NEVER before seen photo of LW ACE

[edokampfwagen]

German-Chlean fighter ace Julius Hofmann

Hello friends , my name is Eduardo, im from Chile, I belong to the community IPMS -Chile.(The International Plastic Modellers Society)

We are very surprised to we first heard that our compatriot has fought for Germany

in the WWII, and integrate the box Aces of the Luftwaffe.

we have sought much information about him, but we have not found anything.

Alone would suffice to get a picture of the painting of Robert Cerneo, In order to

generate models and images of his plane , rendering him homage and to spread.

if anyone can get any picture photograph Robert Cernero or more background on

Karl Julius Hofman , please Evie me to my mail. eduardobeltranr@hotmail.com

This finding has caused much excitement in the community of historic aviation and

between modellers .

we need to know the number of the plane he was piloting, so it is important to see

the work of Cernero , to take all the details

I thank in advance the atencion paid to my order.

Regards.

Eduardo Beltran

***(translated with google)

[gldani]

Hofmann Julio, Uffiz.; 5 victories.

1/JG-53 (6/42 S.U.), 3/JG-53 (12/42 Tunisia).

Bf 109G-2 Werk # 14534 "Yellow 4" (lost 1/31/43).
Bf 109F-4 (Trop) Werk # 10227 (lost 6/23/42).

EP, EK 1 & 2, Fighter Operational Clasp.

WIA 23 June, 1942; hit by flak at Schtschigry.
POW 31 January, 1943 after aerial combat with a Spitfire at La Calle, bailed safely.
His 3rd & 4th victories were Spitfires in N. Africa on 3 December, 1942. His 5th victory was a Spitfire over N. Africa on 2 January, 1943.

(from www.aircrewremembered.com)

[Francisco V.]

From Jagdeschwader 53: A History of the Pik As Geschwader Volume 2: May 1942 - January 1944 (Schiffer Military History Pub.)

[vonStubben]

Thank you for this. It's interesting how and what the old warriors choose to tell you about their tales. I never knew he started out in the flak.....he was an interesting and very cunning fellow for sure.

[HAF]

very interesting story!

[chrikac]

I knew Karl Hofmann as well.

Thank you for this. It's interesting how and what the old warriors choose to tell you about their tales. I never knew he started out in the flak.....he was an interesting and very cunning fellow for sure.

Just saw this. I, too, met Karl at a Lake Worth flea market sometime in 1991. I passed by a table where he was selling shirts and clothes. I asked him about the items only because I saw an Afrika Corps symbol on a ring he was wearing though he tried to conceal it. I wouldn't let him and said, "You were Afrika Corps?" He could see I was excited about his war experiences. We immediately hit it off. (Note: I was a cop working an overtime detail and was in uniform. As with Von Stubben, Karl always reminded me, ONE "F" not two. I suspected then and still do that he did not want me to think him of Jewish origin because two "F"s would be a common Jewish spelling--I think. He also asked me never to let anyone know that he was selling trinkets there because he said, "There are people who will pay me $10 for an autograph at the airshow and if they know I'm selling shirts here, they will bargain to pay less.")

Karl and I became good friends and I had dinner on several occasions with him and his wife as well as attending an airshow.

While at this airshow, Karl and I walked over to a group of vets who were the survivors of a WW2 American bomber that was shot down. I confess I do not know the names of the bomber they flew but that it was an aircraft introduced in 1942 or 1943. They were also the first of this type of bomber that was shot down. They started talking more and I Karl asked the crew if it was in the morning and said that he believed he was the one who shot them down and he described to them how he shot them down. He said he had never seen that plane before and approached from up and dived down and strafed them. **You could cut the air with a knife at this point it felt so tense.** The WW2 crew got excited and said, "Yes, we never saw you and you hit our engines and there was no way for us to even limp home so we bailed." I would say within 5 minutes after he described the kill, they not only agreed with him but they all went to dinner. I bowed out because I felt they needed to spend time with each other. Crazy.

He also told me that he was shot down several times and the last time he was taken prisoner and sent to a POW camp in Arizona (I think). He said that it was guarded by Air Force officers because as we all know, "only the Air Force can guard the Air Force." He escaped from AZ and made his way to NY where relatives of his had a bakery. He'd just sat down for breakfast in their bakery when 2 FBI agents showed up and said he had to come with them. Karl said that his Aunts insisted they all have pastries, that the agents joined them, and then after breakfast, Karl left with the agents to go back to AZ. I've got other stories if you all are interested.

Now for a point of uncertainty. I was under the impression that Karl had many more victories than 5 and was awarded the Knights Cross. However, I've been unable to see where that is documented in any official german records. The reason I believe he was awarded the Ritter Kruez is because after dinner at his house, he showed me his KC medal in its presentation case (among 20+ other medals). I saw the KC award certificate with Karl's name on it that was signed by AH. I have seen others like this one. I also saw a framed photo of him standing at the front of a formation when it was presented to him by AH personally. I personally can tell you that it looked legit. (I used to be a collector of WW2 German militaria. How I miss what was once a vast collection.) If Karl faked it, it was a damn good fake. I told him I wanted it and he said he was saving it for his son or grandson.

So, he absolutely was an interesting man and I lost touch with him because I was young and stupid. I never saw the side of him involved in smuggling or what have you. I was surprised and sad to hear that.

I tried to reach out to him sometime in 2004 but was unsuccessful. Not sure where he went but I believe he and his wife moved to central Florida at some point.

[Renaud]

All of this story is highly interesting.
To talk about strange stories with german vets, my father flew with a JG 27 vet in the 80's who escaped from East germany with a glider !

[PaulR]

Surely someone awarded the RK that early in the war would be documented somewhere?

[VtwinVince]

Very interesting story, but of course you have to take things sometimes with a grain of salt. I used to be involved, as a founder of the Jaegerstammtisch Vancouver, with many vet reunions. A former Luftwaffe pilot showed up, wearing a Kette of decorations on his lapel, including the KC. I asked him about it, and he claimed that he had won it on anti-shipping ops with KG40. Of course subsequent research found these claims to be spurious.