Steinhoff was also one of the highest-scoring pilots with 176 victories, and one of the first to fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter in combat as a member of the Jagdverband 44 squadron led by Adolf Galland.

He played a role in the so-called Fighter Pilots' Revolt late in the war, when several senior air force officers confronted Hermann Göring.

[2] Steinhoff graduated from the Klosterschule Roßleben convent school after having "studied the classics and languages such as French, English, Latin and Greek,"[3] and from 1932–1934 he read philology at the University of Jena,[4] where he was a member of the Landsmannschaft Suevia academic fencing society and male fraternity.

[5] Forced to abandon his university studies for lack of funds, Steinhoff enlisted in the Kriegsmarine, where he served for one year alongside his friend Dietrich Hrabak as a naval flying cadet before transferring to the newly reformed Luftwaffe in 1936.

(Nacht) Staffel of JG 26 which was based at Bonn-Hangelar, near Sankt Augustin, and equipped with the Bf 109 D.[9] On 12 November, the unit was moved to Jever Airfield.

[10] On 18 December, Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command launched an attack on German warships assumed to be at Wilhelmshaven in what became known as the Battle of the Heligoland Bight.

The RAF attack force was intercepted and Steinhoff was credited with the destruction of two Vickers Wellington bombers from 57th Squadron and Number 3 Group which he claimed to have shot down 25–35 kilometers (16–22 miles) south-southwest of Heligoland.

(Nacht) Gruppe (4th night group) of Jagdgeschwader 2 "Richthofen" (JG 2—2nd Fighter Wing) and placed under the leadership of Hauptmann Albert Blumensaat.

(Nacht) Staffeln of JG 2 were ordered to Aalborg Airfield in support of Operation Weserübung, the German assault on Denmark and Norway.

Gruppe was ordered to Leeuwarden Airfield where they were tasked with flying fighter patrols along the Dutch North Sea coast.

Fliegerkorps commanded by Generaloberst Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen which supported the northern wing of Army Group Centre.

The Gruppe supported the advancing 9th Army and 3rd Panzer Group in their attack on the border fortifications east and southeast of Suwałki.

Gruppe received orders to move to Pilsen, present-day Plzeň in the Czech Republic, for relocation to the Eastern Front.

[36] On 4 November, Steinhoff, together with Alfred Druschel, Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert, Günther Rall and Max Stotz received the Oak Leaves from Adolf Hitler personally.

[37] On 11 December, during the Battle of Stalingrad, Steinhoff was hit by anti-aircraft artillery in his Bf 109 G-2 (Werknummer 13853—factory number), resulting in a forced landing near Oblivskaya.

[41] The following day, Steinhoff claimed his only aerial victory in North Africa when he shot down a Spitfire fighter on a mission to El Guettar.

[42][43] On 5 April, he was shot down by a Spitfire fighter resulting in a forced landing at La Fauconnerie which destroyed his Bf 109 G-6 (Werknummer 16492).

[44] Before noon on 25 June, Luftwaffe radar on Monte Erice picked up a large formation of United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) four-engine bombers north of Sicily.

[49] On 14 July, Steinhoff's Bf 109 G-6 was damaged in aerial combat with Spitfire fighters and Martin B-26 Marauder bombers near Modena.

[51][Note 1] Following a meetings held by the Jagdfliegerführer Oberitalien (Fighter Leader Northern Italy) and by the staff of Luftflotte 2 (Air Fleet 2), orders were issued on 23 July to withdraw I. Gruppe of JG 77 and I. Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 4 (JG 4—4th Fighter Wing) to Germany for a period of rest and replenishment.

[49] On 9 September, the Geschwaderstab of JG 77 was withdrawn from Italy and relocated to Pișcolt where it came under the control of Luftflotte 4 (Air Fleet 2) fighting on the Eastern Front.

[64] After a brief period spent in internal exile, Steinhoff transferred to the Jet Experten unit Jagdverband 44 (JV 44—44th Fighter Detachment) being formed by his close friend and confidant Adolf Galland in early 1945.

Steinhoff initially acted as a de facto recruiting officer, persuading a number of veteran Luftwaffe aces to join the unit, some coming out of the Fighter Pilots' Rest Home at Bad Wiessee to do so.

On 18 April 1945, elements of the USAAF Eighth, Ninth and Fifteenth Air Force attacked railway targets and fuel depots in southern Germany and in the area of Prague and Pilsen.

[67] Steinhoff was invited by West Germany's new interim government to rebuild the Bundesluftwaffe within NATO, eventually rising to the rank of full general.

Luftwaffendivision (4th Air Force Division) in Aurich, serving in this role until 14 April 1965 when command was transferred to Generalmajor Herbert Wehnelt.

He wrote The Final Hours, which detailed a late-war plot against Hermann Göring, and also published a vivid account of his time in Italy: Messerschmitts over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander.

In May 1985, Steinhoff met Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States, during a visit to the WWII Kolmeshöhe Military Cemetery near Bitburg.

The presence of Nazi soldiers led to the controversy because the entire SS had been adjudged to be a criminal organisation at the Nuremberg trials.

He was joined by Steinhoff, Kohl and 90-year-old US Army General Matthew Ridgway who had commanded the 82nd Airborne in World War II.