Rank Oberfeldwebel Battles and wars World War II Battles/wars World War II Service/branch Luftwaffe | Awards German Cross in Gold Allegiance Nazi Germany Name Maximilian Volke Unit Jagdgeschwader 77 | |
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Died September 9, 1944, Modena, Italy | ||
Maximilian Volke (Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, 1915 – Modena, Italy, 9 September 1944) was a Luftwaffe Oberfeldwebel (flight sergeant) and 37-victory fighter ace of the Jagdgeschwader 77.
A veteran of the campaigns in Russia and Africa, he was shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter over Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, during the Gothic Line operations, on 9 September 1944, by a gunner in an American B-25 Mitchell bomber. Volke was 29 years and was decorated with the German Cross in Gold, received as Feldwebel in the II./JG 77 on July 12, 1943.
Ofw. Volke's remains and parts of his aircraft were located and dug out of a farmer's field just north of Modena by an Italian amateur war history research team (the Romagna Air Finders) in July 2007, nearly 63 years after he was shot down.