Hans-Joachim Kroschinski (11 May 1920 â 7 January 1995) was a former Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II.
Serving with 2./JG 54 Kroschinski gained his first known Soviet victory, a MiG-3 on 5 August 1942. He had a total of four by the end of 1942.
On 21 December 1944 in the Courland Pocket, Kroschinski may have become an "ace-in-a-day", when he claimed five Petlyakov Pe-2 bombers near Frauenburg, now Frombork in northern Poland. The authors Obermaier and Weal also state that Kroschinski claimed five Pe-2s that day. However, the authors Prien, Stemmer, Balke and Bock state that I. Gruppe pilots claimed five Pe-2s shot down, but only two by Kroschinski, two further by Feldwebel Johann Neidlinger and one by an unknown pilot.
Kroschinski was then shot down in his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-9 (Werknummer 380360âÂÂfactory number) in combat with Pe-2 bombers and Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters. Severely wounded, he managed to bail out at 09:05 southeast of Frauenburg. In this encounter, Kroschinski lost his eyesight and his right leg. During his convalescence on 17 April 1945, Kroschinki was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross () for 76 aerial victories claimed, the last recipient of JG 54.
Kroschinski died on 7 January 1985 at the age of in Eutin, West Germany.
According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Kroschinski was credited with 76 aerial victories. The authors Heaton, Lewis, Olds and Schulze also list him with 76 aerial victories. Spick states that his 76 aerial victories were claimed in 360 combat missions. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces â Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 74 aerial victories, plus two further unconfirmed claims, all of which claimed on the Eastern Front.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 20732". The Luftwaffe grid map () covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area in size.