Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer

The winery had been founded by both his father and his grandfather, Hermann Schnaufer, in 1919, shortly after World War I.

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (16 February 1922 – 15 July 1950) was a German Luftwaffe night-fighter pilot and the highest-scoring night fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare.

A flying ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during combat.

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer was born on 16 February 1922 in Calw, located in the Free People's State of Württemberg of the German Reich, during the Weimar Republic era.

He was the first of four children of mechanical engineer and merchant Alfred Schnaufer and his wife Martha, née Frey.

The other three children were his brother Manfred, his sister Waltraut and his brother Eckart.

His father owned and operated the family business, the winery Schnaufer-Schlossbergkellerei (lit. "Schnaufer's Castle Mountain Winery"), in the Lederstraße, Calw.

Following the death of his grandfather in 1928 the winery was run by his father alone.

At an early age he expressed his wish to join an organisation of military character and joined the Deutsches Jungvolk (junior section of Hitler Youth) in 1933.

After completing his sixth grade at school he took and passed the entry examination at the Backnang National Political Institutes of Education (Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt—Napola), a secondary boarding school founded under the recently established Nazi state.

The goal of the Napola schools was to raise a new generation for the political, military and administrative leadership of the Third Reich.

Schnaufer was considered a very good student, finishing top of his class every year.

Already a glider pilot at school, he began military service in the Wehrmacht by joining the Luftwaffe in 1939.

Aged seventeen he graduated with his Abitur (diploma) in November 1939 with distinction.

At the Napola school he also received the Reich Youth Sports Badge (Reichsjugendsportabzeichen), the base-certificate of the German Life Saving Association (Deutsche Lebens-Rettungs-Gesellschaft), the bronze Hitler Youth-Performance Badge (HJ-Leistungsabzeichen), and completed his B-license to fly glider aircraft.

In 1939 Schnaufer was one of two students posted to the Napola in Potsdam.

The Flying Platoon (Fliegerzug) stationed in Potsdam centralised all the destined flyers from all the Napolas.

Here he learned to fly glider aircraft, at first short hops on the DFS SG 38 Schulgleiter, and later on the two-seater Göppingen Gö 4 which was towed by a Klemm Kl 25.

During his stay at Potsdam, the film producer Karl Ritter was making the Ufa film Cadets in Potsdam.

The Napola had detached two companies to work on the film, among them Schnaufer.

When his father unexpectedly died in 1940, his mother ran the business until the children took over the winery after World War II.

The company then expanded the business and in addition to the winery offered wine imports, sparkling wines, and a distillery for wine and liqueur.

The distribution channel worked with agents and sales offices throughout Germany.

Schnaufer, at the age of six, went to the local Volksschule (primary school) at Calw.

After completing his fourth grade, he received two years of schooling at the Oberschule, also in Calw.

After training at various pilot and fighter-pilot schools, he was posted to Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing), operating on the Western Front, in November 1941.

He flew his first combat sorties in support of Operation Cerberus, the breakout of the German ships GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst, GERMAN BATTLESHIP Gneisenau, and GERMAN CRUISER Prinz Eugen from Brest.

Schnaufer participated in the Defence of the Reich campaign from 1942 onwards, in which he would achieve most of his success.

He claimed his first aerial victory on the night of 1/2 June 1942.

As the war progressed, he accumulated further victories and later became a squadron leader and group commander.

He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 31 December 1943 for reaching 42 aerial victories.

All Schnaufer's 121 victories were claimed during World War II, mostly against British four-engine bombers, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, Germany's highest military decoration at the time, on 16 October 1944.

He was nicknamed "The Spook of St. Trond", from the location of his unit's base in occupied Belgium.

Born in Calw, Schnaufer grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany.

Schnaufer achieved his 100th aerial victory on 9 October 1944 and was awarded the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords on 16 October.

He was appointed Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 4 (NJG 4) on 4 November.

By the end of hostilities, Schnaufer's night-fighter crew held the unique distinction that every member—radio operator and air gunner—was decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Schnaufer was taken prisoner of war by British forces in May 1945.

After his release a year later, he returned to his home town and took over the family wine business.

He sustained injuries in a road accident on 13 July 1950 during a wine-purchasing visit to France, and died in a Bordeaux hospital two days later.