Emil Badorrek

[knusel]

Good evening Gentlemen,

did Emil Badorrek start WW2 as pilot or as observer ?

Cheers,

Michael

[ghostwriter2]

Hello,
actually he flew as Beobachter (Observer), being an NCO until 1940.
Greetings,
ghost

[knusel]

Good evening Ghost,

thanks for your post.
In suppose he attended Fernaufklärer-Fliegerschule in Mar-May43 to become a pilot, didn't he ?

Cheers,

Michael

[bakerman]

Hello Michael!
Why do you think Badorrek was a pilot?
Until now, I always thought he flew exclusively as a observer until the end.When he was killed in Dec 1944 he flew as an observer in the crew of Lt. Josef Reinardy.
Regards, Jörg.

[knusel]

Good evening Jörg,

my assumption that Badorrek was a pilot from 1943 onwards is mainly from this profile:
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/...sgruppe-11.htm
Kind regards from Switzerland,
Michael

[bakerman]

Hello again Michael!
I think Badorrek was an observer not a pilot, there are two Verlustmeldungen with him, both time he was listed as the observer. His pilots in 1944 were Lt. Walter Krüger, Ofw. Bantleon and at last Lt. Reinardy, all very experienced recon flyers. See these names at two Verlustmeldungen and a newspaper article.
Grettings, Jörg

[knusel]

Hello Jörg,

OK, then I'll note him down as observer.
He might the the top Do 17 crewman (an extrapolated ~366 missions) as well as the top Ju 188 crewman (an extrapolated ~154 missions) but not as a pilot :-(

I wish you a good Advent weekend,
Michael

[bakerman]

Surely Badorrek was one of the most experienced recon flyers of the Luftwaffe, regardless pilot or observer. I don't know if there are other ones with this highscoring mission numbers as a Fernaufklärer. Some Nahaufklärer had nearly 500 missions only (!) with the Hs126 as an observer, but that's another story.
Kind regards! Jörg

[knusel]

Hello Jörg,

I'm very interested in Hs 126 pilots with numerous missions but info about them is scarce. The top observer seems to be Günther Luchtenberg with 388 Hs 126 missions. A candidate for the top pilot rank is Herward Braunegg who flew 353 missions in different planes, extrapolation suggesting that ~149 might have been flown in the Hs 126.

Cheers,
Michael

[bakerman]

Michael, I will sent you a PM. Should I write in english or german maybe?