Maj Alfred Hemm

[Chris Goss]

I am trying to find out more about this officer, not helped by his PERS 6 records being hard to read. According to Larry and Doug, he was St Kap of 4.(F)/122 in June 40 (and did he take over from Hptm Günter Pannwitz?) and still in June 1941. He was promoted to Hptm 1 Dec 40 and then on 17 Jun 42 is posted to IV./KG 40. On 23 Aug 42, he is recorded as being St Fhr of 9./KG 40 but then the following month is Major Beim Stab in III./KG 40. 2 months later he is recorded as "looking after the business of Gruppen Kommandeur V./KG 40". However, he does not take command of V./KG 40 until 1 March 43 when he is promoted to Major. He has no air combat victories and then in October 1943 hands over to his Ia Hptm Horst Grahl. Larry and Doug then say he reappears with I./NJG 1 in late 1944 and at the end of the war is with Stab/NJG 1. Anyone add any meat to these bones? He is not to be confused with Maj Alfred Helm

[Larry deZeng]

Chris,

Doug has unscrambled these for us after rechecking a number of primary and secondary sources, a task that takes a couple of hours to do:

HEMM, Alfred. 06.40 Hptm., appt Staka 4.(F)/Aufkl.Gr. 122 (to 06.42). 01.43 Hptm., appt provisional Kdr. V./KG 40 (to 13.10.43). 01.03.43 promo to Maj. and named from provisional to permanent Kdr. V./KG 40.

HELM, Alfred. (DOB: 16.01.94). WWI served as a fighter pilot. (n.d.) Kdr. in KG.z.b.V. 172. 27.11.39 Maj., appt Kdr. Blindflugschule 4 (to 16.05.41). (n.d.) with Erprobungsstelle Werneuchen. 1941 in Stab IV./NJG 1. 29/30.06.42 Maj., detached to II./NJG 2 from Erprobungsstelle Werneuchen. Late summer 1942 returned to Erprobungsstelle Werneuchen. 18.08.42 Maj., II./NJG 1?. 1943 with Stab II./NJG 2. c.11.44 in I./NJG 1. 05.45 Maj., Stab/NJG 1, without assignment. Was the oldest night fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe. 1950s worked for Lufthansa. Credited with 3 victories plus 3 more in WWI. †14.02.65.

When building these little summaries, the one-line data factoids are entered as we encounter them, thus some get posted to the wrong individual in cases of more than one person with the same name and those officers with missing first names.

Larry deZ.

[Chris Goss]

Thanks Larry. Hemm's service with III./KG 40 can be added as this came from his personnel files. No idea what became of him post Oct 43 though. He was born 22 Jan 1913

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello all,

I don't want to spoil a good party, but it was not Alfred HELM who was a nightfighterpilot in the I./NJG 1 but Alfred HEMM, according to my primary sources such as:

1.) the KTB of I./NJG 1 (RL 10/539): late December 1944 the crew of Major Hemm & Uffz. Keune got in trouble, Keune ejected himself out of the He219, Hemm was able to land safely in Dortmund.
2.) some machine typed Einsatzbefehle of the I./NJG 1 of 6th and 11th November 1944
3.) the flightlog of Fw. Helmut Fischer who flew with Hemm, 21th Nov. and 6th Dec.1944

It may be that HELM was the oldest nightfighter pilot in the Luftwaffe but not in the I./NJG 1.

All the best, Marcel

[Chris Goss]

So Marcel Hptm Alfred Hemm former Gr Kdr of V./KG 40 to Oct 43 then ended up with I./NJG 1 while Alfred Helm presumable returned to Werneuchen?

[Stig Jarlevik]

There is no "fighter pilot" (Jasta pilot) with either the name Alfred Helm or Alfred Hemm mentioned
in the book 'The Jasta pilots' by Franks/Bailey/Duiven.

Of course he could have been serving in a two-seater unit and thus scored his victories there.

Cheers
Stig

[Chris Goss]

Stig: THis is what I have been sent. Apologies for it not being in English but it is quite evident what is being said:
Helm, Alfred

Helm, Alfred, geb. 16.02.1894 in Mittweida - gest. 14.02.1965
Besuch der Ingenieurschule
- 1915 bei der Flieger-Ersatz-Abt. 9 in Darmstadt ausgebildet
- 1916 bis 1918 Pilot beim Kampfgeschwader der V. Kampfstaffel 30
- nach einer Verwundung im Herbst 1918 beim Jagdgeschwader Richthofen, Jagdstaffel 10
- 1919 Abschlussprüfung als Maschineningenieur
- 1920 bis 1924 in der Industrie tätig
- 1925 Junkers-Pilot, flog im Sommer mit A-20 auf der Nachtflugstrecke Berlin-Warnemünde
- 1926 Pilot der DLH - Eröffnung der Nachtflugstrecke Berlin-Königsberg mit Passagieren am 1. Mai 1926 mit G 24 - übernahm 1927 die erste Nachtpoststrecke Berlin-Frankfurt/Main
- 1929 Pilot auf der Nachtpoststrecke Berlin-Köln-London
- 1932 bis 1939 Leiter der Ausbildung der Lufthansa-Besatzungen im Blindflug von den Flughäfen Tempelhof, Hannover, Schkeuditz und Breslau aus, in den Sommermonaten als Pilot der DLH tätig
- Flug Berlin-Tokio-Berlin mit Ju 52/3m vom 22. April bis 22. Mai 1939 (zusammen mit Freiherrn v. Gablenz)
- 1939 Gruppenkommandeur im Kampfgeschwader z.b.V. 172, anschließend Kommandeur bei der Blindflugschule 4 in Wien-Aspern, Leiter der Erprobungsstelle für Nacht-Jagdverfahren
- 1952 flugtechnischer Berater für den Wiederaufbau der Deutschen Lufthansa
- 1955 Erneuerung des Segelflugzeugführerscheines Klasse I
- 1957 Erneuerung des Sportfliegerscheines - gestorben am 14.02.1965 in Berlin

[Stig Jarlevik]

No worries Chris

All I was doing was to try and check Helm's WW 1 career and since he is repeatedly called a pilot,
he most likely was that in Kampfstaffel 30 as well.

Jasta 10 is pretty well known and there is no Helm claiming any victories as far as I can see.

I know basically nothing about Kampfstaffel 30 as such but the German bomber force was initially called
Kampfgeschwader and subunits as Kampfstaffel, but that designation was changed to
Bombengeschwader and Bombenstaffel sometime in 1917/18.
The aircraft they used had gunners and the pilots did just that pilot the aircraft.
The unit BOGOHL V was not created until late in the war (didn't exist in 1916)
Can't really see him claiming anything in WW 1
One possibility is of course if he served somewhere else before being posted to Bombenstaffel 30.

Johannes confirms his three WW 2 claims and I begin to suspect they have, for some reason been
"duplicated back" to his WW 1 days as well.

One problem with Johannes' list and Marcel's statement that Helm never served in NJG 1.
Johannes has Helm claiming twice with II./NJG 2 (30 June and 20 July 1942) but also once with II/NJG 1
(18 Aug 1942)
That claim is repeated in his Luftwaffe Night Fighter claims 1939-45
He has on the other hand nothing on Hemm.....

I have Theo's books but they are unfortunately out of reach after my surgery,
so no checking there.

Hopefully both Marcel and Theo can revert back with whom claimed the Wellington on 18 Aug 1942.

Rather amusing Chris (if one can call it that) is your initial posting where you say Alfred Hemm should not
be confused with Alfred Helm.
Seems to me to be exactly the case over and over again.....

Cheers
Stig

[ju55dk]

I can confirm that it was Major Helm who was in charge of BFS 4 in January 1941. He signed a lot of paperwork about BFS 4. Last one signed 27/3-41 as Major and Fliegerhorstkommandant Wien-Aspern.
Junker

[Chris Goss]

Indeed Stig! Hemm was very much a grey man and so was Helm after 1942