Luftwaffe Night Fighter Aces: Battling the Allies’ Bombers: Night Fighter Pilots Awarded the Knight’s Cross in WW2

This is a study of the seventy Luftwaffe night fighter aces who were awarded the Knight’s Cross and its higher grades between 1940 and 1945.Of this number, two were night fighter pilots who were awarded the Knight’s Cross with Diamonds, while another two who were awarded the Knight’s Cross with Swords, and twenty-four who were awarded the Oakleaves. The top German night fighter ace was Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, who alone shot down 119 aircraft; he was one of only two night fighter pilots to score more than 100 night fighter victories.The other was Helmut ‘Bubi’ Lent, who, together with Schnaufer, was awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds.The award was presented to him personally by Hitler.Lent was killed the following month. Werner Streib shot down sixty-six aircraft during the Second World War; all but one were at night whilst flying with the 1st Night Fighter Wing.Streib had participated in the Battle of France in 1940, claiming what is possibly the very firs