[1][Note 1] Born into a devoutly religious family, he showed an early passion for glider flying; against his father's wishes, he joined the Luftwaffe in 1936.

[2][3] On 5 October 1944, Lent flew a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen, 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Paderborn.

[14] After leaving Gatow, Helmut Lent was posted to the Heavy Bomber Crew School, or Große Kampffliegerschule at Tutow, in northeast Germany.

Lent was granted his Luftwaffe Advanced Pilot's Certificate (Erweiterter Luftwaffen-Flugzeugführerschein), also known as 'C'-Certificate, confirming proficiency on multi-engine aircraft, on 12 May 1939.

[17] While converting to the Bf 110, Lent did not have a regular wireless operator (Funker) in the rear gunner's seat, but on 14 August 1939 he was accompanied in M8+AH for the first time by Gefreiter Walter Kubisch.

This operation called for simultaneous attacks on Poland from three directions, the north, the west and the south, beginning at 04:45 on the early morning of 1 September 1939.

For his actions in the Polish campaign Lent was awarded one of the first Iron Cross 2nd Class (Eisernes Kreuz zweiter Klasse) of World War II on 21 September 1939.

[24] During the first month of the war the Royal Air Force (RAF) mostly focused its bomber attacks against anti-shipping operations on the German Bight.

Two aircraft aborted the mission due to mechanical defects, but the remaining 22 pursued the attack and were spotted by a Freya radar on the East Frisian Islands.

[27] Helmut Lent was ordered to intercept and engage the attacking bomber force and after refuelling—Lent had just landed at Jever from an armed patrol—claimed three Wellingtons, two of which, shot down at 14:30 and 14:45, were later confirmed.

Lent replied to her letter, and he and Elisabeth met on a blind date at the Reichshof hotel in Hamburg, after which they enjoyed a skiing holiday in Hirschegg in February 1940.

[31] On 8 April 1940 eight aircraft of 1./ZG 76, under the command of Staffelkapitän Werner Hansen, deployed northward from Jever to Westerland on Sylt in preparation for operation Weserübung, the invasion of Norway.

[33] The German plan for the attack called for an amphibious assault on the Norwegian capital, Oslo, and six major ports from Kristiansand in the south to Narvik in the north.

Additional Ju 52s were scheduled to arrive at Fornebu twenty minutes after the parachute drop, by which time the airfield had to be in German hands.

With Kubisch manning the movable machine gun, Lent negotiated the capitulation with the Norwegian ground forces and the airfield was in German hands.

[32] Helmut Lent briefly participated in the Battle of Britain when on 15 August 1940 twenty-one Bf 110s from I./ZG 76 escorted He 111 bombers from Kampfgeschwader 26 (KG 26) on their attack on Yorkshire and the Newcastle/Sunderland area.

[42] By June 1940 RAF Bomber Command penetrations of German airspace had increased to the level at which Hermann Göring decreed that a night-fighter force should be formed.

"[45] Lent completed night fighter training at Ingolstadt in south-western Germany, and was appointed squadron leader, or Staffelkapitän, of the newly formed 6./NJG 1 on 1 October 1940.

[47] On 1 July 1941, he took command of 4./NJG 1, stationed in the Netherlands at Fliegerhorst (airfield) Leeuwarden, 161 kilometres (100 mi) north of Arnheim, on the Friesland coast.

From this position in the so-called German Bight, the squadron patrolled the North Sea coast, and could intercept Allied night-time bombing missions, what Nazi propaganda called terror attacks, which were conducted from England.

[59] In January 1944, Lent downed three so-called "heavies"—four-engined strategic bombers—in one night, but his aircraft was damaged by return fire, requiring a forced landing.

She had been afraid to reveal her true identity, since Russians were not popular in the Third Reich,[62] but after a thorough investigation into her background and racial ancestry, she received her German citizenship on 15 March 1941.

[64] Both of Helmut's older brothers, Joachim and Werner, as members of the Confessing Church (German: Bekennende Kirche), encountered trouble with the Nazi Party.

[71] Ahead of the coffin, carrying Lent's honours and decorations on a velvet cushion, marched Oberstleutnant Werner Streib, the Inspector of Night Fighters.

The awards were sold by Helmut Lent's elder daughter Christina after consultation with her mother, Lena, who was in urgent need for money to pay for an operation.

The process, which is expected to finalise in end 2015, involves 1,500 soldiers and 250 civil employees of the site and was initiated by the commander Oberstleutnant Edmund Vogel in early 2015.

[76] In September 2016 the district administrator Herrmann Luttmann, member of the moderate right-wing Party CDU stated "No substantial evidence has been found that indeed Helmut Lent was a supporter of the Nazi regime".

Lars Klingbeil, member of the Bundestag and of the Defence Committee has signalled that the German armed forced would adhere to the decision made on local level despite all controversies.

[77] "It's long overdue to rename the last barracks named after Wehrmacht officers," Professor Johannes Tuchel, head of the German Resistance Memorial, told Bild am Sonntag.

Historian Sönke Neitzel has the opinion that the Bundeswehr should keep the name of Lent, who was not a Nazi but only a value-oriented person who followed his Christian image of humankind (christlichen Menschenbild), even if no Wehrmacht soldier came out of the war completely clean.