1 in stock

Original WW2 Luftwaffe postcard of the “Great Ace Oberfeldwebel Leopold Steinbatz” who was in “JG 52″. Approx. size is 5 and 1/2 inches high by 3 and 1/2 inches across. The photo is by Hoffmann, Munich. Condition is very good.

Leopold “Bazi” Steinbatz (born 25 October 1918 in Vienna, Austria, killed in action 23 June 1942 near Vovchansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on the Eastern front) was a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace and sole non Officer recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords during World War II.

On 15 June 1942, Steinbatz recorded his 99th victory but, during the return from a combat sortie on this day, his Bf 109-F was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire and he was killed after crashing into a forest near Vovchansk. Steinbatz was posthumously promoted to the rank of Leutnant and awarded the Schwertern on 23 June 1942. By this time “Bazi” Steinbatz had flown about 300 combat missions and shot down 99 enemy aircraft, all on the Eastern Front.