Measures 148x210mm, mint condition; The recipient is Unteroffizier (NCO) Alfons Schmidt of the 3rd Battalion of Kampfgeschwader (Bomber Wing) 54. The document is dated to Gefechtsstand (Combat Headquarters) on July 18, 1944. It is signed in blue ink by Lieutenant Colonel and Wing Commodore Volprecht Konrad Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach. The Front Flying Clasp in Bronze was awarded for 20 flown missions.
Footnote: The Kampfgeschwader 54 was nicknamed “Totenkopf” for its Death’s Head insignia. However, it had no connection to the 3rd SS Panzer Division of the same name. Its members flew missions in all theatres of the Second World War. During the summer of 1944, they were tasked with flying missions during the Allied Operation Overlord.
Volprecht Konrad Riedesel Freiherr zu Eisenbach (1912–1945) was a bomber pilot and recipient of the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. He took part in the invasion of Poland, the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa, and the Battle of Stalingrad, among other assignments. His Knight’s Cross was awarded for 250 combat flights, the Oak Leaves for 500 combat flights. He died in a crash with an American plane and was posthumously promoted to Colonel.