Helmut Woltersdorf was a German Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe

Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....

 flying ace

Flying ace

A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...

 during World War II. Woltersdorf is credited with 24 victories, including 20 Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 (RAF) bombers. Woltersdorf flew the Messerschmitt Bf 110

Messerschmitt Bf 110

The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter in the service of the Luftwaffe during World War II. Hermann Göring was a proponent of the Bf 110, and nicknamed it his Eisenseiten...

 and Dornier Do 215

Dornier Do 215

|-See also:-Bibliography:* Dressel, Joachim and Manfred Griehl. Bombers of the Luftwaffe. London: DAG Publications, 1994. ISBN 1-85409-140-9....

 night-fighter.For a list of Luftwaffe night fighter aces see List of German World War II night fighter aces

Military career

Woltersdorf initially joined II. Gruppe Zerstörergeschwader 141, based at Padubitz until May 1939, when it was renamed I./ZG 76.
Woltersdorfs first kill came on 2 September 1939 over Poland. While escorting Dornier Do 17

Dornier Do 17

The Dornier Do 17, sometimes referred to as the Fliegender Bleistift , was a World War II German light bomber produced by Claudius Dornier's company, Dornier Flugzeugwerke...

s he shot down a PZL P.11

PZL P.11

The PZL P.11 was a Polish fighter aircraft, designed in the early 1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was briefly considered to be the most advanced fighter aircraft design in the world...

 fighter. He was to score his second kill against this type on 9 September.

During the Norwegian Campaign Helmut scored four kills against RAF Vickers Wellington

Vickers Wellington

The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...

 bombers, two on the 12 April and two victories on 30 April.

During the Battle of Britain Woltersdorf destroyed two Spitfire

Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...

s on 15 August, his only kills of the battle.
I./ZG 76 had been withdrawn from the front-line in September 1940 to re-train in the night-fighter role.

Defending Belgian and Dutch air space, Woltserdorf destroyed nine Wellington, three Handley Page, two Avro Manchester

Avro Manchester

|-See also:-References:NotesCitationsBibliography* Buttler, Tony. British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950. Hickley, UK: Midland Publishing, 2004. ISBN 978-1857801798....

, one Lockheed Ventura

Lockheed Ventura

The Lockheed Ventura was a bomber and patrol aircraft of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises...

 and a single Handley Page Halifax

Handley Page Halifax

The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engined heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...

 between 12 May 1941 and 2 June 1942.

On the night of 6/7 July 1941 Woltersdorf, now flying a Dornier Do 215B-5 night fighter equipped with the Infra-Red "Spanner-Anlage" detection apparatus, assigned to NJG I, was forced to crash land just off the Dutch coast, after his aircraft was damaged by a Vickers Wellington bomber he had shot down. Woltersdorf ditched his aircraft into the Waddenzee Sea.

In October 2007 the Dornier was discovered largely intact. It remains the only known Dornier in existence, and there is a good chance of it being recovered (see the Dornier Do 215

Dornier Do 215

|-See also:-Bibliography:* Dressel, Joachim and Manfred Griehl. Bombers of the Luftwaffe. London: DAG Publications, 1994. ISBN 1-85409-140-9....

 page for more details).

Death

On 2 June 1942 Woltersdorf was shot down and killed by a Hawker Hurricane

Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...

 piloted by New Zealander Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

 Peter Gawith of No. 3 Squadron

No. 3 Squadron RAF

No 3 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Typhoon F2, FGR4 and T3 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.No 3 Squadron, which celebrated its 95th anniversary over the weekend of 11-13 May 2007, is unique in the RAF for having two official crests....

 RAF. The RAF unit had been conducting night sweeps over Europe since 11 December 1941 Gawith survived just two more months. On 28 July he was posted as missing in action over Noordwijk

Noordwijk

Noordwijk is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 51.53 km² and had a population of 24,707 in May 2006....

, Netherlands.

Reference in the Wehrmachtbericht

Date	Original German Wehrmachtbericht wording	Direct English translation
Wednesday, 8 April 1942	In der Nacht zum 7. April errang Oberleutnant Woltersdorf seinen zehnten Nachtjagdsieg.	Oberleutnant Woltersdorf achieved his tenth nocturnal aerial victory in the night to 7 April.