1. Egon Mayer fought in the Battle of France and claimed his first aerial victory in that campaign on 13 June 1940.
24 Facts About Egon Mayer
1. 2.
Egon Mayer claimed 16 further victories and was awarded the German Cross in Gold on 16 July 1942.
3.
In November 1942, Egon Mayer was appointed commander of the III.
4.
Egon Mayer claimed his first victories over United States Army Air Forces four-engine bombers when he shot down two B-17 Flying Fortresses and a B-24 Liberator on 23 November 1942.
5.
Egon Mayer received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 16 April 1943 after 63 victories.
6.
Egon Mayer claimed his 90th victory on 31 December 1943 and on 5 February 1944 became the first pilot on the Channel Front to reach 100 victories.
7.
Egon Mayer was killed in action on 2 March 1944 while leading an attack on a USAAF bomber formation; he was shot down by P-47 Thunderbolt escort fighters near Montmedy, France.
8.
Egon Mayer, the son of a farmer, was born on 19 August 1917 in Konstanz at the Bodensee.
9.
Egon Mayer was then trained as a fighter pilot and promoted to Leutnant on 1 August 1939.
10.
Egon Mayer received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 25 October 1939 and was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen", named after World War I fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, on 6 December 1939.
11.
On 10 June 1941, Oberleutnant Egon Mayer was appointed Staffelkapitan of 7.
12.
Egon Mayer claimed his 19th and 20th victory on 23 July 1941 and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 1 August 1941 after his 21st aerial victory.
13.
Egon Mayer's score had increased to 28 aerial victories by the end of 1941.
14.
On 12 February 1942 Egon Mayer claimed a Westland Whirlwind during Operation Donnerkeil, the air cover plan for the Channel Dash of German warships from port in western France to Germany.
15.
Egon Mayer received the German Cross in Gold on 16 July 1942.
16.
On 14 February 1943, Egon Mayer claimed three RAF Hawker Typhoons, claiming his 60th to 62nd victories.
17.
Egon Mayer was then promoted to Major on 1 June 1943.
18.
In June 1943, Mayer allegedly encountered Robert S Johnson, a future ace from the 56th Fighter Group of the US Eighth Air Force.
19.
On 22 June 1943, a flight led by Egon Mayer encountered an RAF Spitfire unit.
20.
Egon Mayer purportedly shot down three USAAF P-47s on 26 June 1943, though no claims can be found for Mayer in German records.
21.
On 1 December 1943, Egon Mayer shot down three P-47 Thunderbolts.
22.
Egon Mayer's claimed aerial victories increased to 90 on 30 December 1943.
23.
Egon Mayer was credited with four victories on 7 January 1944, three B-24s and one B-17 shot down in the vicinity of Orleans.
24.
Egon Mayer was buried at the cemetery of Beaumont-le-Roger, France, and in 1955 re-interred at Saint-Desir-de-Lisieux German war cemetery near Lisieux, Normandy, France.