Heinz Arnold

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use American English Template:Template other Heinz Arnold (12 February 1919 – 17 April 1945) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace. He is credited with 49 aerial victories including seven victories claimed flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

Career

Arnold joined the Luftwaffe in September 1939, training for a technical role with the Kampffliegerschule at Tutow. Arnold began flying training in January 1940 with Flieger Ausbildungs Rgt. 12., before advanced training with Jagdfliegerschule 5 in late 1940. Arnold was then posted to Jagdgeschwader 5 (JG 5—5th Fighter Wing) on the Arctic Front.

On 15 June 1944, Arnold claimed two aerial victories, taking his total to 10.Template:Sfn As part of the group expansion from three Staffeln per Gruppe to four Staffeln per Gruppe, Arnold's 7. Staffel was re-designated and became the 10. Staffel of JG 5 on 15 August. At the same time, the Staffel was placed under command of Leutnant Walter Schuck.Template:Sfn On 26 September, defending against an attack on Vardø, Arnold claimed three Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters shot down, taking his total to 40 aerial victories.Template:Sfn

Flying the Messerschmitt Me 262

File:Messerschmidt Me 262.jpg

The Me 262 A Werknummer 500491 displays a figure 42 and seven vertical bars indicating Arnold's number of aerial victories.Template:Sfn

Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" (JG 7—7th Fighter Wing) "Nowotny" was created from the experimental unit Kommando Nowotny in November 1944 and was equipped with the then revolutionary new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft.Template:Sfn JG 7 was placed under the command of Oberst Johannes Steinhoff. On 19 November, remnants of Kommando Nowotny was redesignated at Lechfeld Airfield to III. Gruppe of JG 7 and ordered to Brandenburg-Briest where they joined the Stab (headquarters unit). In consequence, the 1., 2. and 3. Staffel of Kommando Nowotny became the 9., 10, and 11. Staffel of III. Gruppe which Steinhoff had placed under the command of Major Erich Hohagen.Template:Sfn There, Arnold was assigned to 11. Staffel.Template:Sfn At the time, the Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Günther Wegmann.Template:Sfn From March to April 1945, he claimed seven aerial victories flying the Me 262 jet-fighter in Defense of the Reich, making him one of the top jet-aces of the war.Template:Sfn

On 3 March 29 Me 262s from Stab and III. Gruppe intercepted United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) heavy bombers heading for Magdeburg, Hannover, Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Near Magdeburg, Me 262s from 10. and 11. Staffel intercepted the bombers of the 2nd Air Division and 3rd Air Division. During this encounter, Arnold claimed a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and an escorting Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter shot down.Template:Sfn On 18 March, Wegmann, the commander of 11. Staffel was wounded in combat. In consequence, Leutnant Karl Schnörrer was given command of the Staffel. The next day, Me 262s led by Schnörrer intercepted 374 B-17 bombers of the 3rd Air Division heading for the Carl Zeiss AG optical factories at Jena. On this mission, Arnold claimed a B-17 bomber shot down.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Arnold's Me 262 A-1a (Werknummer 500491—factory number) "Yellow 7" was unserviceable at Alt Lönnewitz when, on 17 April 1945, Arnold took a replacement Me 262 A-1a into an action from which he failed to return. Arnold went missing in action during a ground-attack mission in the Thuringian Forest area of Germany.Template:Sfn Alternatively, Arnold may have been shot down by First Lieutenant James A. Steiger from the 357th Fighter Group during an attack on a B-17 of the 305th Bombardment Group on a mission to bomb Berlin.Template:Sfn

His Me 262 (Werknummer 500491) bearing his personal victory marks is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA.Template:Sfn

Aerial victory claims

Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces – Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and state that Arnold was credited with 48 aerial victories. This figure includes 41 claims made on the Eastern Front and seven on the Western Front, including five four-engined bombers, flying the Me 262 jet fighter.Template:Sfn

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 37 Ost PC-4/8". 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 ♠ (Ace of spades) indicates those aerial victories which made Arnold an "ace-in-a-day", a term which designates a fighter pilot who has shot down five or more airplanes in a single day.   This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Balke, Bock, Mombeek, Mathews, and Foreman.
Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location	Claim	Date	Time	Type	Location
– 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 5 –Template:Sfn Eastern Front — 1 January – 15 August 1944
1	23 April 1944	10:38	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost PC-4/8Template:Sfn	16♠	17 June 1944	21:29	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RB-6/6Template:Sfn
2	23 April 1944	10:45	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost PC-7/6Template:Sfn north of Rybachy Peninsula	17♠	17 June 1944	21:30	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RB-8/1Template:Sfn
3	11 May 1944	03:18	Il-2Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QE-8/1Template:Sfn	18♠	17 June 1944	21:33	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-4/3Template:Sfn
4	11 May 1944	03:21	Il-2Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-9/3Template:Sfn	19♠	17 June 1944	21:38	Il-2Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-9/3Template:Sfn
5	11 May 1944	07:44	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-1/1Template:Sfn	20	27 June 1944	16:40	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SC-7/4Template:Sfn
6	25 May 1944	21:42	P-40	northeast of BerlevågTemplate:Sfn northeast of HamningbergTemplate:Sfn	21	27 June 1944	16:44	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RB-7/1, northwest of PummankiTemplate:Sfn
7	25 May 1944	21:45	Boston	north-northeast of BerlevågTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn	22	27 June 1944	16:45	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RB-5/4Template:Sfn
8	25 May 1944	21:46	Boston	north-northeast of BerlevågTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn	23	27 June 1944	23:58	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SB-3/1Template:Sfn
9	15 June 1944	02:34	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-6/6Template:Sfn	24♠	28 June 1944	00:11	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SU-2/6Template:Sfn
10	15 June 1944	02:48	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-8/2Template:Sfn	25♠	28 June 1944	00:13	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-3/7Template:Sfn
11♠	17 June 1944	07:48	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost PC-8/6Template:Sfn	26♠	28 June 1944	00:15	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-4/6Template:Sfn
12♠	17 June 1944	07:49	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost PC-6/2Template:Sfn	27♠	28 June 1944	03:48	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-4/7Template:Sfn
13♠	17 June 1944	08:05	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QC-1/7Template:Sfn	28♠	28 June 1944	03:49	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-7/7Template:Sfn
14♠	17 June 1944	08:07	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QC-3/5Template:Sfn	29♠	28 June 1944	03:51	BostonTemplate:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SB-9/2Template:Sfn
15♠	17 June 1944	19:57?Template:Refn	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RB-8/7Template:Sfn	30♠	28 June 1944	04:01	Yak-9Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RC-9/4Template:Sfn
– 10. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 5 –Template:Sfn Eastern Front — 15 August – 8 November 1944
31	15 September 1944	07:25	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-8/4Template:Sfn	37♠	16 September 1944?Template:Refn	17:42	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-5/8Template:Sfn
32	15 September 1944	07:32	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost RD-7/6Template:Sfn	38	26 September 1944	14:36	Yak-9	PQ 37 Ost RB-6/2Template:Sfn
33♠	16 September 1944	12:05	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SA-3/4Template:Sfn	39	26 September 1944	14:39	Yak-9	PQ 37 Ost RC-1/5Template:Sfn
34♠	16 September 1944	12:08	Il-2Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost SB-4/1Template:Sfn	40	26 September 1944	14:43	Yak-9	PQ 37 Ost RD-4/4Template:Sfn
35♠	16 September 1944?	17:30	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QA-6/9Template:Sfn	41	27 September 1944	11:48	P-39Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QA-7/7Template:Sfn
36♠	16 September 1944?	17:33	P-40Template:Sfn	PQ 37 Ost QA-7/9Template:Sfn
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" –Template:Sfn Defense of the Reich — March 1945
42	3 March 1945	—	P-47Template:Sfn	vicinity of Genthin	46	21 March 1945	09:15±	B-17Template:Sfn	vicinity of Dresden
43	3 March 1945	—	B-17Template:Sfn	vicinity of Genthin	47	22 March 1945	12:45±	B-17Template:Sfn	Cottbus—Bautzen—Dresden
44	7 March 1945	—	P-51Template:Sfn	vicinity of Wittenberg	48	24 March 1945	12:45±	B-17Template:Sfn	vicinity of Wittenberg
45	19 March 1945	—	B-17Template:Sfn	north of Chemnitz