Knappe, Kurt, born 02-06-1918 in Berlin 
, was a Luftwaffe 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.
On 03-11-1942, Knappe was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) for 51 aerial victories claimed.
On 03-09-1943, Knappe was killed in action in aerial combat with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. 
His Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 
crashed on the road north of Le Neubourg, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Evreux.
Knappe arrived in the West at III./Jagdgeschwader 2 
under command of Walter “Gulle” Oesau 
with 51 Eastern Front ‘red star’ victory markings on his rudder. This image was taken on the occasion of his first ‘kill’ in the West – his 52nd – marked with what appears to be an RAF ’roundel’ visible here (bottom row) but which is in fact an American ‘star’. This first victory with 7. Staffel was achieved on 30-12-1942 -a USAF B-17- shot down over the sea during a 1st Bomb Wing raid comprising some 40 B-17s on the U-boat pens at Lorient. B-17 ‘kills’ were soon represented with a double-bar with US star superimposed on Jagdgeschwader 2 rudder scoreboards.Kurt Knappe was posted to the West in late 1942 along with another Jagdgeschwader 51 
under command of Oberstleutnant Karl-Gottfried “Karlfried” Nordmann, 
ace – Erich Alfred Hohagen 
– to ‘beef up’ 7./JG 2 who had lost Oberleutnant Egon “Connie” Mayer 
following Mayer’s appointment as Kommandeur of III./JG 2. Mayer replaced Hans Robert Fritz ‘Assi’ Hahn 
who departed for JG 54 in the East on 01-11-1942. Assi Hahn survived the war and died 18-12-1982 (aged 68) in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. Karl Gottfried Nordmann, age 66, died at his home on 22-07-1982 in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. Nordmann’s wife was named Tina. They had a son, Eric, and a daughter, Corinne, and Erich Alfred Hohagen, also survived the war and passed away 08-03-1990 (aged 75) in Jever, West Germany.
Death and burial ground of Kurt Knappe.
On 03-09-1943, Kurt Knappe was killed over Evreux, France after attacking a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. During his career he was credited with 56 victories, 51 on the Eastern Front and 5 on the Western Front.
Kurt Knappe died 03-09-1943 (aged 25) over Evreux, France, Killed in action. Kurt crashed on the road north of Le Neubourg, 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) northwest of Evreux.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example “PQ 64512”. The Luftwaffe grid map (Jägermeldenetz) covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about 360 square miles (930 km2). These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 km × 4 km (1.9 mi × 2.5 mi) in size.
Hahn is buried at at Saint-Désir-de-Lisieux German war cemetery near Lisieux, Normandy, France. Section: 3. Row: 32. Grave: 997.
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