Reinhard Heydrich air victories?

[Douglas Jr.]

Dear folks,

First of all, let me wish you all a Happy New Year!

I was in a discussion yesterday with some friends and Reinhard Heydrich's Luftwaffe service was one of the subjects. For those not familiar with this infamous SS officer, he was head of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA).

During this discussion, a friend of mine told me that he achieved some success as a fighter pilot, something that I told him that is incorrect. I never heard that he had a confirmed kill.

A quick research in Wikipedia showed me that I was right as follows:

"... despite his advanced age, he completed a fighter pilot course in 1940, probably due to reasons of ambition. Heydrich wanted to set an example and show that the members of SS are not "asphalt" soldiers acting behind the front line, but a leading elite of the Third Reich. In April 1940 he flew a Bf109 in the II./JG77 "Herz As" in Norway. The planes flown by Heydrich had an ancient Germanic runic character S (Sieg = victory) painted on the side of the fuselage. On May 13, 1940 he crashed his plane during take-off and was injured. For a short time in May he flew patrol flights over North Germany and the Netherlands. Then, after a new accident, he returned to Berlin. In mid-June 1941, before the German attack on the USSR, he resumed flying, ignoring Himmler's ban. He flew his personal plane Bf 109E-7 again with Group II./JG 77 from Baltsi on the southern Eastern Front, which put the wing commander under pressure due to Heydrich's position and lack of experience. On July 22, 1941, his plane was badly damaged over Yampol by Soviet AA artillery. Heydrich managed to crash-land in no-man's land, and run back to the German lines. After this adventure he was forbidden to fly once again, as it was realized that Heydrich's capture as a POW would be a major security breach for Germany, and he never again returned to active flying. Heydrich was too old and inexperienced for a fighter pilot and he lacked the necessary free time for training flights. But despite his lack of combat success, he was decorated with the Iron Cross Second (1940) and First (1941) Classes. The number of missions flown by Heydrich is not known, it is only recorded that he was shot down, but he was awarded the Frontflugspange (Fighters Clasp) in silver, which usually was awarded after 60 successful combat missions."
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich )


However I would like to hear from you guys if there is any further information about any Reinhard Heydrih's claims.

Thanks in advance.

Douglas.