Helmut Bennemann

Helmut Bennemann (16 March 1915 – 17 November 2007) was an Oberstleutnant of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe in World War II.

Bennemann claimed 93 aerial victories in over 400 combat missions.

The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front.

His commands included Geschwaderkommodore of the JG 53 fighter wing.

Helmut Bennemann held the position of Adjutant of I./Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing) in June 1940.

He claimed his first aerial victory on 26 August, when he shot down a Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfire near Dover.

On 15 September, Bennemann claimed three RAF Hurricane shot down to record his sixth through eighth victories.

Until 21 February, the entire I. Gruppe was based at an airfield at Katwijk in the Netherlands where it was tasked with patrolling the Dutch coast area and German Bight, the three Staffeln were then deployed at various airfields on the Dutch, German and Danish North Sea coast.

On 27 April 1941, Bennemann was appointed Staffelkapitän (Squadron Leader) of 3.

Staffel of JG 52.

He replaced Oberleutnant Helmut Kühle who was transferred.

By September 1941, Bennemann had claimed 12 victories.

On 21 September 1941, I. Gruppe of JG 52 was ordered to relocate to the Eastern Front.

With stopovers at Dortmund, Magdeburg, and Warsaw, the Gruppe arrived in Orsha on 29 September.

In support for Operation Typhoon, also known as the Battle of Moscow, the Gruppe moved to an airfield named Ponyatovka, located approximately 30 km southwest of Roslavl, on 2 October.

The following day, Bennemann claimed his first aerial victory on the Eastern Front when he shot down a Polikarpov I-16 fighter.

On 14 June 1942, Bennemann was promoted to Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe of JG 52.

He succeeded Hauptmann Karl-Heinz Leesmann was transferred.

A Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber shot down by Bennemann on 23 August was I. Gruppe's 600 aerial victory to date.

By the End of 1942 his score stood at 72 victories.

On 10 May 1943, Benemann was severely wounded by the explosion of an incendiary bomb at Charkow-Woitschenko Airfield.

During his convalescence, he was replaced by Hauptmann Johannes Wiese and Hauptmann Gerhard Barkhorn as commander of I. Gruppe.

Command of the Gruppe officially passed to Wiese on 5 October.

Bennemann was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing) on 9 November 1943.

He took over command from Oberst Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn who had been transferred on 4 October.

Intermittently, the Geschwader had been led by both Major Friedrich-Karl Müller and Major Kurt Ubben.

On 25 April 1944, he shot down a USAAF B-24 over Bologna to claim his 90th victory.

However, his Bf 109G-6 (Werknummer 163 314—factory number) "Black < 3" was hit by defensive fire and Bennemann was again wounded, baling out successfully.

In June 1944, Bennemann led the Geschwaderstab of JG 53 on a short return to the Eastern Front, to direct the supply missions for the city of Vilna.

The unit departed the Soviet Union for Wunstorf near Hannover in Germany on 22 July.

From August 1944, Bennemann led JG 53 on Reichsverteidigung missions, initially from bases in France, then from bases in Germany.

He claimed his last three victories in October 1944 to bring his final score to 93.

Among his 93 victories are at least 10 Il-2 Sturmoviks claimed over the Eastern Front.

In early 1945, Bennemann joined other high-ranking pilots in the "Fighter Pilots' Revolt incident" which escalated in a meeting with Hermann Göring on 22 January 1945.

This was an attempt to reinstate Adolf Galland who had been dismissed for outspokenness regarding the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (Luftwaffe high command), and had been replaced by Gordon Gollob as General der Jagdflieger.

The meeting was held at the Haus der Flieger in Berlin and was attended by a number of high-ranking fighter pilot leaders which included Bennemann, Lützow, Hermann Graf, Gerhard Michalski, Hannes Trautloft, Kurt Bühligen, Erich Leie and Herbert Ihlefeld, and their antagonist Göring supported by his staff Bernd von Brauchitsch and Karl Koller.

The fighter pilots, with Lützow taking the lead as spokesman, criticized Göring and made him personally responsible for the decisions taken which contributed to the lost air war over Europe.

Following World War II, Bennemann attended university attaining a Doctor of Medical Dentistry, abbreviated as Dr. med.

dent.

His 62nd aerial victory claimed over a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 fighter on 2 November was the 800th aerial victory of I. Gruppe.