Günther Wolfgang Bahr (18 July 1921 – 29 April 2009) was a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot and night fighter flying ace during World War II. He claimed 36 victories at night, plus one further daytime aerial victory, all of which were four-engine bombers, achieved in over 90 combat missions. He counted 37 victories over all. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Bahr died in April 2009 at the age of 87. Career Bahr was born on 18 July 1921 in Neu-Legden, a small settlement northeast of Königsberg, East Prussia, present-day part of Dobroje in the Kaliningrad Oblast. On 19 December 1941, he was posted to 6. Staffel (6th squadron) of Schnellkampfgeschwader 210 (SKG 210—210th Fast-Bomber Wing) which was fighting on the Eastern Front. In January 1942, SKG 210 became Zerstörergeschwader 1 (ZG 1—1st Destroyer Wing). In consequence, Bahr served with 6. Staffel of ZG 1. Night fighting Following the 1939 aerial Battle of the Heligoland Bight, bombing missions by the Royal Air Force (RAF) shifted to the cover of darkness, initiating the Defence of the Reich campaign. By mid-1940, Generalmajor (Brigadier General) Josef Kammhuber had established a night air defense system dubbed the Kammhuber Line. It consisted of a series of control sectors equipped with radars and searchlights and an associated night fighter. Each sector, named a Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers. In 1941, the Luftwaffe started equipping night fighters with airborne radar such as the Lichtenstein radar. This airborne radar did not come into general use until early 1942. In late March 1942, Bahr began training as a night fighter pilot and was then transferred to the I. Gruppe (1st group) of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1—1st Night Fighter Wing). On the night of 23/24 August 1943, the RAF targeted Berlin with 727 Avro Lancaster, Handley Page Halifax, Short Stirling and de Havilland Mosquito bombers, losing 57 aircraft in the attack. Defending against this mission, Bahr claimed his first nocturnal aerial victories over a Halifax and Stirling bomber. On 14 October, during the second Raid on Schweinfurt, he claimed a daytime aerial victory over a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber shot down southeast of Schweinfurt. Bomber Command targeted Hanover on the night of 18/19 October. That night, Bahr claimed the destruction of a Lancaster bomber west of Hamelin.