Walter Storp was born in Schnecken, East Prussia, on 2 February 1910. He initially joined the Kriegsmarine as an aviator, but transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1934. He then flew Heinkel He 60 seaplanes with Bordfliegerstaffel 1/106 and subsequently served as a test pilot at a series of Luftwaffe proving centres. He returned to command Bordfliegerstaffel 1/196 in the spring of 1938, but later that year Hauptmann Storp was posted to the Luftwaffe Operations Staff. In 1939, he returned to II./Lehrgeschwader 1, and in mid-September of that same year he took over the Erprobungsstaffel Junkers 88 (later to become KG 30, the unit responsible for developing the new bomber). In March 1940 he was given command of 8./KG 4.
On the afternoon on 9 April 1940, Storp was credited with the sinking of the Norwegian destroyer Aeger in Amoyfjorden off Stavanger. During the Battle of France, he flew a number of missions, mainly against shipping – he and his Staffel were credited with sinking 65,000 Gross Registered Tonnes of merchant shipping and one destroyer. However, Storp was wounded when his Ju 88 was damaged in combat on 3 June 1940, forcing him to crash-land at Amsterdam-Schiphol. There is no mention of him in action during the early stages of the Battle of Britain, so it is possible that Storp took several months to recover from his wounds. Finally, on 12 September 1940, he was given command of II./KG 76, Storp specialising in attacks against important industrial and military targets following this appointment. One such attack took place in the early afternoon of 6 October 1940 when, at 1305 hrs, Storp guided his Ju 88 towards RAF Northolt, to the west of London, and, from a height of just 80 metres, dropped two 500kg and two 250kg bombs, hitting a hangar. He destroyed a Hurricane from No. 303 Sqn and damaged two others, killing pilot Sgt Antoni Siudak and AC2 Henry Stennett, and wounding AC2 Kenneth Boyns. Despite No. 229 Sqn scrambling Hurricanes to intercept the lone bomber, Storp returned to France unscathed.
Storp was awarded the Ritterkreuz (Knight’s Cross) on 21 May, a day after receiving the Ehrenpokal (Honour Goblet). On 31 October he was promoted to Major. In April 1941 Storp was given command of the Bf 110-equipped fighter-bomber unit Schnellkampfgeschwader 210, which acquitted itself very well in the early stages of the campaign on the Eastern Front. Indeed, between 22 June and 26 July 1941 it was credited with destroying 823 aircraft on the ground and 92 in the air, and knocking out 165 tanks, 194 guns, 2,134 vehicles, 52 supply trains and 60 locomotives. Storp would be awarded the Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz (Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross) on 14 July 1941.
In September 1941, he returned to Germany to be a staff officer. Almost exactly a year later, and now an Oberst, Storp returned to command the newly formed KG 6. Initially flying missions against Britain in the Ju 88 once again, he then led the unit to the Mediterranean. Storp handed over command of KG 6 in August 1943, after which he became Kampffliegerführer Mittelmeer, coordinating all bomber operations in the Mediterranean. Three months later he became Chief of Staff of IV. Fliegerkorps on the Eastern Front, before taking command of Ju 88-equipped KG 76 just prior to the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944. On 1 November Storp was named General der Kampfflieger, and the end of the war found him in command of 5. Fliegerdivision in Norway.
Post-war, Storp became an architect, and died in Golsar, Germany, on 9 August 1981.
Source :
"RAF Fighters vs Luftwaffe Bombers; Battle of Britain" by Andy Saunders
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/w-w-ii-germany-general-walter-storp-rkt-war-signe-557-c-f69459ba3d
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