Franz Barten

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Franz Barten
Born(1912-01-26)26 January 1912
Saarbrücken, Germany
Died4 August 1944(1944-08-04) (aged 32)
near Reinsehlen
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branchBalkenkreuz (Iron Cross) Luftwaffe
RankHauptmann (captain)
UnitJG 77, JG 51, JG 53
Commands held9./JG 53
Battles/wars
AwardsGerman Cross in Gold
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (posthumous)

Franz Barten (26 January 1912 – 4 August 1944) was a World War II fighter ace from Germany. He was born on 26 January 1912 at Saarbrücken. Barten was credited with having shot down a total of 52 Allied aircraft.

On 4 August 1944, Barten was shot down in a Messerschmitt Bf 109 in aerial combat with P-47 Thunderbolt belonging to the United States Army Air Forces near Reinsehlen. He bailed out of his aircraft, but was shot while hanging in his parachute.

Career[edit]

Barten was born on 26 January 1912 in Saarbrücken. Following flight training,[Note 1] he was transferred to the 2. Staffel (2nd squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) on 1 July 1939.[2] At the time, the Staffel was commanded by Oberleutnant Hannes Trautloft and subordinated to I. Gruppe (1st group) of JG 77 which was based at Breslau-Schöngarten.[3]

World War II[edit]

World War II in Europe had begun on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. In preparation for the invasion in end-August 1939, I. Gruppe of JG 77, to which the 2. Staffel was subordinated, had been moved from Breslau-Schöngarten to an airfield at Juliusburg, present-day Dobroszyce. The Gruppe operated over the left flank of Army Group South, supporting the 8th Army advance into Poland. Its main task was flying combat air patrols but had relatively little enemy contact.[4]

On 25 August 1940, I. Gruppe of JG 77 relocated from Wyk auf Föhr to Marquise located near the English Channel to fight in the Battle of Britain.[5] Barten claimed his first aerial victory on 14 September. That day, I. Gruppe flew a combat air patrol in the area of Tonbridge. On this mission, the Gruppe claimed five aerial victories, including a Hawker Hurricane by Barten, for the loss of two of their own.[6] On 17 October, I. Gruppe flew a mission over southeastern England and to London. That day, Barten claimed two Hurricanes shot down.[7] On 21 November, I. Gruppe of JG 77 was redesignated and became the IV. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51—51st Fighter Wing). Consequently, Barten became a member of 11. Staffel of JG 51. On 7 December, the Gruppe was withdrawn from the English Channel, relocating to Mannheim-Sandhofen Airfield for a period of rest and replenishment. On 9 February 1941, IV. Gruppe returned to France, then based at an airfield near Le Touquet. There, Barten claimed a Spitfire fighter shot down on 15 April southeast of Boulogne.[8]

Operation Barbarossa[edit]

On 15 June, IV. Gruppe of JG 51 began transferring east and was located at an airfield named Krzewicze, located approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Brest-Litovsk. On 22 June, German forces launched Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.[9] JG 51 was subordinated to II. Fliegerkorps (2nd Air Corps), which as part of Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2). JG 51 area of operation during Operation Barbarossa was over the right flank of Army Group Center in the combat area of the 2nd Panzer Group as well as the 4th Army.[10]

On 10 November 1942, Barten was injured when his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 (Werknummer 12878—factory number) aircraft suffered engine failure, forcing him to bail out near Surazh.[11]

On 13 July 1943, Barten was transferred and appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of the 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53—53rd Fighter Wing). He succeeded Oberleutnant Hans Röhrig who was killed in action that day.[12]

Defense of the Reich and death[edit]

On 28 June 1944, III. Gruppe arrived by train in Bad Lippspringe and initially subordinated to the 3. Jagd-Division (3rd Fighter Division) where they would be based for flying missions in Defense of the Reich.[13] There, the Gruppe was assigned a number of inexperienced pilots directly coming from the Ergänungsgruppe, the supplementary training unit of JG 53. Over the next weeks, Barten and other experienced pilots further trained and prepared these pilots for their first combat missions.[14] The Gruppe received a full complement of Bf 109 G-6 aircraft, most of them equipped with the 20 mm MG 151/20 underwing gun pod. The Gruppenkommandeur Franz Götz ordered these gun pods removed as the additional weight had an adverse effect on the handling qualities, reducing the Bf 109s performance in fighter-versus-fighter combat.[15] The Gruppe flew its first operational mission on 28 July. That day, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force targeted German fuel production in central Germany.[16]

On 4 August 1944, Barten was shot down in aerial combat with USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters near the Luftwaffe airfield at Reinsehlen. He bailed out of his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 441575) but was then killed. According to records of the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt), a German government agency which maintained records of who were killed in action, Barten fell to his death because his parachute failed to fully deploy after a low altitude bail-out.[17] According to Weal, he was shot in his parachute by P-47 fighters. Posthumously, Barten was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 24 October 1944 and also promoted to Hauptmann (captain).[18] He was succeeded by Oberleutnant Martin von Vacano as commander of 9. Staffel.[19]

Summary of career[edit]

Aerial victory claims[edit]

According to Obermaier, Barten was credited with 52 aerial victories, 39 of which on the Eastern Front, achieved in 895 combat missions.[2] Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 52 aerial victory claims. This number includes four claims during the Battle of Britain, 39 on the Eastern Front, and nine in the Mediterranean Theater including three heavy bombers.[20]

Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 47612". The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km2). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.[21]

Chronicle of aerial victories
  This and the ? (question mark) indicates information discrepancies listed by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike, Bock, Mathews and Foreman.
Claim Date Time Type Location Claim Date Time Type Location
– 2. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 –[22]
Action at the Channel and over England — 25 August – 21 November 1940
1 14 September 1940 17:00 Hurricane[23] 3 17 October 40 18:05 Spitfire Tunbridge Wells[24]
2 17 October 1940 17:56 Hurricane south of Tunbridge Wells[24]
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –[22]
Action at the Channel and over England — 21 November 1940 – 7 June 1941
4 15 April 1941 08:55 Spitfire southeast of Boulogne[24]
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –[22]
Operation Barbarossa — 22 June – 5 December 1941
5 22 June 1941 16:10 DB-3[25] 15 7 September 1941 17:12 SB-2[26]
6 24 June 1941 09:38 SB-3[25] 16 8 September 1941 05:30 I-18 (MiG-1)[26]
7 29 June 1941 18:38 SB-2[25] 17 9 September 1941 12:55 R-3[26]
8 4 July 41 14:50 SB-2[27] 18 9 September 1941 13:00 R-3[26]
9 11 July 1941 07:40 ZKB-19[28]?[Note 2] 19 10 September 1941 11:56 R-3[26]
10 13 July 1941 12:24 Pe-2[28] 20 6 October 1941 16:55 I-18 (MiG-1)[29]
11 15 July 1941 09:45 I-16[30] 21 23 October 1941 15:20 Yak-1[29]?[Note 3]
12 15 July 1941 16:20 DB-3[30] 22 27 October 1941 14:20 DB-3[29]
13 9 August 1941 12:05 Pe-2[31] 23 12 November 1941 08:10 SB-3[32]
14 27 August 1941 16:50 Pe-2[33] 24 12 November 1941 08:11 SB-3[32]
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –[20]
Eastern Front — 6 December 1941 – 30 April 1942
25 4 February 42 12:55 I-18 (MiG-1)[34] 30 21 March 42 07:40 Pe-2[34]
26 13 February 42 12:45 I-18 (MiG-1)[34] 31 1 April 42 10:55 MiG-3[35]
27 18 February 42 12:47 I-18 (MiG-1)[34] 32 6 April 42 07:20 Pe-2[35]
28 19 February 42 14:00 I-61 (MiG-3)[34] 33 6 April 42 14:35 MiG-3[35]
29 18 March 42 14:12 I-18 (MiG-1)[34]
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –[36]
Eastern Front — 1 May – August 1942
34 30 May 42 05:40 MiG-3[37] 38 3 August 42 06:50 Il-2 PQ 47612[38]
20 km (12 mi) northeast of Rzhev
35 13 July 42 09:35 LaGG-3[39] 39 4 August 42 12:14 Il-2 PQ 36291[38]
5 km (3.1 mi) west of Konaja
36 2 August 42 11:55 LaGG-3 PQ 47551[38]
15 km (9.3 mi) north-northwest of Rzhev
40 5 August 42 06:10 LaGG-3 PQ 47662[38]
15 km (9.3 mi) south of Staritsa
37 2 August 42 17:45 LaGG-3 PQ 47522[38]
20 km (12 mi) north-northwest of Rzhev
41 5 August 42 06:20 Il-2 PQ 47852[38]
15 km (9.3 mi) southeast of Zubtsov
– 11. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 51 –[36]
Eastern Front — April 1943
42 8 April 43 15:40 Il-2 PQ 35 Ost 45521[40]
15 km (9.3 mi) northeast of Utrikowo
43 8 April 43 15:42 Il-2 PQ 35 Ost 45342[40]
25 km (16 mi) north of Spas-Demensk
– 7. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –[36]
Mediterranean Theater — July 1943
44 12 July 43 18:28 Spitfire 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Ramacca[41]
– 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –[36]
Mediterranean Theater — 13 July – 31 December 1943
45 19 August 43 12:33 B-17 east of Salerno[41] 48 3 September 43 13:53 B-24 5 km (3.1 mi) west of Villa Literno[42]
46 20 August 43 12:32?[Note 4] P-38 2 km (1.2 mi) east of Castel Volturno[43] 49 1 December 43 12:48 P-38 40 km (25 mi) south of La Spezia[44]
47 28 August 43 15:48?[Note 5] P-38 50 km (31 mi) southeast of Fondi[43] 50 28 December 43 11:45 B-24 32 km (20 mi) south-southwest of Padua[44]
– 9. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 53 –[36]
Mediterranean Theater — 1 January – 27 June 1944
51 6 February 44 16:37 Spitfire 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Nettuno[45] 52 14 April 44 10:24 P-47 PQ 14 Ost S/FD-5[46]
south of Elba

Awards[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Flight training in the Luftwaffe progressed through the levels A1, A2 and B1, B2, referred to as A/B flight training. A training included theoretical and practical training in aerobatics, navigation, long-distance flights and dead-stick landings. The B courses included high-altitude flights, instrument flights, night landings and training to handle the aircraft in difficult situations.[1]
  2. ^ According to Mathews and Foreman claimed as a Ilyushin DB-3.[22]
  3. ^ According to Mathews and Foreman claimed as a Yakovlev Yak-3.[22]
  4. ^ According to Mathews and Foreman claimed at 12:22.[36]
  5. ^ According to Mathews and Foreman claimed at 15:25.[36]
  6. ^ According to Scherzer as Staffelkapitän in the III./Jagdgeschwader 53.[51]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Bergström, Antipov & Sundin 2003, p. 17.
  2. ^ a b Obermaier 1989, p. 85.
  3. ^ Prien et al. 2000a, pp. 268–269.
  4. ^ Prien et al. 2000a, p. 455.
  5. ^ Prien 1992, p. 329.
  6. ^ Prien 1992, p. 386.
  7. ^ Prien 1992, pp. 412–413.
  8. ^ Prien et al. 2002, pp. 97–98, 100, 106.
  9. ^ Prien et al. 2003, p. 319.
  10. ^ Prien et al. 2003, p. 206.
  11. ^ Prien et al. 2006, p. 361.
  12. ^ Prien et al. 2011, pp. 260, 278.
  13. ^ Prien et al. 2019, p. 399.
  14. ^ Prien 1991, p. 1374.
  15. ^ Prien 1991, p. 1377.
  16. ^ Prien et al. 2019, p. 400.
  17. ^ Prien et al. 2019, p. 410.
  18. ^ Weal 2012, p. 110.
  19. ^ Prien et al. 2019, p. 406.
  20. ^ a b Mathews & Foreman 2014, pp. 49–50.
  21. ^ Planquadrat.
  22. ^ a b c d e Mathews & Foreman 2014, p. 49.
  23. ^ Prien et al. 2002, p. 105.
  24. ^ a b c Prien et al. 2002, p. 106.
  25. ^ a b c Prien et al. 2003, p. 334.
  26. ^ a b c d e Prien et al. 2003, p. 344.
  27. ^ Prien et al. 2003, p. 336.
  28. ^ a b Prien et al. 2003, p. 337.
  29. ^ a b c Prien et al. 2003, p. 345.
  30. ^ a b Prien et al. 2003, p. 338.
  31. ^ Prien et al. 2003, p. 341.
  32. ^ a b Prien et al. 2003, p. 346.
  33. ^ Prien et al. 2003, p. 343.
  34. ^ a b c d e f Prien et al. 2005, p. 119.
  35. ^ a b c Prien et al. 2005, p. 120.
  36. ^ a b c d e f g Mathews & Foreman 2014, p. 50.
  37. ^ Prien et al. 2006, p. 352.
  38. ^ a b c d e f Prien et al. 2006, p. 355.
  39. ^ Prien et al. 2006, p. 354.
  40. ^ a b Prien et al. 2012, p. 147.
  41. ^ a b Prien et al. 2011, p. 269.
  42. ^ Prien et al. 2011, p. 271.
  43. ^ a b Prien et al. 2011, p. 270.
  44. ^ a b Prien et al. 2011, p. 272.
  45. ^ Prien et al. 2021, p. 254.
  46. ^ Prien et al. 2021, p. 255.
  47. ^ Dixon 2023, p. 161.
  48. ^ Patzwall 2008, p. 45.
  49. ^ Patzwall & Scherzer 2001, p. 25.
  50. ^ Fellgiebel 2000, p. 122.
  51. ^ Scherzer 2007, p. 203.

Bibliography[edit]

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  • Patzwall, Klaus D. (2008). Der Ehrenpokal für besondere Leistung im Luftkrieg [The Honor Goblet for Outstanding Achievement in the Air War] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-08-3.
  • Prien, Jochen (1992). Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 77—Teil 1—1934–1941 [History of Jagdgeschwader 77—Volume 1—1934–1941] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-19-9.
  • Prien, Jochen (1991). Pik-As: Geschichte des Jagdgeschwaders 53 — 3 — Das Ende in Italien 1944, Rumänien, Ungarn 1944/45, Einsatz zur Verteidigung des Reiches 1943–1945 [Ace of Spades: History of the Fighter Wing 53 — 3 — The End in Italy 1944, Romania, Hungary 1944/45, Defense of the Reich 1943–1945] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-16-8.
  • Prien, Jochen; Stemmer, Gerhard; Rodeike, Peter; Bock, Winfried (2000a). Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945—Teil 1—Vorkriegszeit und Einsatz über Polen—1934 bis 1939 [The Fighter Units of the German Air Force 1934 to 1945—Part 1—Pre-War Period and Action over Poland—1934 to 1939] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-54-0.
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  • Prien, Jochen; Stemmer, Gerhard; Rodeike, Peter; Bock, Winfried (2003). Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945—Teil 6/I—Unternehmen "BARBAROSSA"—Einsatz im Osten—22.6. bis 5.12.1941 [The Fighter Units of the German Air Force 1934 to 1945—Part 6/I—Operation "BARBAROSSA"—Action in the East—22 June to 5 December 1941] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-923457-69-4.
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  • Prien, Jochen; Stemmer, Gerhard; Rodeike, Peter; Bock, Winfried (2011). Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945—Teil 11/II—Einsatz im Mittelmeerraum—1.1 bis 31 December 1943 [The Fighter Units of the German Air Force 1934 to 1945—Part 11/II—Action in the Mediterranean Theater—1 January to 31 December 1943] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-942943-00-0.
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  • Prien, Jochen; Balke, Ulf; Stemmer, Gerhard; Bock, Winfried (2019). Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945—Teil 13/V—Einsatz im Reichsverteidigung und im Westen—1.1. bis 31.12.1944 [The Fighter Units of the German Air Force 1934 to 1945—Part 13/V—Action in the Defense of the Reich and in the West—1 January to 31 December 1944] (in German). Eutin, Germany: Struve-Druck. ISBN 978-3-942943-21-5.
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  • Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger 1939–1945 Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives [The Knight's Cross Bearers 1939–1945 The Holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross 1939 by Army, Air Force, Navy, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm and Allied Forces with Germany According to the Documents of the Federal Archives] (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Militaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.
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