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Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbasePrince Heinrich Alexander Ludwig Peter of Sayn-Wittgenstein (German: Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein) was born to German diplomat Gustav Alexander Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein and Baroness Walburga von Friesen. He joined the Hitler Youth organization in 1932 and completed secondary education in Germany in 1935. In Apr 1937, he joined the German 17th Cavalry Regiment. In the summer of 1937, he transferred to the German Luftwaffe; in Oct of the same year, he was accepted for flight training, which took place in Braunschweig, Germany. In Jun 1938, he was promoted to the rank of Leutnant. Between late 1938 and early 1939, he served as an observer with the Kampfgeschwader 54 wing as an observer/navigator aboard bombers based at Fritzlar, Germany. He first saw combat during the invasion of France, then also participated in the bombing of targets in the United Kingdom aboard a He 111 bomber with Kampfgeschwader 1. In the winter of 1940 and 1941, he completed courses to earn the Advanced Pilot's Certificate 2, returning to combat duty in Mar 1941. Remaining with Kampfgeschwader 1, he participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union by bombing Soviet airfields at Liepaja, Jelgava, and Riga in Latvia. In Aug 1941, he transferred to the nightfighter force and was made the squadron leader of the 9th Squadron of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 wing in Nov 1941, stationed in Western Europe. He scored his first night time kill in May 1942. After achieving 22 victories, he was awarded the Knight's Cross in Oct 1942. He was made the commanding officer of the 4th Group of the Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 wing in Dec 1942. In 1943, his unit was transferred between Western and Eastern Europe several times, and he was equally successful on both fronts. On 15 Aug 1943, he was made the commanding officer of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3. After achieving 54 victories, he was awarded Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross, presented to him by Adolf Hitler at the Wolfsschanze headquarters in East Prussia, Germany on 22 Sep 1943. On 1 Jan 1944, he was named the wing commander of Nachtjagdgeschwader 2; at this time, he had reached 68 victories. On 21 Jan 1944, during a nightfighter mission near Berlin, Germany, after shooting down 5 British bombers, his wings caught fire after being attacked by escorting British fighters. He ordered his crewmen to parachute, who complied with the order, and he attempted to fly the aircraft back to base. Failing to do so, the aircraft crashed in a wooded area in Lübars, Germany, killing him; he might have attempted to bail out of the aircraft, but the parachute did not open. He was posthumously awarded Swords to his Knight's Cross. At the time of his death, Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein was the highest scoring German nightfighter ace with 83 kills, 23 of which achieved on the Eastern Front and 60 on the Western Front. He was initially buried at the Deelen airfield in the Netherlands, but his remains moved to Ysselsteyn, the Netherlands in 1948, where he was buried next to fellow aristocratic nightfighter pilot Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld.

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2.  David Stubblebine says:
15 Sep 2014 06:34:11 PM

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Duel Under the Stars is the autobiography of German night fighter pilot Wilhelm Johnen, another highly decorated Luftwaffe aviator.
http://www.amazon.com/Duel-Under-Stars-German-Fighter/dp/0947554424