Rudolf Sinner

Rudolf Sinner (30 December 1915 – unknown) was an Austrian-born fighter of the Luftwaffe during World War II. He claimed 39 aerial victories within 305 missions, including 3 victories while flying the Me-262.

Rudolf Sinner
Nickname	Rudi
Born	(1915-12-30)30 December 1915 Austria
Allegiance	Nazi Germany (to 1945)
Branch	Luftwaffe
Years of service	1937–1945
Rank	Major (major)
Unit	Jagdgeschwader 3 Jagdgeschwader 27 Jagdgeschwader 54 Jagdgeschwader 7
Awards	German Cross in Gold
Other work	Fire-safety engineer

Military career

Born in 1915, Rudolf Sinner got educated at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna.

At the age of 21, he was drafted into the Austrian Federal Army and trained in the mountain artillery. During the Polish campaign, he served in a horse-drawn flak unit before being transferred to fighter pilot duty in 1940. He absolved his pilot training in Vienna.^[1]

Following his training he flew with JG3 on the western front and was then transferred to JG27 in North Africa. He was assigned to 2./JG27. On 12 October 1941 he scored his first victory.^[2] On 4 June 1942 he became Staffelkapitän for 6./JG27 and went on to claim his 30th victory on 3 September 1942.^[2]

In June 1943 he got appointed as Gruppenkommandeur of IV./JG27 based in Kalamaki, Greece. On 30 July 1943 he went to take over for Erich Rudorffer as Gruppenkommandeur for IV./JG54 based on the eastern front.

From March 1944 he was assigned to III. /JG54 on the western front. On 6 March, Sinner managed to shoot down a B-17 bomber, but got wounded in the process and had to bail out near Bassum, southerly of Bremen.^[3] After his recovery, on 12 June 1944 he got assigned to I./JG27 to the invasion front in France.

With his current total victories at 36, Sinner was transferred to III./JG7, on 1 January 1945. He would add 3 more victories to his total, including two B-24 bomber.

On 4 April 1945, Sinner led a formation of seven ME-262s off from Rechlin. Shortly after emerging from the clouds the aircraft were attacked by P-51 Mustangs of the USAAF's 339th Fighter Group. In the ensuing combat, Sinner's aircraft was hit. He bailed out at low altitude, with badly burned face and hands. His parachute deployed only partially and he struck the ground heavily before getting dragged into a barbed-wire fence. Sinner later reported that the P-51s attempted to strafe him, but he feigned death till they withdrew. His injuries were severe enough to keep him out of the rest of the war.^[4][5]

Later life

After the war he worked as a fire-safety engineer in a chemical works in Linz/ Donau, Austria.^[1]