About Me: Born in 1937, a youngster during WWII, I became interested in collecting the shoulder insignia of our Armed Forces. This interest expanded into collecting both Allied and Axis items. After three years in the Marines, I worked as an Engineer at General Motors, retiring in 1994. From 1980 to 1994, I displayed my collection under the sponsorship of the Ex-American POW Association. After retirement, I decided to shift gears from collecting to researching. In the process, I had accumulated reams of information about Luftwaffe pilots, and decided to compile this data in a format that other researchers might use. What you are about to explore is the result of 20+ years of compilation, gleaning data from numerous sources. When we first went online, we had records of over 12,000 Luftwaffe pilots of all types, fighters, bombers, transport, etc. Included are both German and Foreign volunteer pilots. By early 2014 this number exceeds 30,000, and grows daily. I doubt this effort will ever be complete, but if you have a name that can be added, or any questions or comments, for that matter, please email me.
Photo Gallery: My photos fall in three catagories: original period photos that I own in my personal collection, prints from negatives acquired from a former Luftwaffe flight crew member and photocopies I have purchased from other collector/dealers. It is not my intention to infringe on any copyrights. Considering the age and origin of these prints, the best advice I have received is that such photos certainly fall under the category of Public Domain. However, if any of my material causes you concern please contact me.
I consider it a privilege to work with my friends Kelvin Youngs and his brother Stefan Pietrzak Youngs, and all the team of specialists and writers gathered at Aircrew Remembered, without whom this scholarship of mine - which as I have said was much, much smaller than it is today compared to when we first came into contact - would probably have remained forever locked up in an old computer I had down in my basement, largely unknown by the outside world. I was impressed by their truly impressive computer assistance, their thirst for detail, high standards of behavior and respect for the data and for their colleagues and for the families and researchers who benefit from this work. Their passion for accuracy and, most of all, their Mission Statement---Preservation (the reason I had begun back in 1996 to compile my data!) are an inspiration to me.
There is a rogue group of copyright infringers who have stolen a much earlier version of my data - from at least 10 years ago - and have the affrontery to publish that, along with using my name, on their poorly researched website. They claim this is the 'original' Kracker Archive, a ridiculous claim since my Archive has been in a state of continuous development for over 30 years and nobody - NOBODY - has the original. They have no right to use my name or my data and readers who come across this nonsense should do nothing to encourage theft of this nature. I am outraged by this blatant theft and misrepresentation of my lifetime's work. The ONLY person I have ever authorized to publish my data and use my name is Kelvin Youngs, who earned my trust and respect many years ago and is authorized by me to publish my work on whichever website he organizes, currently this being its present home at the highly respected Aircrew Remembered.
Scoring Statement: Depending on the timing of the award and the theater where the award was presented, I observed that the award criteria differed. For this reason, I am using the generally accepted criteria of other researchers and several German pilots, when I had no photo or recorded data to confirm such awards on an individual pilot. For simplicity sake, HSS (enemy separated) and e.v. (final destruction) have a point value, however not detailed herein. 1 Point credit for a Single engine fighter 2 Points for a Twin engine aircraft 3 Points for a Four engine aircraft Therefore: EK 2 requirement, One Point; EK 1 requirement, Three Points; EP requirement, Ten Points; DK-G requirement, Twenty Points; RK requirement, 40 Points.
Volunteer Explanation: Again, depending on the circumstances, German pilots were seen wearing foreign decorations, and Foreign Volunteers were seen wearing German decorations. For this reason, I have credited the Volunteers with the appropriate German decoration when no photo or recorded data was found. In addition, where known, I have used the German rank equivalent for the Volunteer pilots.