Paul Szameitat

Paul Szameitat (19 December 1919 – 2 January 1944) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Szameitat claimed 29 victories, 28 at night.

Night fighter career
Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, RAF attacks shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector named a Himmelbett (canopy bed) would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942.

On 18 October 1943, Szameitat was shot down in his Dornier Do 217 N-1 night fighter by the defensive gunfire of an Avro Lancaster bomber from No. 101 Squadron. Hit in both engines, he and his crew bailed out near Barsinghausen.

On 14 December 1943, Szameitat was appointed Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I. Gruppe (1st group) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3 (NJG 3—3rd Night Fighter Wing), replacing Hauptmann Walter Mylius.

Aerial victory claims
According to Spick, Szameitat was credited with 29 aerial victories, including one heavy bomber during a daytime mission, claimed in an unknown number combat missions. Obermaier also lists him with 29 aerial victories claimed in an unknown number combat missions. Foreman, Parry and Mathews, authors of Luftwaffe Night Fighter Claims 1939 – 1945, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 29 victory claims. Mathews and Foreman also published Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, listing Szameitat with 25 claims, plus two further unconfirmed claims.

Awards

 * Flugzeugführerabzeichen
 * Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
 * Iron Cross (1939) 2nd and 1st Class
 * Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe on 5 June 1943 as Oberleutnant and pilot
 * German Cross in Gold on 12 December 1943 as Hauptmann in the 5./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 6 April 1944 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the I./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3