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.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn

Night fighter operations

File:Kammhuber Line Map - Agent Tegal.png

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.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn Friedrich claimed his first victory on the night of 16/17 June when he shot down a RAF Vickers Wellington at 03:08 west of Ijmuiden.Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

He was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 10. Staffel (10th squadron) of NJG 4 on 1 January 1943.Template:Sfn 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. Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn On 12 July 1944, he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of NJG 6.Template:Sfn Friedrich was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () on 15 March 1945.Template:Sfn

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.Template:Sfn In defense of this attack, Friedrich claimed three Lancasters shot down in timeframe 23:15 and 23:24.Template:Sfn

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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

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.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces – Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Friedrich with 32 claims, all of which on the Western Front.Template:Sfn

Chronicle of aerial victoriesTemplate:Sfn
This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed in Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945 but not in Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims.
Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location	Serial No./Squadron No.
– Stab III. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 –
1	17 June 1942	03:08	Wellington	west of IjmuidenTemplate:Sfn
2	20 June 1942	03:13	Wellington	north of ZandvoortTemplate:Sfn
3	26 July 1942	02:12	Wellington	west of ZieuwentTemplate:Sfn
– Stab II. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 –
4	24 October 1942	21:50	Halifax	Bar-le-DucTemplate:Sfn	Halifax W1188/No. 103 Squadron RAFTemplate:Sfn
– 8. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 –
5	6 December 1942	19:29	Halifax	CourouvreTemplate:Sfn
– 10. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 –
6	9 March 1943	23:35	Lancaster	northwest of RinuthallTemplate:Sfn
7	17 March 1943	00:16	Halifax	BörnlossTemplate:Sfn
8	11 April 1943	03:23	Wellington	Lünebach-WeuirTemplate:Sfn
– 2. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 –
9?Template:Refn	6 September 1943	00:57	Halifax	vicinity of Mannheim-SandhofenTemplate:Sfn
– 1. Staffel of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 –
10	26 February 1944	01:33	Lancaster	SeeburgTemplate:Sfn	Lancaster LM158/No. 90 Squadron RAFTemplate:Sfn
11	2 March 1944	04:04	Halifax	southwest of StrasbourgTemplate:Sfn
12	18 March 1944	22:32	Halifax	PreistTemplate:Sfn
13	31 March 1944	00:57	Halifax	northwest of NürnbergTemplate:Sfn
14	11 April 1944	00:03	Lancaster	MontdidierTemplate:Sfn
15	11 April 1944	00:13	Halifax	vicinity of MontdidierTemplate:Sfn	Halifax LV880/No. 51 Squadron RAFTemplate:Sfn
16	28 April 1944	02:09	Halifax	Switzerland, west of FriedrichshafenTemplate:Sfn
17	28 April 1944	02:34	Halifax	SchaffhausenTemplate:Sfn
18	13 June 1944	01:25	Lancaster	vicinity of DeelenTemplate:Sfn
– Stab I. Gruppe of Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 –
19	12 September 1944	00:15	Lancaster	south of DarmstadtTemplate:Sfn
20	12 September 1944	22:46	Wellington	northwest of beacon "Christa"Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
21	28 January 1945	23:53	Lancaster	south of WildbadTemplate:Sfn
22	1 February 1945	19:20	Lancaster	LudwigshafenTemplate:Sfn
23	2 February 1945	23:20	Lancaster	KarlsruheTemplate:Sfn
24	2 February 1945	23:25	Lancaster	KarlsruheTemplate:Sfn
25	21 February 1945	20:45	Halifax	southwest of WormsTemplate:Sfn
26	23 February 1945	20:00	Lancaster	east of PforzheimTemplate:Sfn
27	23 February 1945	20:08	Lancaster	east of PforzheimTemplate:Sfn
28	23 February 1945	20:12	Lancaster	southeast of PforzheimTemplate:Sfn
29	23 February 1945	20:15	Lancaster	south of PforzheimTemplate:Sfn
30	14 March 1945	23:15	LancasterTemplate:Sfn
31	14 March 1945	23:18	LancasterTemplate:Sfn
32	14 March 1945	23:24	LancasterTemplate:Sfn
33	16 March 1945	21:03	Lancaster	south of EchterdingenTemplate:Sfn	Lancaster PB785/No. 576 Squadron RAFTemplate:Sfn

Awards

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