Maximilian Volke

Maximilian Volke (Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, 23 May 1915 – Mirandola, Italy, 5 September 1944) was a Luftwaffe Oberfeldwebel (flight sergeant) and 37-victory fighter ace of the Jagdgeschwader 77.

Maximilian Volke
Leutnant Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert (left) and Feldwebel Maximilian Volke standing next to Hans-Joachim Marseille's "Otto" Kübelwagen, April 1943[1]
Born(1915-05-23)May 23, 1915
Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria
DiedSeptember 5, 1944(1944-09-05) (aged 29)
Mirandola, Italy
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branch Luftwaffe
RankOberfeldwebel
UnitJG 77
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsGerman Cross in Gold

A veteran of the campaigns in Russia and Africa, he was shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter over Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, during the Gothic Line operations, on 9 September 1944, by a gunner in an American B-25 Mitchell bomber. Volke was 29 years and was decorated with the German Cross in Gold, received as Feldwebel in the II./JG 77 on 12 July 1943.[2]

Ofw. Volke's remains and parts of his aircraft were located and dug out of a farmer's field in Mirandola, just north of Modena by an Italian amateur war history research team (the Romagna Air Finders) in July 2007, nearly 63 years after he was shot down.[3][4]

References
Citations
  1. Michulec 2002, p. 64.
  2. Patzwall, p. 489
  3. Military.com: "Remains of German WWII Ace Found"
  4. Jenner Meletti (2007-08-13). "Una tomba per l'erede del Barone Rosso". Repubblica (in Italian).
Bibliography
  • Michulec, Robert (2002). Luftwaffe at War/Luftwaffe Aces of the Western Front. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-486-9.
  • Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II. Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
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