Helmuth Bode

Helmuth Bode (1907–1985) was a German World War II fighter pilot. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on October 10, 1941. After the war, he served with the West German Air Force, the Bundesluftwaffe.

Biography
Helmuth Bode was born on 15 October 1907 in Metz, Alsace-Lorraine. He did not join the German Army straight from school and instead joined the German Air Transport School where his flying career began. The school was a covert military-training organization, operating as a flying school in Germany. Bode rapidly became a flight instructor in the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule.

Bode joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 as a reservist and was promoted to Oberleutnant in June 1938. He showed a natural ability as a pilot and completed his fighter pilot training in 1939. He was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of III./StG 77 in May 1940. From May 1940 III./StG 77 were heavily involved in tactical support operations as part of VIII. Fliegerkorps. The unit was involved in the attack on Belgium and the Low Countries. Often flying 6 or 7 missions a day, Bode flew missions bombing fortifications, lines of communication, troop concentrations and defence works, moving from one airfield to another as the Army advanced through the Netherlands and Northern Belgium.

Based in the Cherbourg area, III./StG 77 (and Bode) then participated in the early part of the Battle of Britain, suffering high losses.

After extensive operational flying over Britain, the Balkans and on the Eastern front (Sebastopol) in 1941, Bode was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 10 October 1941. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross recognized extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership in the German military.

In September 1942 Bode was assigned to take the command of a special unit working on the "Flugzeugträger Graf Zeppelin" project, in Travemünde. After this assignment, he was again selected to be a flight instructor, this time on the Stuka. From August 1944 to January 1945, he was appointed liaison officer with the Bulgarian army. He was eventually assigned to the Army Group E, before being sent to a Prisoner of War camp by the Allies.

Bode enlisted again in the Bundeswehr in 1955. He became a colonel (Oberst) in the new West German Air Force, the Bundesluftwaffe. After his military retirement, Helmuth Bode died on 13 April 1985.

Awards and decorations

 * Flugzeugführerabzeichen
 * Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe
 * Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class
 * 1st Class
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 15 July 1942 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of the III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 77