Date of birth:

November 6th, 1918 (Altenhagen, Bielefeld, Westphalia, Germany)

Date of death:

November 3rd, 1957 (Düsseldorf/North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

Nationality:

German (1933-1945, Third Reich)

01.10.1937: entered the Luftwaffe
10.01.1940-01.04.1941: instructor with FFS C Prag-Rusin
00.04.1940: temporarily with KGr.z.b.V. 105
00.06.1941-01.07.1941: transferred to Heinkel at Oranienburg as an acceptance pilot
26.07.1941: FFS C 12 as an instructor
10.12.1941: promoted to Leutnant
15.10.1942: transferred to 4./ KGr.z.b.V. 500
20.10.1942: Lt., awarded the Ehrenpokal
00.12.1942-00.01.1943: flew missions into the Stalingrad pocket
12.01.1943: Lt., awarded DKiG, 3./ KGr.z.b.V. 500
08.04.1943: transferred to 12./ KG 40
01.09.1943: transferred to I./ KG 40
04.10.1943: transferred to 3./ KG 40
01.07.1943: promoted to Oberleutnant (Kr.O. / Fl.) - RDA 01.04.1943
00.04.1944: Lt. in 1./ KG 40 - reached 600 op sorties
07.07.1944: Oblt. in 3./ KG 40, landed his Fw 200 C-3 coded 'F8+RL' on Alexandra Island (Zemlya Aleksandry) / Franz Joseph Land to evacuate a weather station but damaged the landing gear –
11.07.1944: after a delay of several days for repairs, flew his crew and the weather station personnel back to Norway
00.09.1944: transferred to 14./ TG 4
24.10.1944: Oblt., awarded Ritterkreuz, Staka 3./ KG 40
18.11.1944: awarded for achieving 600 missions
00.00.1944-00.00.1945: Führer, Kommando Clara, KG 200
11.01.1945: Flugkapitän
16.01.1945-01.04.1945: completed 3 or 4 flights to Rhodes
27.03.1945: Oblt. 14./ TG 4, awarded the Eichenlaub
01.05.1945: promoted to Hauptmann - RDA 01.02.1945
05.05.1945: fled the advancing Americans in a Fi 156 from Micheldorf, by Linz, heading north
03.11.1957: died in a Luftreederei Herfurtner DC-4 crash near Düsseldorf soon after take-off
Credited with approximately 300 combat missions, most of which were over 4 hours in length - flown 7,438 flights, logging 6,672 hours

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Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant (Flying Officer)

Unit:

14. Staffel, Transport-Geschwader 4

Awarded on:

March 27th, 1945

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant (Flying Officer)

Unit:

Staffelkapitän, 3. Staffel, I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40, Luftwaffe

Awarded on:

October 20th, 1944

Awarded for his high total of long-distance missions, as well as a daring rescue mission carried out at the beginning of July 1944. Several members of a Kriegsmarine weather station on Franz Josef Land had fallen ill with trichinosis and needed to be evacuated. It was Stahnke who landed a Fw 200 Condor bomber on an improvised landing strip some 5 km from the station on the 07.07.1944. The aircraft was damaged in the very tricky landing operation, but after several days of repairs was made fit to fly again and Stahnke flew out the sick soldiers as per the original plan.

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Leutnant (Pilot Officer)

Unit:

3. Staffel, Kampfgruppe zur besonderen Verwendung 500, Luftwaffe

Awarded on:

January 12th, 1943

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Leutnant (Pilot Officer)

Unit:

Flugzeugführer

Awarded on:

October 20th, 1942

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Period:

Second World War (1939-1945)

Rank:

Oberleutnant (Flying Officer)

Unit:

Staka, 3. Staffel, KG 40

Awarded on:

November 18th, 1944

with pennant '600'

• - FELLGIEBEL, W.P., Elite of theThird Reich, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
  - PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
  - URBANKE, AXEL & KAISER, JOCHEN, Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kampfflieger, Luftfahrtverlag-Start, 2011.
  - das-ritterkreuz.de
  - ww2.dk/