Günther Lützow was born in Kiel, northern Germany on September 4, 1912 – the son of Admiral Friedrich and Hildegard Lützow – and was the third of five children. His father had joined the German Imperial Navy as a cadet in 1899 and during World War One served with distinction on warships, including taking charge of the small cruiser Hamburg and submarines. By the end of the war he was leading U-Flotille Pola (U-boat Flotilla Pola).
Lützow with his wife Gisela and son Hans-Ulrich in 1941.
However, ‘Franzl’, as Günther was also known, did not follow his father into the navy, rather joining the infantry as a junior officer in August 1930. He began flying training the following year at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerrschule (German aviation school) at Schleissheim.
His brothers did join the Kriegsmarine, though, Werner being killed in action as the head of 4.SchnellbootFlottille on November 24, 1943 while Joachim survived the war, having supervised a minesweeper. While still serving as an infantry junior officer, Günther undertook fighter pilot training in 1931 at a secret facility at Lipetsk, Russia.
Three years later he transferred to the Luftwaffe proper, joining the Reklamestaffel in Döberitz – a…
