Lippert, Helmut

Helmut Lipfert ( German: Helmut Lipfert ; August 6, 1916 , Thuringia - August 10, 1990 ) - German pilot ace , World War II , during which he made 687 sorties, having gained 203 air victories , all on the Eastern Front, including the planes of the Western Allies. He went from a working and non-commissioned officer of the tank troops to the Luftwaffe Hauptmann .

Helmut Lippert
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Helmut Lippert began his military career as a private in the 1st Tank Division of the Wehrmacht, in 1941, in the rank of non-commissioned officer, Lippert was transferred to the Luftwaffe, after training at the school of fighter pilots, after which he received the rank of lieutenant.

At the end of 1942 he was appointed to the 52nd fighter squadron ( JG52 ), operating on the Eastern Front. Upon arrival, December 16, 1942 was appointed to the composition 6./JG52.

His first combat flight took place on December 18, 1942 near Stalingrad, from the Zimovniki airfield. By the time Helmut arrived at the front, the German offensive had ended, and until the end of the war the German units in which he served participated only in defensive battles.

Lippert won his first victory on January 30, 1943, in the 18th sortie, knocking down the Soviet La-5 . On April 20, Lipfert shot down his ninth plane, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st class. His 10th victory was recorded on June 25, and on July 21 - the 15th.

He won his 20th victory on September 5th. At the same time, after the death of Lieutenant Heinz “Johnny” Schmidt on September 5, 1943, Lippert took command of 6./JG52. September 29th they won the 25th victory.

On October 8, Lipfert shot down five Soviet aircraft, gaining his 30-34 victories, and in October he won 18 victories (9 Yak-1 , 4 Yak-9 , 3 La-5, 1 LaGG-3 and 1 Il-2 ). By this time, II./JG52 was operating over the Kerch Strait , first from Taman, and later from Kerch IV, covering the 17th Wehrmacht army evacuating from Taman. From the evening of October 31, Soviet troops began the Kerch-Eltigen landing operation , which lasted until mid-December.

In November, Lipfert, acting on the Kerch Peninsula, declared 21 victories (12 Yak-1, 4 Il-2, 3i Yak-9, 1 Yak-7 and 1 “ Aerocobra ”), reaching 64 victories, including having won his 50th victory on November 12th and 60th on November 27th.

In December, he was declared 16 victories, including four shot down aircraft on December 5 became his 69-72th victory. December 29, his total number of victories reached 80.

After the 88th victory won on January 25, 1944, he was sent on vacation, and on January 28, 1944, Lippert was awarded the German Cross in Gold .

The vacation of the German pilot lasted until the end of March. Upon returning from vacation, Lipfert on April 1, he reached the milestone of 90 victories and on April 5 was awarded the Knight's Cross.

At this time, the Soviet army began on April 8 the Crimean offensive operation , which ended with the complete expulsion of German-Romanian troops from Crimea. Nevertheless, on April 11, 1944, Lipfert, having shot down another Il-2, reached his 100th victory. On May 5, shortly before the defeat in the Crimea, he won his 110th victory.

In total, until April 16, 1945, he had 203 confirmed victories. During the war, Soviet pilots managed to shoot down Lippert's plane 5 times.

After the war ended, Helmut Lippert spent several months in American captivity, was released, but completely broke with aviation, and until the end of his days worked as a simple school teacher.

He left his memoirs well revealing the variety of tactics of fighters of the 2nd World War. In addition to the performance characteristics of aircraft, this was of great importance. In addition, several times he was just desperately lucky.