Kurt Welter

Kurt Welter (25 February 1916 – 7 March 1949) was a German

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland. At the time, Welter served with Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment 71 (71st Flight Training Regiment) which was based in Sorau, present-day Żary, and Guben, now the Cottbus-Drewitz Airport. Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment 71 was subordinated to the Flugzeugführerschule A/B 3 (FFS A/B 3—flight school) where Welter served as a flight instructor.^[9]

On 19 March 1940, Welter was transferred to Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 63 (63rd Flight Training Regiment) which was based in Marienbad, present-day Mariánské Lázně, as an instructor.^[9] There, he was promoted to Feldwebel (sergeant) on 1 August 1940.^[10] In November, Welter married Ingrid Katharina Emma Green. The marriage produced two children, a daughter and a son.^[11] For his service as a flight instructor, he was awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords (Kriegsverdienstkreuz zweiter Klasse mit Schwertern) on 23 March 1941.^[9] In June 1942, he transferred to Flugzeugführerschule A/B 121 (FFS A/B 121—flight school) at Straubing. Here, Welter was promoted to the rank of Oberfeldwebel (staff sergeant) on 1 October 1942 and again served as a flight instructor until 10 August 1943 when he was transferred to Blindflugschule 10 (school for instrument flight training) in Altenburg. At Altenburg, he also received his pilot license for night flying (Blindflugschein), required for flying night fighter missions.^[10]

Night fighter career

Following the 1939 aerial

On 2 September 1943, Welter was transferred to 5. Staffel (5th squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 301 (JG 301—301st Fighter Wing), a night fighter squadron that experimented with the use of largely radar-less single-seat Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5 and Fw 190 A-6 fighter aircraft by night, often equipped with the FuG 350 Naxos radar detector, used in the form of German night-fighter operations without AI radar — due to Düppel interference from RAF Bomber Command aircraft. These free ranging interception operations were called Wilde Sau (wild boar). On his first Wilde Sau intercept mission against Allied bombers on the night of 22/23 September 1943, Welter claimed two Allied four-engine bombers shot down in the vicinity of Hanover.^[14] He shot down two further bombers on his third mission on the night of 3/4 October 1943.^[15] That night, he was credited with the destruction of two Handley Page Halifax bombers near Kassel.^[16]

The 30. Jagddivision (30th Fighter Division) submitted Welter for a preferential promotion to Leutnant (second lieutenant) on 7 January 1944.^[17] The recommendation was approved and as of 1 February 1944, Welter served as an officer.^[18] By the beginning of April, he had accumulated 17 victories in only 15 missions. Subsequently, on 10 May 1944 Welter was awarded the German Cross in Gold (Deutsches Kreuz in Gold). Welter was transferred to 5. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 300 (JG 300—300th Fighter Wing) on 7 July 1944.^[15]

In July, Welter claimed two

Welter transferred to 10. Staffel of JG 300 on 4 September 1944. 10. Staffel of JG 300 was established to counter intrusions by the RAF's fast Mosquito twin-engined bombers, flying specially optimized for speed Bf 109 G-6/AS fighters. In September, Welter claimed seven Mosquitos downed, including one by ramming. It is thought that during his service with 1./NJG 10 and 10./JG 300, Welter recorded 12 victories in only 18 missions.^[22] The ramming incident occurred on 13 September when Welter attacked and collided or deliberate rammed Mosquito serial MM280 near Salzwedel. The Mosquito managed to fly back to Allied territory and made a forced landing near Brussels-Melsbroek Airfield, destroying the aircraft.^[23][24]

On the night of 19 September 1944, according to Hinchliffe, Welter may have shot down

In early May 1945, 10./NJG 11 relocated to Schleswig Airfield, its last relocation before the German surrender. There, Welter was taken prisoner of war by British forces and interrogated by the RAF. The RAF published two reports which contained information regarding the use of the Me 262 in a night fighter role. The first "Report on G.A.F. Night Fighter System" does not mention Welter directly by name but rather refers to him as "Commander of the Me 262 Flight". A further report named "Report on G.A.F. Night Fighting from the interrogation of Prisoners" contains a detailed report of Welter's interrogation. In mid-1945, Welter was released from captivity.^[44]

Later life and death

Following his release, Welter returned to the Rhineland where he lived in Badorf, part of Brühl. He initially worked for a sugar manufacturer and from 1 November 1946 to August 1948, he worked for a leather firm in Brühl. He then became managing director of Sanitätshaus Green, the medical supply store in Neustadt in Holstein which belonged to his father-in-law.^[11][45] Welter was killed on 7 March 1949 in Leck in Schleswig-Holstein waiting at a level crossing, when logs falling from an improperly loaded passing train crushed his car.^[15]

Summary of career

Aerial victory claims

According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Welter was credited with 63 aerial victories and with 26 claims flying the Me 262 is the world's highest scoring jet-ace.^[46] Foreman, Mathews and Parry, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, list 58 nocturnal victory claims, numerically ranging from 1 to 59, omitting the tenth claim.^[47] In addition to the nocturnal victory claims, authors Lorant and Goyat of Jagdgeschwader 300 "Wilde Sau" list five further day-time claims.^[48] Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, also researched the German Federal Archives and found records for over 49 aerial victories, plus seven further unconfirmed claims. This number of confirmed aerial victories were all claimed on the Western Front and includes 43 by night and two four-four engine bombers by day. The authors list him 16 aerial victories claimed while flying the Me 262.^[49]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 14 Ost N/NB". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15

Much of the controversy surrounding Welter's claims for success in nocturnal aerial combat with the Me 262 stems from a memorandum written by Welter on 29 May 1945 for his British captors. In this memorandum Welter stated that between December 1944 and the end of January 1945, as the sole pilot of Kommando Welter, he flew seven Me 262 sorties and achieved three victories against Mosquito aircraft and two victories against Lancaster aircraft. Welter further stated that from the formation of 10./NJG 11 on 28 January 1945 to the end of the war, 10./NJG 11 flew around another 63 operational sorties and claimed a further 38 victories against Mosquito aircraft at night and five victories against Mosquito aircraft by day; his share being 20 Mosquitos at night and two during the day. Thus, according to the memo, a total of 25 Mosquitoes and two Lancasters were claimed in aerial combat by Welter, flying the Me 262 with the Kommando/Staffel, while other pilots of the Staffel claimed a further 21 kills (of which three were achieved with the two-seater Me 262).[107] Official Luftwaffe documents show that by 4 April 1945, 10./NJG 11 had claimed 34 aerial victories, of which only one was claimed in a two-seater Me 262.^{[108][Note 9]} Research of RAF records show that at most 15 Mosquitoes could have been possibly destroyed by Kommando Welter—10./NJG 11.^[108]

Officially Kurt Welter was credited with 63 victories in 93 missions, of which 56 victories were achieved at night and seven by day. Among his claimed 63 victories are up to 33 Mosquitos.

• Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class (31 October 1938)^[7]
• War Merit Cross 2nd Class with Swords (23 March 1941)^[9]
• Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) on 24 April 1944 as Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel and pilot^{[111][Note 10]}
• German Cross in Gold on 10 May 1944 as Fahnenjunker-Oberfeldwebel in the 5./JG 301^[112]
• Iron Cross (1939)
  • 2nd Class (5 October 1943)^[113]
  • 1st Class (28 October 1943)^[113]
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
  • Knight's Cross on 18 October 1944 as Leutnant and pilot in the 10./JG 300^{[114][Note 11]}
  • 769th Oak Leaves on 11 March 1945 as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of the 10./NJG 10^{[114][117][118]}

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