Heinz Knoke (24 March 1921 – 18 May 1993) was a World War II Luftwaffe flying ace. He is credited with 33 confirmed aerial victories, all claimed over the Western theatre of operations, and claimed a further 19 unconfirmed kills in over 2,000 flights. His total included 19 heavy bombers of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).
Early life
He was born the son of a policeman on 24 March 1921 in Hamelin. On 6 July 1938, whilst watching an air display, Knoke made his first flight, a fifteen-minute joy ride in an old transport aircraft and took the preliminary examination for entry into the Luftwaffe. On 15 November 1939, Knoke underwent flight training at No. 11 Flying Training Regiment Schonwald, near Berlin and in August 1940 attended Jagdfliegerschule 1 (Werneuchen) under instructor Flight Sergeant Kuhl, an experienced operational pilot who had already seen action in both the invasions of Poland and France.
War career 1941–42
In early 1941 Knoke received his first combat posting, joining Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52). Posted to II Gruppe under Hauptmann Erich Woitke, his comrades included the future aces Gerhard Barkhorn, Günther Rall and Walter Krupinski. After initial operations during the invasion of Soviet Russia in June 1941, Knoke was transferred to JG 1 in July 1941. On 28 August 1941 Heinz married Elisabeth "Lilo" Makowski in Schieratz.
In February 1942, Knoke participated with 3./JG 1 in Operation Donnerkeil, the Channel Dash of the German battleships and and heavy cruiser .
On 14 February 1942 Knoke was detached to Jagdgruppe Losigkeit (Fritz Losigkeit), where he was charged with the air protection of these ships over the Norway coast. He returned to JG 1 in March. On 5 March he shared in shooting down a Royal Air Force (RAF) Supermarine Spitfire of No. 1 Photo Reconnaissance Unit (PRU), RAF. Its pilot, Flight Lieutenant ADM Gunn, was taken prisoner. In October 1942 Knoke became Commanding officer of 2nd Staffel, JG 1. He claimed his solo first kill on 31 October, an RAF Bristol Blenheim.
Against the USAAF 1943–44
As the USAAF daylight bomber offensive increased steadily in intensity throughout 1943, so did operations by the defending JG 1 and JG 11. Knoke destroyed his first "heavy" on his 164th operation: Maisie, a B-24 Liberator of the 44th Bombardment Group, which he shot down over Zwischenahn on 26 February 1943 – two of the crew survived; journalist Robert Post, who on the first and last mission of "The Writing 69th", was among those killed.
The problem of attacking heavily armed bombers occupied the minds of the Luftwaffe in early 1943. Oberleutnant Heinz Knoke and his friend, Leutnant Dieter Gerhardt (killed in action against B-24s on 18 March 1943), developed the idea of dropping aerial bombs as a means to break up the tight combat boxes, thereby compromising the defensively strong USAAF bomber formations and rendering individual aircraft more vulnerable.
Knoke claimed his fifth victory, a B-24 of the 93rd Bomb Group on 18 March over Helgoland. On 22 March, Knoke successfully downed the B-17 Flying Fortress Liberty Bell, of the 91st Bombardment Group, with a 250 kg bomb, intercepting it on its return flight after attacking Wilhelmshaven. The B-17 fell into the North Sea west of Helgoland; all of the crew were killed. He thus became the first of very few fighter pilots in aviation history to destroy an enemy aircraft with a bomb. The Luftwaffe soon curtailed this practice, however as the carriage of bombs severely affected high altitude performance of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G and made these aircraft vulnerable to any escorting fighters.
In April 1943 I./JG 1 became II gruppe of the newly formed Jagdgeschwader 11 (JG 11), Knoke's 2 Staffel becoming 5./JG 11. During 1943 Knoke claimed some 17 kills, the majority B-17s and B-24s of the USAAF. Another B-17 (of the 95th Bomb Group) was downed on 11 June. Later that month, (on the 25th), Knoke was wounded in the hand by return fire from a bomber, resulting in the amputation of part of his thumb. On 17 August 1943 while intercepting a raid on Regensburg he was again wounded, this time by shrapnel fragments, and his aircraft was damaged by bomber return fire. Knoke belly landed near Bonn, his Bf 109G-6 was written off.