Date of birth:

October 29th, 1917 (Nieder Thalheim/Silesia, Germany)

Date of death:

March 20th, 1944 (Drowned in the Dniester River, USSR)

Nationality:

German

Erwin Hentschel was the most important radio operator of the Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. Most of his 1490 sorties as a Ju 87 radio operator were flown with Rudel.

Hentschel not only the reached the highest number of missions flown by any Luftwaffe radio operator or rear gunner, but also flew the second-highest number of sorties by any military aviator in history, second only to Rudel himself.

In total he shot down 7 Soviet fighters as a rear gunner.

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• - FELLGIEBEL, W.P., Elite of theThird Reich, Helion & Company Limited, Solihull, 2003.
  - OBERMAIER, ERNST, Die Ritterkreuzträger der Luftwaffe, Verlag Dieter Hoffmann, Mainz, 1976.
  - PATZWALL, K. & SCHERZER, V., Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941-1945, Band II, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2001.
  - PATZWALL, K. D., Der Ehrenpokal für besondere Leistung im Luftkrieg, Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, Norderstedt, 2008.
  - Luftwaffe Officer Career