Helmut Wick

Helmut Wick
Helmut Wick, October 1940
Born	(1915-08-05)5 August 1915 Mannheim
Died	28 November 1940(1940-11-28) (aged 25) Missing in action – English Channel
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1936–40
Rank	Major
Unit	JG 133, JG 53
Commands held	JG 2
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of France Battle of Britain
Awards	Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

World War II

Major Helmut Paul Emil Wick (5 August 1915 – 28 November 1940) was a German Luftwaffe ace and the fourth recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade, the Oak Leaves, was awarded by the Third Reich to recognise extreme bravery in battle or successful military leadership. It was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Helmut Wick.

Born in Mannheim, Wick joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a fighter pilot. He was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing), and saw combat in the Battles of France and Britain. Promoted to Major in October 1940, he was given the position of Geschwaderkommodore (wing commander) of JG 2—the youngest in the Luftwaffe to hold this rank and position. He was shot down in the vicinity of the Isle of Wight on 28 November 1940, very likely by the British ace John Dundas, who was subsequently shot down by Wick's wingman. Helmut Wick was posted as missing in action, presumed dead. By then he had been credited with destroying 56 enemy aircraft in aerial combat, making him the leading German fighter pilot at the time. Flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109, he claimed all of his victories against the Western Allies.

Helmut Paul Emil Wick was born on 5 August 1915 in Mannheim, Germany, the youngest of three children of a civil engineer, Karl Wick and Berta Wick, née Schenck. Helmut's eldest brother Walter was born in Swakopmund, at the time in the German protectorate in South-West Africa. The outbreak of World War I forced the family to return to Germany and Helmut's sister, Doris, was born in Rohrbach, near Heidelberg. Owing to the demand for his father's skills and expertise building roads and bridges, Helmut spent most of his childhood traveling throughout the German Reich. The Wick family moved to Hanover in 1919; Helmut's mother died there in February 1922. His father then took the family to Oliva, near Danzig and Königsberg in East Prussia, finally settling in Berlin in 1935.