Wurmheller's Oakleaves

[Steinar]

so what happend to his "original" awards?

[Darrell]

so what happend to his "original" awards?

Considering that this happened .. I would assume they got destroyed or were lost in the crash.

Considering that Wurmheller was killed on the 22nd of June 1944 in his FW 190 during aerial combat with Allied fighters near Alençon (Normandy) when he collided with his wingman I don't think that this Ritterkreuz is the one he was wearing everyday as after a crash there should be some paint chips on the cross.
Pierre

[Steinar]

did they really wear all their awards in combat?

[Pierre]

Usually when you see pictures of Luftwaffe aces if they are knights cross holders they wear it. As for Wurmheller on the pictures you can find in books on the Jagdgeschwader 53 and 2 you see him wearing sometimes just his Ritterkreuz, sometimes also the DKiG + EKI + Frontflugspange. To me this absolutely mint DKiG can't be one award which has been regularly worn during aerial combat (mae west or parachute harness aren't good for the awards). To me only the EKI and perhaps the beautiful Assmann pilot badge have been used by him.

Pierre

[Luftm40]

To answer the question though...many of the surviving pics of Luft RKT were propaganda shots, often posed or staged for the camera. In these cases it would have been logical for the RKT to wear all of his awards. Some certainly did wear them on operational missions, but I am equally sure that others opted to leave them at home...

[willy]

Josef Wurmheller's Oakleaves on page 386 of The Iron Cross of 1939 look strange, are they they same oaks as in the above group?

[Dietrich Maerz]

Josef Wurmheller's Oakleaves on page 386 of The Iron Cross of 1939 look strange, are they they same oaks as in the above group?