Heinz Rökker (20 October 1920 – 2 August 2018) was a German night fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe during World War II.

The Knight's Cross (German: Ritterkreuz), and its variants were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Rökker was accepted as an officer candidate and entered the Luftwaffe on 1 October 1939, 19 days before his 19th birthday and one month after the German invasion of Poland and the start of World War II in Europe.

[3] Rökker attended Blindflugschule 5 in Belgrade, occupied Yugoslavia, from 15 September before completing his training at Nachtjagdschule 1, near Munich on 1 November 1941.

[4][3] 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.

Each sector, named a Himmelbett (canopy bed), would direct the night fighter into visual range with target bombers.

[6] Rökker was then posted to 1 Staffel (squadron), Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 (NJG 2—Night Fighter Wing 2) operating in the Mediterranean theatre on 6 May 1942.

[7] On 31 May 1942 Rökker's Junkers Ju 88 was damaged by anti-aircraft artillery from Allied shipping and he crash landed at Kastelli, on Crete.

217 Squadron RAF piloted by Flying Officer Frank J. R. Minster and crewed by Sergeant W. A. R. King, J Moschonas and J.A.

Over Mersa Matruh, Egypt, on the night of the 25/26 June 1942 he engaged a Vickers Wellington southwest of the city and shot it down at 22:45.

[13] Rökker was awarded the Iron Cross second class (Eisernes Kreuz zweiter Klasse) and Wound Badge after the battle on 3 and 14 July 1942 respectively.

Pilot Sergeant H. Osborne and his crew survived ditching in the sea, were rescued by an Italian ship the Lino Bixo and taken prisoner.

However, gunners K. Hatch, E. A. Jones, K. S. McDonald subsequently drowned when the vessel was sunk by a Royal Navy submarine off Greece on 17 August 1942.

On 14 August 1942 he was awarded the Iron Cross first class (Eisernes Kreuz erster Klasse) for 50 missions and five victories but he achieved no further success in that region.

On 2 July he flew his last operation in the south and NJG 2 relocated back northwest Europe.

[7] Rökker claimed his next victories on 24 August 1943 southwest of Berlin at 00:35 and 00:50, a Lancaster and Halifax, for his seventh and eighth.

[7] In February 1944 Rökker claimed two successes over Berlin as Bomber Command began a five-month campaign against the German capital.

The Ju 88 was spotted and Blackwell-Smith dived and carried out the corkscrew, a standard British bomber evasion tactic.

In the turning fight that began, Rökker was assisted by his radar operator who opened fire with the hand-held defensive guns.

On the first night of these operations he shot down the Handley Page Halifax flown by Richard Atkins from No.

Sanderson saw Rökker's Ju 88 "slide" underneath his turret and he called to the pilot to take evasive action.

[22] On the latter night, he shot down the Lancaster II "D-King" flown by Flight Sergeant Jim Newman at 23:20 between Leipzig and Berlin.

Engineer Edgar Warren, bomb-aimer Charles Hilder, and mid-upper gunner John McDonough were burned to death in the aircraft.

[27] Over the course of April and May 1944, Rökker achieved another seven victories over western Germany, eastern Belgium and Netherlands including three on the 12 May recorded between 00:23 and 00:49 over Brussels and Zeebrugge.

The Battle of Caen lasted for two months and NJG 2 flew night fighter operations against Bomber Command intrusions.

[7] In the early hours of the 29 July he intercepted two Lancaster bombers over Orléans and near Chaumont, and claimed them destroyed at 00:14 and 01:17.

It was flown by Flight Lieutenant Robert Jones; only Sergeants Tom Harvell (engineer) and George Robinson (navigator) survived.

[39] That night, the RAF lost 34 aircraft in the attack on Duisburg, Worms and the Mittelland Canal, 26 of which were credited to Rökker, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, Günther Bahr and Johannes Hager.

[42] On the night of 15/16 March 1945, Rökker recorded four enemy aircraft shot down as his last victories of the war.

Carlos Nugent flew almost 150 missions with Rökker and, on 28 April 1945, became one of the few Bordfunker's decorated with the Knight's Cross.