Friedrich-Wilhelm Strakeljahn (7 September 1914 – 6 July 1944) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace listed with at least nine enemy aircraft shot down in over 300 combat missions.

As a commander of fighter bombers, his unit was credited with the destruction of 39,000 gross register tons (GRT) of Allied shipping.

(J)—1st fighter group) of Lehrgeschwader 2 (LG 2—2nd Demonstration Wing), an operational training unit tasked with the evaluation of new types of aircraft and tactics.

[2] Strakeljahn had graduated from the Luftkriegsschule 1 (1st Air War School) in Dresden in the summer of 1938 and was initially assigned to 1.

Staffel of LG 2 commanded by Hauptmann Harro Harder, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War.

[3] World War II in Europe began on Friday, 1 September 1939, when German forces invaded Poland.

He claimed a Royal Air Force (RAF) Westland Lysander shot down near Lille and a Hawker Hurricane fighter near Le Cateau before he was shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 by Armée de l'air (French Air Force) Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighter aircraft near Compiègne.

[15][16] The Staffel was based at Petsamo, present-day Pechenga in Murmansk Oblast, Russia on the Eismeerfront (Ice Sea Front)—the area of operations nearest the Arctic Ocean.

(Jabo)/JG 5 attacked Allied shipping from convoy JW 53 off Rosta in the Kola Bay, claiming a near miss on the British cargo steamship SS Dover Hill.

[22] On 7 July, Strakeljahn led a flight of three Fw 190 fighter bombers on a mission over the Motka Bay.

Near the southern exit of the bay they spotted and attacked a vessel of approximately 100 gross register tons (GRT) with SC 500 bombs which they Luftwaffe pilots claimed sunk.

[23][24] Following his convalescence and return to his unit, Strakeljahn received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 19 August 1943 for his leadership, at the time he was credited with nine aerial victories and personally sank 15,000 GRT of shipping.

Gruppe of SG 4 on 20 May, succeeding Hauptmann Gerhard Walther who was killed in action two days earlier.

On 6 July, Strakeljahn was killed in action when his Fw 190 F-8 (Werknummer—931018) was hit by anti-aircraft fire west of Macuty, near Dünaburg, present-day Daugavpils.