Rudolf Frank

Rudolf Frank (19 August 1920 – 27 April 1944) was a German Luftwaffe night fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves during World War II. The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership. Frank claimed 45 aerial victories, all of them at night.

Career
Rudolf Frank was born on 19 August 1920 in Karlsruhe-Grünwinkel. After pilot training he was assigned to 2. /NJG 3 as a Gefreiter in early 1941. During the night of 3/4 July he claimed his first aerial victory. By the end of 1942 he had seven confirmed victories.

On the night of 16/17 June 1943 he claimed three bombers. Eighteen bombers were claimed during 1943, and on 6 April 1944 Frank was awarded the Knight's Cross.

On 27 April 1944, his aircraft (a Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 W.Nr 720074) was hit from debris from a damaged Lancaster that he had attacked. His crew members were able to bale out and both Oberfeldwebel Schierholz and Oberfeldwebel Schneider survived, but Frank died in the crash near Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He was posthumously promoted to Leutnant and awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross on 20 July 1944.

Frank had flown 183 combat missions and shot down 45 enemy aircraft, all at night.

Awards and decorations

 * Aviator badge
 * Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (9 August 1943)
 * Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe in Gold
 * Iron Cross (1939)
 * 2nd Class
 * 1st Class
 * German Cross in Gold on 17 October 1943 as Unteroffizier in the 2./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3
 * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
 * Knight's Cross on 6 April 1944 as Feldwebel and pilot in the 2./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3
 * 531st Oak Leaves on 20 July 1944 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the 2./Nachtjagdgeschwader 3