Ludwig-Wilhelm "Lutz" Burckhardt[Note 1] (5 February 1919 – 2 January 1993) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace credited with 57, potentially up to 69 enemy aircraft shot down, the majority of which claimed on the Eastern Front.

In December 1943, he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1–1st Fighter Wing), a unit fighting on the Western Front in defense of the Reich.

Burckhardt was born on 5 February 1919 in Bremen, at the time a federated state of the Weimar Republic.

On 29 November 1941, this unit was ordered to relocate to North Africa and flew from Bucharest Pipera Airfield via Sofia to Saloniki.

Gruppe (2nd group) of JG 77, at the time based at Sarabus on the Eastern Front and fighting in the Crimean campaign.

There on 29 April, he crash landed his Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-4 (Werknummer 7602—factory number) at Sarabus due to technical failures of the aircraft.

Gruppe moved to an airfield named Fernheim, located on the Sea of Azov, approximately 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) west-northwest of Kirovske.

[12] Burckhardt flew his last mission on the Eastern Front on 2 October, shortly after he fell ill with jaundice and was hospitalized.

He succeeded Oberleutnant Armin Köhler who had temporarily led the Gruppe after Major Heinz Bär had been transferred on 6 August.

Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1–1st Fighter Wing), Hauptmann Harry Koch, was killed in action.

According to the authors Prien and Rodeike, this transfer was considered a demotion and disciplinary action, a measure for redemption in combat.

The authors state, that particularly Oberstleutnant Johannes Steinhoff, the commander of JG 77 at the time, had a number of pilots transferred to JG 1 for redemption in defense of the Reich combat, this measure included pilots Burckhardt, Bär, Leutnant Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert, Oberfeldwebel Alexander Preinfalk, and Oberfeldwebel Herbert Kaiser.

Gruppe of Ergänzungs-Jagdgeschwader 2 (EJG 2—2nd Supplementary Fighter Wing) in early 1945 for conversion training to the then new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet aircraft.

Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 7 "Nowotny" (JG 7—7th Fighter Wing) at Neumünster airfield in northern Germany.

Nowotny, a fighter pilot credited with 258 aerial victories and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten), had been assessing the Me 262 under operational conditions.

[26] Following World War II, Burckhardt reentered military service in the Bundeswehr as an Oberstleutnant in the West German Air Force, at the time referred to as the Bundesluftwaffe.