Heinz Ewald

 ( 1922 Births ) 

Heinz "Esau" Ewald (1 September 1922 – 14 March 2002) was a Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.

Heinz Ewald was credited with 84 victories in 395 combat missions.

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Career On 1 December 1941 Ewald volunteered for military service. After his pilot training, which included flight training with the Fliegerausbildungsregiment 23 in Kaufbeuren, he was posted, in the fall of 1943, to 6. Staffel (6th squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52—52nd Fighter Wing) on the Eastern Front and was soon one of the best young pilots of his group. He frequently flew as wingman to Gerhard Barkhorn. On his fourth sortie, and on his first enemy encounter, he shot down his first opponent on 11 December 1943. He was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, on 8 January 1944; the Iron Cross 1st Class on 7 March. He was promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 1 May, and he received the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 25 May.

On 17 December 1943, Ewald made a forced landing in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6. On 21 March 1944, he was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery in his Bf 109 G-6. On 24 June, he was again shot down, this time in his Bf 109 G-6 ( Werknummer 163568—factory number) during combat with Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers southeast of Malu Roșu, Ploiești and wounded. Prior to being shot down, Esau claimed a B-24 bomber. He made two attacks on the bomber. The first attack, which was made in a head on attack, damaged the bomber and separated it from its combat box. The second attack, which flown from a stern direction, was observed to have shot down the B-24 bomber with its left wing on fire. Flying a third attack on the bomber formation, Ewald was hit by the defensive fire of another bomber. His engine caught fire and he was forced to bail out. Fearing to come to get shot in his parachute by an escorting fighter, he let himself fall to approximately before deploying his parachute.

On 30 September, II. Gruppe moved to Nagyrábé. Here on 6 October, Ewald claimed his first aerial victory following his injuries sustained on 24 June when he shot down a Yakovlev Yak-11 aircraft. He received the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold) on 30 November. On 18 January, II. Gruppe relocated to Veszprém where they stayed until 21 March. Here the Gruppe supported the 6th Army fighting in Operation Konrad III in an attempt to relieve the siege of Budapest. Here, Ewald claimed an aerial victory over an Ilyushin Il-2 ground-attack aircraft the next day, a Douglas A-20 Havoc bomber, also named "Boston", on 20 January. On 22 January, he was credited with four Lavochkin La-5 fighters shot down near Stuhlweißenburg, present-day Székesfehérvár, followed by another La-5 on 30 January and 2 February, and two La-5s on 4 February.

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Squadron leader On 15 February 1945, Ewald succeeded Oberleutnant Helmut Lipfert as Staffelkapitän (squadron leader of 6. Staffel of JG 52. On 1 March, the Staffel was redesignated and became the 7. Staffel. That day, he was shot down in his Bf 109 G-10/U4 ( Werknummer 610964) by German anti-aircraft artillery near the airfield at Vesprém. On 3 April, he made a strafing attack on Russian positions and came under attack of 12 North American P-51 Mustang resulting in a forced landing near the front line.

II. Gruppe moved to an airfield at Brno, present-day Brno in the Czech Republic, on 14 April. There, Ewald claimed his last four aerial victories. That day, he shot down two Il-2 ground-attack aircraft and a Yakovlev Yak-9 fighter on 15 and 16 April, taking his total to 84. Four days later on 20 April, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes), the last pilot of II. Gruppe to receive this distinction.

Ewald was held as a Prisoner of War at Fürstenfeldbruck Lager from 8 May until 22 June 1945.

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Summary of career

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Aerial victory claims According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Ewald was credited with 84 aerial victories. Spick also lists Ewald with 84 aerial victories claimed in 396 combat missions. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 82 aerial victory claims, including one P-51 fighter, plus 16 further unconfirmed claims. All of his confirmed victories were claimed on the Eastern Front.

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 34 Ost 66562". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) 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.

1	12 November 1943	10:27	Yak-1	PQ 34 Ost 66562, south of Bulganak vicinity of Babtschik	6./JG 52	5	29 December 1943	09:35	Yak-1	PQ 34 Ost 66613 vicinity of Cape Khroni	Stab II./JG 52
2	14 November 1943	11:55	Yak-1	PQ 34 Ost 6673	6./JG 52	6	31 December 1943	14:22	P-39	PQ 34 Ost 66522, northwest of Kesy vicinity of Nowy Swet	Stab II./JG 52
3	5 December 1943	13:35	Il-2 m.H.	southwest of Eltigen	Stab II./JG 52	7	31 December 1943	14:25	Yak-1	PQ 34 Ost 66531, northwest of Katerles vicinity of Mama Ruskaja	Stab II./JG 52
4	17 December 1943	10:11	Yak-1	north of Gorkom	Stab II./JG 52	8	31 December 1943	14:30	P-39	PQ 34 Ost 66531, northwest of Katerles vicinity of Mama Ruskaja	Stab II./JG 52
	17 January 1944	15:00	P-39		Stab II./JG 52	27	8 June 1944	17:38	P-39	vicinity of Iași west of Tudora	6./JG 52
9	23 January 1944	12:17	P-39	Baherove	Stab II./JG 52		11 June 1944	~10:00	P-51		6./JG 52
	23 January 1944	14:30	P-39		Stab II./JG 52	28	12 June 1944	17:38	Yak-7	vicinity of Manzar	6./JG 52
10	24 January 44	14:58	Il-2 m.H.	Baherove	Stab II./JG 52	29?	24 June 1944	11:35	B-24	vicinity of Buzău	6./JG 52
	24 January 1944	~15:00	Yak-1		Stab II./JG 52	30	6 October 1944	13:01	Yak-11	Nagyrábé	6./JG 52
	25 January 1944	~15:00	Yak-1		Stab II./JG 52		28 October 1944	14:20	Boston		6./JG 52
11	26 January 1944	11:40	P-39	Baherove	Stab II./JG 52	31	31 October 1944	15:37	Il-2 m.H.	PQ 97256 vicinity of Kecskemét	6./JG 52
12	12 February 1944	08:34	Yak-9	PQ 66562 Kerch	Stab II./JG 52	32	31 October 1944	15:42	La-5	PQ 97276 southwest of Kecskemét	6./JG 52
13	12 February 1944	15:52	Yak-9	PQ 66614 vicinity of Majak-Bakny	Stab II./JG 52	33	1 November 1944	11:18	Yak-7	PQ 98899 east of Nagykőrös	6./JG 52
14	25 February 1944	08:34	Yak-7	PQ 47772 Karankut	Stab II./JG 52	34	1 November 1944	11:23	Yak-7	Ferihegy east of Nagykőrös	6./JG 52
15	25 February 1944	08:36	Yak-7	PQ 47772 south of Dornburg	Stab II./JG 52	35	1 November 1944	14:24	Il-2 m.H.	Ferihegy vicinity of Nagykőrös	6./JG 52
16	25 February 1944	15:35	Yak-7	PQ 4758 Karankut	Stab II./JG 52	36	13 November 1944	14:54	Yak-9	vicinity of Budaörs east-southeast of Eger	6./JG 52
17	26 February 1944	12:32	P-40	PQ 6644 Karankut	Stab II./JG 52		14 November 1944	~08:00	Yak-9		6./JG 52
18	1 March 1944	08:22?	P-40	Grammatikowo	Stab II./JG 52	37	16 November 1944	08:52	La-5	vicinity of Jászberény	6./JG 52
	1 March 1944	~12:00	Yak-1		Stab II./JG 52	38	16 November 1944	11:46	Yak-9	vicinity of Jászberény northwest of Jászberény	6./JG 52
19	2 March 1944	13:50	Yak-1	PQ 66562 Grammatikowo	Stab II./JG 52	39	16 November 1944	11:51	Yak-9	vicinity of Jászberény southwest of Gyöngyös	6./JG 52
20	11 March 1944	08:32	Yak-1	PQ 46112 Grammatikowo	Stab II./JG 52	40	16 November 1944	14:03	Yak-9	PQ 8373 north-northeast of Karcag	6./JG 52
	11 March 1944	~12:00	Yak-1		Stab II./JG 52	41	17 November 1944	08:36	Yak-9	PQ 98464 vicinity of Jászberény	6./JG 52
21	13 March 1944	10:10	Yak-7	Grammatikowo	Stab II./JG 52	42	17 November 1944	11:06	Il-2 m.H.	PQ 98433 vicinity of Gyöngyös	6./JG 52
	21 March 1944	~15:00	Yak-7		Stab II./JG 52	43	5 December 1944	10:51	Yak-9	vicinity of Hatvan	6./JG 52
	2 April 1944	~13:00	P-40		Stab II./JG 52	44	5 December 1944	11:04	Yak-9	vicinity of Hatvan vicinity southeast of Hatvan	6./JG 52
22	30 May 1944	17:22	P-39	vicinity of Huși south of Tudora	6./JG 52	45	5 December 1944	13:34	La-5	PQ 98417 vicinity southeast of Hatvan	6./JG 52
23	31 May 1944	18:46	P-39	vicinity of Huși north of Tesanrani	6./JG 52	46	5 December 1944	15:09	Yak-9	PQ 98444 vicinity west of Tura	6./JG 52
24	2 June 1944	14:54	Yak-7	PQ 78561 southwest of Tudora	6./JG 52		8 December 1944	~15:00	Yak-9		6./JG 52
25	3 June 1944	16:24	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Huși north of Iași	6./JG 52	47	11 December 1944	11:56	Yak-9	PQ 88698 southwest of Budapest	6./JG 52
26	4 June 1944	17:21	P-39	vicinity of Huși east-southeast of Souleni	6./JG 52	48	14 December 1944	10:25	Il-2 m.H.	PQ 88755 west-northwest of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52
	6 June 1944	~13:00	Yak-1		6./JG 52	49	22 December 1944	~14:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Csór	6./JG 52
	6 June 1944	~13:00	Yak-1		6./JG 52
50	2 January 1945	12:30	La-5	south of Esztergom	6./JG 52	68	2 February 1945	~15:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52
51	2 January 1945	12:30	Yak-9	south of Gran	6./JG 52	69	4 February 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52
52♠	3 January 1945	~09:00	Yak-9	south of Gran	6./JG 52	70	4 February 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52
53♠	3 January 1945	~09:00	Yak-9	south of Gran	6./JG 52	71	1 March 1945	~13:00	P-51	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
54♠	3 January 1945	~09:00	Yak-9	south of Gran	6./JG 52		8 March 1945	~16:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
55♠	3 January 1945	~14:00	La-5	vicinity of Bajna	6./JG 52	72	11 March 1945	~15:00	Yak-9		7./JG 52
56♠	3 January 1945	~14:00	Yak-9	south of Bajna	6./JG 52	73	13 March 1945	~10:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
57	4 January 1945	~10:00	La-5	south of Gran	6./JG 52	74	13 March 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
58	6 January 1945	13:30	La-5	vicinity of Bicske	6./JG 52	75	13 March 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
59	6 January 1945	~11:00	La-5	vicinity of Gran	6./JG 52	76	14 March 1945	~13:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
60	16 January 1945	~14:00	Yak-9	vicinity of Budapest	6./JG 52	77	14 March 1945	~17:00	Boston	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
61	19 January 1945	~12:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52	78	16 March 1945	~17:00	Yak-3	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	7./JG 52
62	20 January 1945	~16:00	Boston	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg vicinity of Veszprém	6./JG 52	79	5 April 1945	~11:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Vienna	7./JG 52
63	22 January 1945	13:30	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52	80	7 April 1945	~17:00	Yak-3	vicinity of Vienna	7./JG 52
64	22 January 1945	13:30	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52	81	14 April 1945	~11:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Vienna	7./JG 52
65	22 January 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52	82	14 April 1945	~13:00	Il-2 m.H.	vicinity of Vienna	7./JG 52
66	22 January 1945	~16:00	La-5	vicinity of Stuhlweißenburg	6./JG 52	83	15 April 1945	~12:00	Yak-9	vicinity of Traunviertel	7./JG 52
67	30 January 1945	~13:00	La-5	vicinity of Budapest	6./JG 52	84	16 April 1945	~10:00	Yak-9	vicinity of Lah	7./JG 52

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Awards

• Iron Cross (1939)
• 2nd Class (8 January 1944)
• 1st Class (7 March 1944)
• Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold (22 March 1944)
• Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 19 June 1944 as Unteroffizier and pilot
• Wound Badge in Black (1 August 1944)
• German Cross in Gold on 30 November 1944 as Leutnant in the II./ Jagdgeschwader 52
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 20 April 1945 as Leutnant and pilot in the 5./ Jagdgeschwader 52

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Notes

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Citations

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Bibliography

• Bernd Barbas (2025). 9783923457717, Selbstverl.. ISBN 9783923457717
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• (2025). 9781598849813, ABC-Clio. ISBN 9781598849813

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