Wilhelm Dipberger

Wilhelm "Willi" Dipberger (30 May 1918 – 10 September 2005) was a German Luftwaffe observer and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (German: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Dipberger was a member of the Hermann Hogeback bomber crew. Hogeback's crew earned the distinction of being the only crew to have all members awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by the end of the war, and Dipberger was the last of his crew (aside from Hogeback himself) to be awarded after Oberfeldwebel Gunter Glasner on 31 December 1943 and similarly ranked Willy Lehnert on 5 April 1944.