42	10:55	MiG-3Template:Sfn
27	18 February 42	12:47	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn		32	6 April 42	07:20	Pe-2Template:Sfn
28	19 February 42	14:00	I-61 (MiG-3)Template:Sfn		33	6 April 42	14:35	MiG-3Template:Sfn
29	18 March 42	14:12	I-18 (MiG-1)Template:Sfn
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –Template:Sfn Eastern Front — 1 May – August 1942
34	30 May 42	05:40	MiG-3Template:Sfn		38	3 August 42	06:50	Il-2	PQ 47612Template:Sfn northeast of Rzhev
35	13 July 42	09:35	LaGG-3Template:Sfn		39	4 August 42	12:14	Il-2	PQ 36291Template:Sfn west of Konaja
36	2 August 42	11:55	LaGG-3	PQ 47551Template:Sfn north-northwest of Rzhev	40	5 August 42	06:10	LaGG-3	PQ 47662Template:Sfn south of Staritsa
37	2 August 42	17:45	LaGG-3	PQ 47522Template:Sfn north-northwest of Rzhev	41	5 August 42	06:20	Il-2	PQ 47852Template:Sfn southeast of Zubtsov
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –Template:Sfn Eastern Front — April 1943
42	8 April 43	15:40	Il-2	PQ 35 Ost 45521Template:Sfn northeast of Utrikowo	43	8 April 43	15:42	Il-2	PQ 35 Ost 45342Template:Sfn north of Spas-Demensk
– 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –Template:Sfn Mediterranean Theater — July 1943
44	12 July 43	18:28	Spitfire	southeast of RamaccaTemplate:Sfn
– 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –Template:Sfn Mediterranean Theater — 13 July – 31 December 1943
45	19 August 43	12:33	B-17	east of SalernoTemplate:Sfn	48	3 September 43	13:53	B-24	west of Villa LiternoTemplate:Sfn
46	20 August 43	12:32?Template:Refn	P-38	east of Castel VolturnoTemplate:Sfn	49	1 December 43	12:48	P-38	south of La SpeziaTemplate:Sfn
47	28 August 43	15:48?Template:Refn	P-38	southeast of FondiTemplate:Sfn	50	28 December 43	11:45	B-24	south-southwest of PaduaTemplate:Sfn
– 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –Template:Sfn Mediterranean Theater — 1 January – 27 June 1944
51	6 February 44	16:37	Spitfire	north of NettunoTemplate:Sfn	52	14 April 44	10:24	P-47	PQ 14 Ost S/FD-5Template:Sfn south of Elba

Awards

• Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st ClassTemplate:Sfn
• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 20 October 1941 as Oberfeldwebel in a JagdgeschwaderTemplate:Sfn
• German Cross in Gold on 22 May 1942 as Oberfeldwebel in the 11./Jagdgeschwader 51Template:Sfn
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 24 October 1944 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 9./Jagdgeschwader 53Template:SfnTemplate:Refn