Mayer, Egon “Connie”, born 19-08-1917 at Konstanz 
near the Bodensee, joined Hermann Goering’s (did you know) 
Luftwaffe 
in 1937. After a regular peacetime training, Fahnenjunker Mayer was posted to I./Jagdgeschwader 2 
under command of Oberst Friedrich Wilhelm ” Gerd” von Massow 
on 01-12-1939. Von Massow survived the war and died age 70 on 29-06-1967 in Bad Pyrmont. By the time Mayer participated in the French campaign, he was serving with 6./Jagdgeschwader 2. Mayer recorded his first victory on 13-06-1940, when he shot down a French Morane fighter. From 01-08-1940, he served at the Jagdfliegerschule Werneuchen. Mayer had returned to JG 2 by September 1940. Mayer was assigned to 3./JG 2, under command of Hauptmann Karl Heinz Krahl
, based at Beaumont-le-Roger in France. On 14-04-1942, age 27, Krahl was making a low level attack on Luqa airfield on the island of Malta, flying Bf 109 F-4 (W.Nr. 8784) “ when he was shot down and killed by the island’s anti-aircraft defences. Mayer claimed a RAF Hurricane fighter shot down near Portland on 7 October to record his second victory. Leutnant Mayer was transferred to 8./JG 2, where he recorded one victory, a Hurricane shot down near Chichester on 15-11-1940 for his third victory. On 10-06-1941, Oberleutnant Mayer was appointed Staffelkapitän of 7./Jagdgeschwader 2, based at St Pol-Brias. He was awarded the Ritterkreuz 
on 01-08-1941 for 20 victories. Mayer here with ace Hermann Graff,
and in shorts, recorded his 30th victory, yet another Spitfire, shot down on 15-04-1942. On 19 August, his 25th birthday, Mayer shot down two RAF Spitfire fighters over Dieppe (51-52). In November 1942, Hauptmann Mayer was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 2, nickname “Richthofengeschwader” 
. On 23 November, Mayer recorded his first victories over USAAF 
four-engine bombers, when he shot down two B-17s and a B-24 (53-55). With Major Georg-Peter Schorsch Eder 
, 78 victories, he died age 65, on 01-03-1986, in Wiesbaden. Mayer is credited with developing the head-on attack technique against the Allied daylight bomber raids. The technique brought both considerable success against the four-engine bombers. He was awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr 232) 
on 16-04-1943 after 63 victories, by Adolf Hitler (did you know) 
.
Oberstleutnant Mayer was appointed Kommodore of JG 2 on 01-07-1943, following the departure of Oberst, Walter Oesau,
127 victories, RK-S, killed in action 11-05-1944, to become Jagd Führer Bretagne. He shot down three USAAF B-17 four-engine bombers in 19 minutes on 06-09-1943. On 1 December, Mayer claimed four USAAF P-47 fighters and a B-17 bomber shot down (85-89). He achieved his 90th victory on 31 December and was the first to reach 100 victories on the Channel Front on 05-02-1944, when he shot down a P-47 fighter near Arguen. He claimed his 101st and 102nd and last, victories on 6 February, when he shot down two P-47 fighters in the Sens area.
Death and burial ground of Mayer, Egon “Connie”.
On 02-03-1944, Mayer led a formation from JG 2 against an USAAF daylight raid. USAAF P-47 fighters escorted the bombers. The fighter escort overpowered Mayer’s attacking group and he was shot down and killed near Montmédy in Fw 190 A-6. He was posthumously awarded the Schwertern. Egon Mayer shot down 102 enemy aircraft. All his victories were recorded over the Western Front and included 26 four-engine bombers, 51 Spitfire and 12 P-47 fighters. Mayer is buried, age 26, on the war cemetery of St. Desiré de Lisieux. Section 1 Row 8 Grave 167.
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