1. Kurt Welter was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace and the most successful Jet Expert of World War II.
31 Facts About Kurt Welter
1. 2.
Kurt Welter recorded 56 victories at night, including 33 Mosquitos, and scored more aerial victories from a jet fighter aircraft than anyone else in World War II and possibly in aviation history.
3.
However this score is a matter of controversy; research of Royal Air Force losses suggests Welter overclaimed Mosquito victories considerably.
4.
Kurt Welter joined the military service of the Luftwaffe in 1934 and was trained as a pilot.
5.
Kurt Welter showed a strong natural ability as a pilot and was selected for flight instructor training and served many years as a flight instructor.
6.
In 1943 Kurt Welter transferred to an operational night fighter unit flying contemporary piston engine fighter aircraft.
7.
On 18 October 1944, after 40 combat missions, Kurt Welter was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
8.
In early 1945, Kurt Welter transferred to an experimental jet night fighter unit flying the Messerschmitt Me 262.
9.
Kurt Welter survived the war and was killed in an accident at a railroad crossing on 7 March 1949.
10.
Kurt Welter was the son of merchant Julius Welter and his wife Gertrud, nee Morian.
11.
On 1 May 1930, Kurt Welter attended the private Rohloff merchant school in Cologne from which he graduated on 31 March 1931.
12.
On 1 April 1931, Kurt Welter started his merchant apprenticeship with the Cologne-based sales office of the Lausitzer Glaswerke AG, a manufacturer of glass.
13.
Kurt Welter then joined the Landespolizei on 1 October 1934.
14.
Kurt Welter first served with the staff of the Neubrandenburg Airfield and was made a Gefreiter on 1 November 1935.
15.
On 26 September 1936, Kurt Welter signed up for 12 years and was accepted for flight service.
16.
From December 1936 to September 1937, Kurt Welter served with Fliegerersatzabteilung 27 at Halberstadt where was promoted to Unteroffizier on 1 April 1937.
17.
On 31 October 1938, Kurt Welter was awarded the Wehrmacht Long Service Award 4th Class for four years of service.
18.
At the time, Kurt Welter served with Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment 71 which was based in Sorau, present-day Zary, and Guben, now the Cottbus-Drewitz Airport.
19.
On 19 March 1940, Kurt Welter was transferred to Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 63 which was based in Marienbad, present-day Marianske Lazne, as an instructor.
20.
The recommendation was approved and as of 1 February 1944, Kurt Welter served as an officer.
21.
Subsequently, on 10 May 1944 Kurt Welter was awarded the German Cross in Gold.
22.
Kurt Welter was the only German pilot to have claimed a Mosquito.
23.
Kurt Welter submitted his victory claim north of Wittenberg in eastern Germany, some hundreds of miles away from the place Gibson's Mosquito was found.
24.
Kurt Welter was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 18 October 1944 for 33 victories in just 40 missions.
25.
Kurt Welter was promoted to Oberleutnant on 1 December 1944.
26.
On 28 January 1945, the unit initially known as Sonderkommando Stamp, named after its founder Major Gerhard Stamp and then Sonderkommando Kurt Welter, was re-designated 10.
27.
Kurt Welter had claimed three aerial victories while flying the Me 262 by early February 1945.
28.
The last known aerial combat claim by Kurt Welter occurred on the night of 3 April 1945, when a Mosquito of No 139 Squadron RAF, was shot down over Berlin.
29.
Kurt Welter was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 11 March 1945 for 48 victories.
30.
Kurt Welter initially worked for a sugar manufacturer and from 1 November 1946 to August 1948, he worked for a leather firm in Bruhl.
31.
Kurt Welter then became managing director of Sanitatshaus Green, the medical supply store in Neustadt in Holstein which belonged to his father-in-law.