Friedrich GeiÃÂhardt (22 January 1919 â 6 April 1943) was a German military aviator in the Luftwaffe during World War II. As a fighter ace, he was credited with 102 victories in 642 combat missions, including 37 close air support missions. He achieved 63 of his victories over the Eastern Front. In his total are at least seventeen Spitfires.
According to US historian David T. Zabecki, GeiÃÂhardt was credited with 104 aerial victories. Spick lists GeiÃÂhardt with 102 enemy aircraft shot down in 642 combat missions, of which one was claimed during the invasion of Poland, 14 during the Battle of France and Britain, 75 over the Eastern Front, nine in the Mediterranean theater and three over North Africa. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces â Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found records for 93 aerial victory claims, plus eight further unconfirmed claims. This figure includes 60 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and 33 over the Western Allies.
Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 76892". 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.