World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePrince Egmont of Lippe-Weißenfeld (German: Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld) was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1918 to Prince Alfred of Lippe-Weißenfeld and Countess Anna of Goëß. As a teenager, he learned glider flying at the Austrian Aero Club, and then received basic flying instructions. He joined the Austrian Army in 1936 and, after the annexation of Austria into Germany, he transferred to the German Luftwaffe. In 1939, he was promoted to the rank of Leutnant. He began his German pilot career as a reconnaissance pilot with the 2nd Group of the Zerstörergeschwader 76 wing before proving himself skillful enough to be a nightfighter pilot. He scored his first victory during the night of 16-17 Nov 1940, shooting down a Wellington bomber of the No. 115 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force at 0205 hours. By Jul 1941, he had achieved 10 victories, and by the end of the year he would be named a squadron commander. During the night of 26-27 Mar 1942, he shot down four British bombers, leading to the award of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross in the following month; he had 21 victories at that time. On 1 Oct 1942, he was made a group commander in the Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 wing; in May 1943, he was transferred to be the commander of the 3rd Group of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 wing. In Aug 1943, he was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross after he had achieved 45 victories. In Jan 1944, he was promoted to the rank of Major and in the following month named the commanding officer of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 wing. In Mar 1944, while in flight from Parchim, Germany to Athies-sous-Laon, France, his Bf 110 aircraft crashed in bad weather near Saint-Hubert, Belgium; he was credited with 51 victories at the time of his death. He was buried at Ysselsteyn in the Netherlands next to fellow aristocratic nightfighter pilot Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.

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2.  C. Peter Chen says:
20 Mar 2019 05:26:02 AM

Tom Lee: Thank you, we have made the correction to the date of his death.