was killed in action. At the time, I. Gruppe was based in Herzogenaurach Airfield and was fighting the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in Defense of the Reich. Carganico succeeded Gerlitz as commander of I. Gruppe and at the same time was promoted to Major (major). Carganico's successor as commander of II. Gruppe of JG 5 was Hauptmann Theodor Weissenberger, initially as acting commander until he was officially appointed on 16 April. On 10 May, Carganico shot down the RAF de Havilland Mosquito PR.IX LR421 from the aerial reconnaissance No. 540 Squadron. The Mosquito was shot down approximately southwest of the Wiener Neustadt over Sankt Corona am Wechsel. On 27 May, five Luftwaffe Gruppen joined up around Karlsruhe to defend against an attack on southern Germany. The fighters were then vectored to a point of intercept southwest of Strasbourg were they were to engage USAAF bombers. On the approach, the German fighters were intercepted by USAAF fighters. Carganico lost his adjutant and wingman, Hauptmann Heinz Deuschle, early in the encounter, shot down by North American P-51 Mustang fighters. Attempting to evade the fighters, Carganico was killed when his Bf 109 G-5 (Werknummer 110087) hit high tension cables while attempting a forced landing near Chevry, southwest of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France. Carganico was the son of Luftwaffe general Generalleutnant Victor Carganico. He was buried in the military section of the Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf on 6 June 1944. Command of I. Gruppe was given to Weissenberger, who took control of the Gruppe in early June 1944. Summary of career Aerial victory claims According to US historian David T. Zabecki, Carganico was credited with 60 aerial victories. Obermaier also lists Carganico with 60 aerial victories claimed in over 600 combat missions, including six victories over the Western Allies. Mathews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and states that Carganico was credited with approximately 60 aerial victories. This figure includes 54 aerial victories on the Eastern Front and six over the Western Allies. Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 25 Ost 96216". 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