Above a war time photo of Frank Neubert, with personal dedication to Wladyslaw Gnys , his first oponnent in WW II. They met again, after 50 years, on August 31st, 1989 (photo below). On end of this page you can find a color profile of PZL P-11c of Cpt. Medwecki - first air victim in WW II. In the text a snap of formation of Ju 87B from I./StG2 "Immelmann" Geschwader.
Frank Neubert was born on September 28th, 1915 in Herrenalb/Schwarzwald.
He belonged to the "Immelmann-Geschwader" since 1936. He took part in invasion at Poland
- "Fall Weiss" operation. Early morning September 1st, 1939, his dive bomber unit started
to destroy Polish airbase in Krakow
(base was empty - a day before Polish air forces were moved to reserve airfields). But
in clouds Neubert and his gunner Franz Klinger, lost ordinance with other unit crews and
lost course. Few minuts he looked for main target and find another "lost" Ju 87B.
They located at last (empty) Krakow airfield and dropped their bombs. Dive bombers were on
return way, when Neubert saw a pair of landed P-24's (note: they just started and there were
PZL P-11c's). He noticed, that one of them come after Lt. Branderburg's Ju 87,
and decided to attack Polish fighters. Frank Neubert shooted
two good targeted series into Cpt. Medwecki (commander of Squadron) plane. "Eleventh"
stand in fire and crashed into ground. This same time second Polish fighter,
piloted by Sec.Lt.
Wladyslaw Gnys fast come out from German attack.
After few second Gnys took position after Brandeburg's "Stuka" and opened fire. The
cloud rescued German plane. They luckily all returned to main Nieder-Ellguth airfield.
In this battle Farnk Neubert scored probably first air victory in WW II. It's depend from
time of attack: some sources reported that's happend at 5:30 a.m., but most facts and
relations pointed the right time about 7:00 a.m. In that case first air winner in WW II
will be Lt.
Stanislaw Skalski
, after his own relation he downed alone reconn Hs 126 at 5:32 a.m.
From 10 May 1940 to July 1940 Frank Neubert flew as Staffelführer of the 1./St.G. 2,
from July to Sept 1940 Staffelkapitän 2./St.G. 2. Next Gruppenkommandeur 1./St.G. 2
between September 1941 and January 1942.
During the Balkans war in the spring of 1941, Neubert distinguished himself during the fighting at the Rupel Pass (Yugoslavia). In attacking British warships in the Gulf of Corinth, the area around Pireus and the Suda Bay, Oberleutnant Neubert´s 2./St.G. 2 sank one tanker of 4,000 tons, one freighter and one destroyer, and damaged another 13,000 tons of shipping. On 24 June 1941, Oberleutnant Neubert (having participated in over 150 dive-bomber missions) was awarded the Knight´s Cross.
From March 18th, 1942 to October 14th, 1942 he was Kommandeur of the I./Sturzkampffliegerschule 1 at Wertheim. Between October 15th, 1942 and October 10, 1943 he served as Gruppenkommandeur of the II./Sch.G. 1 on the Eastern Front.
On January 30, 1943, Hauptmann Neubert was wounded when his Hs 129 B-2 (W.Nr. 0306) was shot down in flames by Russian AA fire near Skurbiy. He served as Gruppenkommandeur of the II./SG 101 between October 11st, 1943 and February 22nd, 1945. From February 26th, 1945 he served in the staff of the General der Schlachtflieger. Frank Neubert flew during the war a total of about 350 missions, including 230 with the Ju 87.
