(Luftwaffe Papiere und Fotos). A mixed lot of nine documents and photographs to Leopold Fellerer, a Luftwaffe night fighter ace and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, including:
1. A certificate confirming Fellerer’s downing of a Royal Air Force (RAF) Avro Lancaster bomber while serving with Nachtjagdgeschwader 5 (his 12th victory with the unit) on 20 January 1944, issued in Berlin on 17 June 1944, measuring 208 mm (w) x 148 mm (h), with a folding crease visible, in near extremely fine condition.
2. A certificate confirming Fellerer’s downing of an RAF Avro Lancaster bomber while serving with Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 (his 8th victory with the unit) on 7 July 1944, issued in Berlin on 17 October 1944, measuring 208 mm (w) x 148 mm (h), with a folding crease visible, in near extremely fine condition.
3. A certificate confirming Fellerer’s downing of a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Douglas DC-3 Dakota (his 10th victory with the unti) while serving with Nachtjagdgeschwader 6 on 21 July 1944, issued in Berlin on 14 November 1944, measuring 208 mm (w) x 148 mm (h), with a folding crease evident, in near extremely fine condition.
4. Two wartime calling cards, each constructed of off-white card stock, the obverse of both bearing a typewritten dedication of “HPTM. LEOPOLD FELLERER, STAFFELKAPITÄN IN EINEM NACHTJAGDGESCHWADER”, each measuring 105 mm (w) x 64 mm (h), in extremely fine condition.
5. A group of four photos, including a large studio portrait of a young Fellerer, depicted in the uniform of a Luftwaffe Gefreiter and wearing a Pilot’s Badge, set within a light brown card stock frame bearing a handwritten studio mark of “FOTO-KASPER, WIENN VII” at the lower right corner of the obverse, measuring 210 mm (w) x 290 mm (h), a razor-sharp image in extremely fine condition; a small studio portrait of Fellerer in the uniform of a Luftwaffe Oberfeldwebel, printed on unmarked wartime photo paper, measuring 130 mm (w) x 182 mm (h), in extremely fine condition; a photo depicting Fellerer with a group of four other Luftwaffe Officers wearing Knight’s Crosses with a variety of other decorations, printed on glossed Agfa-Brovira paper, unmarked, measuring 115 mm (w) x 85 mm (h), a superb image of decorated Luftwaffe pilots in extremely fine condition, and; a small photo depicting Fellerer greeting an assembly of Luftwaffe personnel wearing Stahlhelme, printed on matte Agfa-Brovira paper, unmarked, measuring 92 mm (w) x 62 mm (h), in extremely fine condition.
Footnote: Serving with Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, 2, 5, and 6 on both the Eastern and Western Fronts for the duration of the Second World War, Leopold Fellerer claimed 41 aerial victories in 450 missions. His total includes 39 night victories, of which 32 were heavy bombers. A recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross (8 April 1944), Fellerer survived the war and served with the postwar Austrian Air Force. He was killed on impact on 15 July 1968 when the Cessna L-19 he was flying went down near the town of Krems an der Donau.