The German airman in command of coaching NATO fight pilots within the U.S. is going through criticism for hanging a portrait of a Nazi fighter ace outdoors his workplace at Sheppard Air Pressure Base, Texas.
German Air Pressure Col. Stefan Kleinheyer, the eightieth Operations Group commander, has on show a print of a Messerschmitt 262 fighter jet above a bust of Wolfgang “Bombo” Schenck, together with the World Struggle II pilot’s signature.
It’s one among a minimum of 4 items of artwork of swastika-emblazoned Luftwaffe plane at Sheppard, although it’s unclear whether or not they predate Kleinheyer’s time as group commander.
The Navy Spiritual Freedom Basis, a New Mexico-based nonprofit advocating on behalf of present and former airmen who object to the memorabilia, is looking for Kleinheyer’s elimination, for the paintings to be taken down and for a proper investigation.
The group “condemns within the strongest language potential america Air Pressure and German Air Pressure senior management at Sheppard AFB for partaking within the surprising promulgation of wretched Nazi Luftwaffe propaganda with the nauseating distinguished show of various work,” mentioned its founder, Mikey Weinstein.
Col. Brad Orgeron, who took command of the eightieth Flying Coaching Wing on June 24, has launched a evaluation of the wing’s paintings and artifacts to make sure they’re skilled and embody applicable historic context, Air Pressure spokesperson George Woodward mentioned in a press release to Air Pressure Instances on Monday. The wing historian, its employees decide advocate, chaplain and public affairs employees will participate within the evaluation.
All historic shows on the wing ought to “contribute to a wholesome work setting, promote the shared NATO values of tolerance and cooperation, and admittedly and appropriately deal with the historic foundations on which the distinctive [Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program] partnership is constructed,” Woodward mentioned.
“Nobody in a management place on the eightieth Flying Coaching Wing, ENJJPT or Sheppard AFB endorses the Nazi swastika, nor the ideology it represents,” he mentioned. “There have been no earlier complaints concerning the picture made to the chain of command at Sheppard.”
The Air Pressure didn’t reply why or when the 4 works had been placed on show, or whether or not they have been eliminated. Kleinheyer didn’t reply to a direct e-mail looking for remark.
“Though show of this specific paintings doesn’t indicate Division of Protection help or endorsement of an unauthorized flag, it has been conferred to the wing historian’s workplace pending additional evaluation,” Woodward mentioned.
Sheppard hosts airmen from 14 international locations as a part of the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Coaching Program, which graduates about 200 pilots and 80 instructors annually.
Kleinheyer has served because the ops group commander in command of this system since July 2019, and is among the many highest-ranking German officers in america. He beforehand ran a Eurofighter wing in western Germany and labored as a spokesperson for the German Ministry of Protection.
Publicly displaying Nazi symbols is in lots of circumstances unlawful in Germany, punishable by three years in jail.
“It’s outrageous {that a} image of a Nazi who killed numerous Allied airmen and others is well known on a U.S. Air Pressure base,” a retired Air Pressure colonel and decide advocate basic, on whose behalf the inspiration is advocating, mentioned in a press release supplied by Weinstein.
The group didn’t reveal its shoppers’ names out of concern that the Air Pressure would retaliate.
Who was Bombo Schenck?
Schenck obtained the Knight’s Cross and oak leaves for his efficiency in fight — among the many highest navy honors bestowed by the Third Reich. He downed practically two dozen Allied plane throughout World Struggle II.
He flew within the Nazi blitzkrieg bombing of Poland, Norway and France, then labored at an experimental plane check wing, in keeping with the Gathering of Eagles Basis, a nonprofit that “goals to protect america Air Pressure’s legacy by means of the celebration of 70 years of airpower and empowerment of youth in Alabama’s River Area.”
In Could 1944, Schenck led Particular Command E-51, a German unit that examined the nation’s new Messerschmitt 262 jet as a fighter-bomber airplane in opposition to Allied floor forces in France, the inspiration mentioned. He once more piloted the Me-262 as commander of a bomber wing, and served in different oversight roles with fighter and bomber forces.
“Schenck flew over 400 fight missions in World Struggle II in quite a lot of plane, reaching 18 aerial victories and sinking 40,000 tons of Allied transport,” the Gathering of Eagles Basis mentioned. He died in 2010.
He was included within the Air Command and Workers School’s “Gathering of Eagles” program at Maxwell Air Pressure Base, Alabama, which hosts lectures by vital figures in navy aviation historical past to “encourage future leaders to realize greatness,” the inspiration mentioned.
Schenck was one among 4 Luftwaffe pilots within the class of 1990 who had been acknowledged alongside Individuals reminiscent of Paul Tibbets Jr., the Air Pressure brigadier basic who dropped the primary atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, and Apollo 11 astronaut and Air Pressure fighter pilot Buzz Aldrin, in keeping with an paintings of the honorees.
Thomas Wiegold, a German reporter who has lined the nation’s armed forces since 1993, instructed Air Pressure Instances that the paintings seems to be Kleinheyer’s means of commemorating Schenck as a jet plane pioneer.
“We’ve had different examples like Helmut Lent or Joachim von Marseille, each fighter pilots with the Wehrmacht [armed forces of Nazi Germany], who’d acted roughly as Nazi regime poster boys,” Wiegold wrote in an e-mail Monday. “I don’t see an analogous case with Schenck … his decorations — which had been fairly common for profitable fighter pilots in WWII — however.”
Different framed works within the constructing that homes the Euro-NATO pilot coaching program embody a print of a portray depicting German fighter ace Adolf Galland chasing a Royal Air Pressure Defiant airplane in his Me-109. Galland, a embellished pilot who introduced down 103 Allied plane, and served as the highest basic overseeing Luftwaffe fighter plane till he was relieved of command in 1945.
One other signed work reveals a gaggle of Me-262 pilots, led by Galland, fleeing to the mountains earlier than capturing down an American P-47 later that day, the retired Air Pressure colonel mentioned in a press release from the spiritual freedom advocates.
A 3rd print depicts the Ju-52 transport airplane carrying regime officers over the mountains.
Whereas Wiegold mentioned the Schenck portrait is arguably aviation historical past, he added that the others are a part of Nazi historical past — with nothing to glorify.
“The historical past of the eightieth Operations Group started in World Struggle II — defending america and coaching pilots for fight,” the retired Air Pressure colonel mentioned within the written assertion from Weinstein. “That any senior U.S. officer would see this on show and never instantly tear it off the wall is unfathomable to me.”
Rachel Cohen joined Air Pressure Instances as senior reporter in March 2021. Her work has appeared in Air Pressure Journal, Inside Protection, Inside Well being Coverage, the Frederick News-Submit (Md.), the Washington Submit, and others.
