Name Franz-Josef Beerenbrock | Years of service 1938–45 | |
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Born 9 April 1920Datteln, Germany ( 1920-04-09 ) Battles/wars World War IIEastern Front Battles and wars | ||
Franz-Josef Beerenbrock (9 April 1920 – 13 December 2004) was a German fighter pilot during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. Beerenbrock claimed 117 aerial victories in approximately 400 combat missions, all on the Eastern Front. In November 1942 he became a prisoner of war for the rest of the war.
Beerenbrock joined a flak artillery unit on 1 October 1938 and in 1939 was trained as a pilot. In March 1941, Beerenbrock was transferred to 12./Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51). He achieved his first aerial victory on 24 June 1941. On 1 August 1942 he claimed nine more victories and reached his 100th aerial victory often flying as wingman of Karl-Gottfried Nordmann. He was the 15th Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. At that point he was the most successful fighter pilot of JG 51. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
In air combat on 9 November 1942 with numeralically superior Russian fighters over Welish, he downed three Russian fighters but his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 fighter received a hit in the radiator and he went down over Russian-held territory and was taken prisoner of war. Several years after the war in mid-December 1949 Beerenbrock returned to West Germany. In 1955 he joined the Luftwaffe as an officer of the Bundeswehr. Franz-Josef Beerenbrock was credited with 117 victories in approximately 400 missions, all on the Eastern Front of which at least 12 were Il-2 Sturmoviks.
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