Gerhard Schopfel signed portrait. Luftwaffe Ace. 45 kills in 700 missions.

Description

Nice 4X5.25 postwar signed artist's rendition photo of Gerhard Schopfel. From Wikipedia...Major Gerhard Schöpfel (19 December 1912–17 May 2003) was a German World War II Luftwaffe 45-victory flying ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. He held the position of Geschwaderkommodore of fighter wing Jagdgeschwader 26. He held the rank of major. On 18 August 1940 he shot down four Hurricanes in one sortie over Canterbury, England. Two of his victims were notable No. 501 Squadron RAF fighter pilots Donald McKay and Kenneth Lee, both of them bailed out wounded. In December 1941 he was promoted to Major and became Kommodore of JG 26 when Adolf Galland was promoted to General der Jagdfieger. In January 1943 Schöpfel became Operations Officer, Jagdfliegerführer Bretagne before being posted as Operations Officer, Italy in July and then Fighter Leader, Norway (Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen) in November 1943. In May 1944, he joined III./JG 54 briefly before becoming Kommodore of Jagdgeschwader 4 in June 1944. On 6 August, leading JG 4, he was shot down and bailed out wounded near Schwerin flying a Bf 109 G-6. In November 1944, Schöpfel took up the post of Fighter Leader, Hungary (Jagdfliegerführer Ungarn). By February 1945 he was commander of the Luftkriegsschule in Gatow. In April 1945 he was appointed Kommodore Jagdgeschwader 6 flying operations from northern Czechoslovakia. At the end of the war he was incarcerated by the Russians for four and a half years, finally returning to Germany in late 1949. "Gerd" Schöpfel flew 700 combat missions and was credited with 45 aerial victories including three USAAF four-engined bombers. All his victories were scored over the Western Front against the RAF and USAAF. Awards.... Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (27 August 1940) German Cross in Gold (9 December 1941) Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st class Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 11 September 1944 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./JG 26 "Schlageter"

Color photos from WWII are SCARCE and VERY DESIRABLE!!

Great shot with a nice bold original sig !

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