Karl joined Erprobungsgruppe 210 in December 1940, when it was converting its 3. Staffel to Bf 110s. He flew missions against the south-east of England and then took part in the invasion of Russia with 3./SKG 210. He was with 3./ZG 1 when that unit was formed from 3./SKG 210 in January 1942.
Karl was shot down twice on the Russian front. First time with pilot Helmut Lussky when their Bf 110 received a direct hit from a Russian tank. Lussky managed to make a good belly-landing. Second time was with the Zerstörer Staffel of JG 5 on the northern Russian front, when he was shot down by a Russian P-40. His pilot did not get out the Bf 110, but Karl and the PK man with them baled out. Both eventually returned to German lines. Karl spent some days behind Russian lines, hiding up during the day and travelling at night.
After that, he was posted to non-flying duties with KG 40.
Post-war, he lived in Berlin, and was a travelling salesman. He was the first member of Erprobungsgruppe 210 I made contact with, in 1983, and he invited me to the Wespentreffen, which I attended for the first time in 1984. That led to many contacts from Erpr. Gr. 210/SKG 210/ZG 1, and it is safe to say that without Karl's assistance, the works I produced on those units would never have seen the light of day. He is THAT important to a small part of modern-day aviation history of the Luftwaffe.
He once told me that the greatest moment of his life was attending the International Jagdflieger Meeting in the 1970s (which encompassed Germans, British & Americans) and meeting Douglas Bader. Such is the irony of young men flying, fighting, and trying to kill each other in war, and then joining together in convivial circumstances in peace...
Karl had a wonderful sense of history, and would sometimes phone me excitedly whenever he encountered a new contact that might be useful to my research.
Here are some photos:
Me with Karl and his wife Gerda at one of the Wespentreffen
Me talking to Karl Stoff (1./Erpr. Gr. 210) with Karl standing by ready to translate for both of us
Photo taken at the Wespentreffen (from left: Karl Schröder; Karl Stoff; Wolfgang Schenck; Me; Balthasar Aretz; Gerhard Schlee & Edmund Ernst
Karl eventually lost his battle against cancer, and died on 18th May 1999, just short of his 79th birthday.
On the title page of my book on SKG 210/ZG 1 I wrote: This book is dedicated to Karl-Fritz Schröder (23/5/1920-18/5/1999), Bordfunker of 3. Staffel, Schnellkampfgeschwader 210 and Zerstörergeschwader 1. In this life we have many acquaintances and very few friends. Karl was a dear friend.