Willi Reschke

Willi Reschke (3 February 1922 – 5 July 2017) was a Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II, credited with 27 aerial victories in 70 missions.

Reschke was born on 3 February 1922 at Mühlow, Province of Brandenburg, present-day Miłów in western Poland.

Mühlow is located approximately 15 km northeast of Guben where the Luftwaffe operated an A/B flight school.

According to his own account, there Reschke developed his interest to become an aviator.

Following a brief stay, he was sent to the airfield at Götzendorf an der Leitha where the I. Gruppe (1st group) of Jagdgeschwader 302 (JG 302—302nd Fighter Wing) under the command of Hauptmann Richard Lewens was based.

There, Reschke was assigned to 1.

Staffel (1st squadron) of JG 302.

Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 1.

Staffel was Hauptmann Heinrich Wurzer.

At the time, the Gruppe was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6.

Reschke flew his first combat mission on 26 June and was almost shot down by escorting fighters, landing his damaged fighter at Deutsch-Wagram.

That day, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Fifteenth Air Force targeted the hydrogenation factory at Moosbierbaum as part of the oil campaign.

Flying from airfields in Italy, the USAAF dispatched 157 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and 502 Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers, escorted by 321 fighter aircraft.

On 2 July, the Fifteenth Air Force attacked Budapest.

In defense of this attack, I. Gruppe of JG 302 was scrambled at 09:27.

At 10:25 and 10:29, Reschke

claimed his first two aerial victories when he shot down two USAAF B-24 bombers shot down southwest of Budapest.

During this combat, his Bf 109 G-6 was hit in the radiator resulting in a forced landing in a field near Érd.

Reschke claimed an unconfirmed aerial victory over a North American P-51 Mustang fighter on 6 July during an USAAF attack on Munich.

The next day, Reschke downed a B-24, his third confirmed claim, this time by ramming when his guns malfunctioned.

Following the collision, he successfully bailed out of his damaged fighter.

On 24 August Reschke claimed a B-24 near Jindřichův Hradec but during an attack on a second his aircraft was hit by return fire and he attempted to force-land while under attack by P-51 fighters, having to use his parachute.

On 29 August he shot down a B-17 bomber south of Zlín, although another Bf 109 fired on his Bf 109 G-6 and Reschke had to force-land damaged.

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland.

In February 1940, he volunteered for military service in the Luftwaffe.

His medical checkup was conducted at Paunsdorf, a borough of Leipzig, and was accepted.

One year later, on 4 February 1941, he joined the Fliegerausbildungs-Bataillon at Königsberg in der Neumark where he received his basic training.

Reschke commenced pilot-training in spring 1942.

On 6 April 1943, flight training continued at Neiße, present-day Nysa, Poland.

There he learned to fly the Klemm Kl 25, Arado Ar 66, Focke-Wulf Fw 56 and Arado Ar 96 with a focus on formation flying, cross-country flying and aerobatics.

Additionally, he also took classroom courses in navigation.

Reschke completed flight training on 27 June 1943 and he was presented with the Aviator badge (Flugzeugführerabzeichen).

On 23 October 1943, Reschke served with Jagdgeschwader 102 (JG 102—102nd Fighter Wing), formerly Jagdfliegerschule 2 (2nd fighter pilot school), in Zerbst to undergo operational training.

On 13 June 1944, Reschke continued his training at the Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe West, a supplementary training unit for fighter pilots destined to fight on the Western Front which was based in Gabbert, present-day Jaworze in northwestern Poland.

Over the next three days, he made 21 combat simulation flights.

On 18 June, he was sent to a front-line fighter unit by train.

On 20 June 1944, Unteroffizier Reschke arrived by train in Vienna.

By the end of August 1944 Reschke had claimed 13 aerial victories, seven bombers in July and six in August.

I. Gruppe of JG 302 was redesignated to III.

In 1999, Reschke recounted his wartime experiences in print, published in English in 2005 as "Jagdgeschwader 301/302 'Wilde Sau': In Defense Of The Reich with the Bf 109, Fw 190 and Ta 152;" including writing about the late-war period he spent flying the exotic Focke-Wulf Ta 152 high-altitude fighter-interceptor designed by Kurt Tank.