World War II Karl-Wilhelm Hofmann (24 March 1921 – 26 March 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and fighter ace during World War II who is credited with 44 aerial victories, which were achieved during 260 combat missions.

After his flight training, he was posted to Jagdgeschwader 26 "Schlageter" (JG 26—26th Fighter Wing) in June 1942.

Flying with this wing, Hofmann claimed his first aerial victory on 11 October 1942 on the Western Front over a Royal Air Force fighter aircraft.

In early 1943, elements of JG 26 were moved to the Eastern Front where Hofmann claimed one Soviet aircraft destroyed.

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

On 11 June 1942, Hofman was transferred from the Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe West, a supplementary training unit for fighter pilots destined to fight on the Western Front, to 1.

The Gruppe was equipped with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A series and based at Saint-Omer-Arques, fighting the Royal Air Force (RAF).

[5] On 9 December, he made a forced landing 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Watten in his Fw 190 A-4 (Werknummer 5617—factory number) due to engine failure.

[10] He claimed his only aerial victory on the Eastern Front on 14 May when he shot down a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 fighter in combat east of Bryansk.

On 6 June, the Gruppe started relocating back to the Western Front, at first to Warsaw, and then to Brandenburg-Briest and Rheine.

[15] On 18 October, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) targeted Düren, but the attacking bombers were recalled over the North Sea due to bad weather.

[17] Three days later, the USAAF Eighth Air Force bombed the IG Farben chemical plant at Ludwigshafen.

[18] On 11 January, Hofmann was credited with a endgültige Vernichtung (final destruction), a coup de grâce inflicted on an already damaged heavy bomber.

The USAAF lost 42 B-17 bombers that day, including the B-17 destroyed by Hofmann 4 km (2.5 mi) northwest of Rheine.

[25] On 8 June, two days after the Normandy landings, he claimed three USAAF fighters shot down in combat in the vicinity of Caen.

[28] On 21 September, during the Battle of Arnhem, Hofmann shot down an unarmed Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft on a mission to drop reinforcements for the British 1st Airborne Division.

[29] On 21 October, Hofmann, who was flying a Fw 190 A-9, was slightly wounded in combat with a P-38 from the 474th Fighter Group south of Viersen.

The next day, he was again injured in ground accident while examining a removed aerial machine gun.

He managed to bail out, the altitude was too low for his parachute to fully deploy and he fell to his death.

[32][33] Oberfähnrich Erich Schneider was charged with shooting Hofmann down and tried at the headquarters of the 14th Air Division, but was acquitted.