Born in Ruthweiler, Badum joined the military service in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany and was trained as a fighter pilot.

JG 77 was based on the southern sector of the Eastern Front where he claimed his first aerial victory on 26 February 1942.

[1] By January 1942 Badum was serving with the Ergängzungsstaffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) on the south area of the Eastern Front.

Gruppe on 21 April over a Polikarpov I-153 fighter in combat along the Parpach Narrows during the Battle of the Kerch Peninsula.

[9] At the time, members of JG 77 where involved in Bandenbekämpfung, referring to anti-partisan warfare, including Badum.

[11] On 8 June, on his 100th combat mission, Badum shot down a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighter during the Siege of Sevastopol, it was his eleventh aerial victory.

In these letters, observations made by Badum were misinterpreted due to the teachings of the racial supremacy of the Aryan race.

[13] On 28 June, German forces launched its strategic summer offensive in southern Russia named Case Blue.

[15] Fighting over the combat area between Voronezh and Yelets on 12 July, Badum claimed three LaGG-3 fighters shot down.

Gruppe flew combat missions in the area of Voronezh where Badum claimed six LaGG-3 fighters shot down.

[17] On 15 September, he claimed two LaGG-3 fighters and an Ilyushin Il-2 ground attack aircraft, taking his total to 51 aerial victories.

Gruppe of JG 77 was transferred to the North African theater, arriving at an airfield near Janzur, located west of Tripoli.

On a combat air patrol over the coast near Sirte, a Schwarm, a flight of four aircraft, encountered 12 Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters.

[25] That day, the USAAF sent a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to the Castel Benito Airfield escorted by P-38 fighters.