Luftwaffe Ace Gerhard “Gerd” Schöpfel, signed photos

Gerhard Schöpfel had 45 victories all on the western front and 3 of them were heavy bombers. Schöpfel joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 prior to WWII. In 1939 he was posted to I/JG26 and Oberleutnant Schöpfel took command of 9./JG 26 on its formation on 23 September 1939 and scored his first victories in the Battle of France. Schöpfel was very successful during the Battle of Britain. On 18 August 1940 he shot down four Hurricanes in one sortie over Canterbury, England. Two of his victims in this engagement were notable RAF fighter pilots Donald McKay (20 confirmed and 4 damaged victories), who baled out wounded, and Kenneth Lee (7 confirmed and 1 damaged victories), who also baled out wounded, both of 501 Sqn, RAF. Hauptmann Schöpfel became Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 26 when Göring promoted Adolf Galland to Kommodore of JG 26 on 22 August 1940. On 11 September 1940 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz on achieving 20 victories. JG 26 was commonly known amoungst the allies as the "Abbeville Kids" by the Americans and the "Abbeville Boys" by the British due to the location of their airbase on the French coast at Abbeville. They were also called the "yellow nose boys from Abbeville" due to the distinctly painted yellow noses of their aircraft which were Bf 109s and Fw 190s. Throughout the war they fought against the British and American air forces as they crossed the channel into France and Germany.








Schopfel with Josef Haibock on the right



Heinz Ebeling, Gerhard Schopfel, Josef Haibock and Johannes Naumann