10 Facts About Gerhard Michalski

Gerhard Michalski was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II.

Gerhard Michalski was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Gerhard Michalski received the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 28 September 1939.

Gerhard Michalski claimed his first victory on 31 March 1940 during the "Phoney War", when he downed a French Morane Saulnier MS 406 fighter over the French border near Puttlingen.

Gerhard Michalski was to become the most successful German fighter pilot in the Siege of Malta, claiming 26 victories against the island's defenders.

Gerhard Michalski bailed out over sea, climbed into his life raft before he was picked up by a Dornier Do 24 flying boat of Seenotstaffel 6, the 6th Squadron of the German air-sea rescue service.

Gerhard Michalski's victor was Flying Officer George Noel Keith Royal Canadian Air Force, flying a Spitfire of No 72 Squadron.

Gerhard Michalski bailed out wounded in the leg and with a broken ankle, landing in the sea, from where he was rescued by the German air-sea rescue service.

On 1 January 1945, Gerhard Michalski was promoted to Oberstleutnant.

Gerhard Michalski was involved in a motor vehicle accident on 22 February 1946 and died in a hospital at the age of 28 in Kaltenkirchen.