Ludwig Becker (pilot)

This article is about the German World War II nightfighter pilot. For other uses, see Ludwig Becker (disam-biguation).

Ludwig Becker (22 August 1911 – 26 February 1943)was a Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight’sCross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German: Ritter-kreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub) during WorldWar II. The Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and itshigher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise ex-treme battlefield bravery or successful military leader-ship. Becker claimed 46 aerial victories.[Note 1]

1 Career

Ludwig Becker was born on 22 August 1911 inDortmund-Aplerbeck in the Province of Westphalia, aprovince of the Kingdom of Prussia. Joining the Luft-waffe volunteers in 1934, by 1939 he was a test pi-lot and a Leutnant in the Luftwaffe reserve. Serv-ing with Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st NightFighter Wing), he crashed a Messerschmitt Bf 110 nearWinterswijk on 30 August 1940.[Note 2]

His first victory was a Vickers Wellington on the nightof 16/17 October 1940. Becker was flying a DornierDo 17Z-10 equipped with a gun-camera. The victoryrecorded the demise of the No. 311 Squadron RAF air-craft piloted by Pilot Officer Bohumil Landa and threeof his Czech crew. It was also the first radar-controlled"Dunkle Nachtjagd" (DuNaJa—dark night fighting, with-out search lights) victory of the war. He was laterequipped with the Dornier Do 215B night fighter (codeG9+OM) equipped with Lichtenstein radar. He achievedsix victories between 10 August and 30 September 1941in this machine. Becker developed his own tactics for at-tacking a bomber. He would trail the aircraft from thestern, just below the height shown on the radar. Aftersighting the bomber, he dived and accelerated to avoidbeing spotted by the tail gunner. Once underneath the en-emy, Becker reduced the throttle and matched the speedof the unsuspecting pilot. Becker then climbed steadilyto 50 ft (164 m) from the target before he pulled up andopened fire. Because the Do 215 lost speed the bomberwould fly ahead and the through the stream of shells. Withthis method, the gun sight was rarely needed.[1]

He was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross inJuly 1942, he then served as a Staffelkapitän (squadron

leader) in 12./NJG 1. By the end of the year, Becker hadsome 40 victories to his credit.Becker and his Radar Operator Oberfeldwebel JosefStraub (who had taken part in 40 victories) were postedmissing in action on 26 February 1943 in a Bf 110G-4 while on a daylight mission intercepting a Boeing B-17 formation over the North Sea, and crashing north ofSchiermonnikoog in the Netherlands.All his 46 victories were at night.

2 Awards

• Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (2 March 1942)[2]

• Iron Cross (1939)

• 2nd Class (3 July 1940)[3][4]

• 1st Class (23 December 1940)[3][4]

• German Cross in Gold on 24 April 1942 asOberleutnant in the 6./NJG 2[5][Note 3]

• Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

• Knight’s Cross on 1 July 1942 as Oberleutnantand Staffelkapitän of the 12./NJG 1[6][Note 4]

• 198th Oak Leaves on 26 February 1943 asHauptmann and Staffelkapitän of the 12./NJG1[8][Note 4]

• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht on 21 January1942, 26 March 1942, 7 June 1942 and on 26 June1942

2.1 Wehrmachtbericht references

3 Notes[1] For a list of Luftwaffe night fighter aces see List of German

World War II night fighter aces.

[2] For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit des-ignation see Organization of the Luftwaffe during WorldWar II.

[3] According to Obermaier on 4 May 1942.[2]

[4] According to Scherzer as Oberleutnant of the Reservesand Staffelkapitän of the 6./NJG 1.[7]

1

2 5 EXTERNAL LINKS

4 References

4.1 Citations[1] Aders 1978, p. 40.

[2] Obermaier 1989, p. 56.

[3] MacLean 2007, p. 51.

[4] Thomas 1997, p. 33.

[5] Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 31.

[6] Fellgiebel 2000, p. 126.

[7] Scherzer 2007, p. 209.

[8] Fellgiebel 2000, p. 66.

[9] Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, p. 16.

[10] Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, p. 67.

[11] Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, p. 153.

[12] Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, p. 176.

4.2 Bibliography

• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000) [1986]. Die Trägerdes Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939–1945— Die Inhaber der höchsten Auszeichnung desZweiten Weltkrieges aller Wehrmachtteile [The Bear-ers of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross 1939–1945— The Owners of the Highest Award of the SecondWorld War of all Wehrmacht Branches] (in Ger-man). Friedberg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN978-3-7909-0284-6.

• MacLean, French L. (2007). “Luftwaffe Efficiency& Promotion Reports — For the Knight’s CrossWinners”. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer MilitaryHistory. ISBN 978-0-7643-2657-8.

• Obermaier, Ernst (1989). Die Ritterkreuzträger derLuftwaffe Jagdflieger 1939 – 1945 [The Knight’sCross Bearers of the Luftwaffe Fighter Force 1939– 1945] (in German). Mainz, Germany: Verlag Di-eter Hoffmann. ISBN 978-3-87341-065-7.

• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). DasDeutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und InhaberBand II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 Historyand Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt,Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.

• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des EisernenKreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine,Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland ver-bündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bun-desarchives [The Knight’s Cross Bearers 1939–1945

The Holders of the Knight’s Cross of the IronCross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS,Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany Ac-cording to the Documents of the Federal Archives](in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.

• Thomas, Franz (1997). Die Eichenlaubträger 1939–1945 Band 1: A–K [The Oak Leaves Bearers 1939–1945 Volume 1: A–K] (in German). Osnabrück,Germany: Biblio-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7648-2299-6.

• Die Wehrmachtberichte 1939–1945 Band 2, 1. Jan-uar 1942 bis 31. Dezember 1943 [The WehrmachtReports 1939–1945 Volume 2, 1 January 1942 to 31December 1943] (in German). München, Germany:Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG.1985. ISBN 978-3-423-05944-2.

5 External links• Ludwig Becker @ Ritterkreuzträger 1939–45 (Ger-man)

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