World War II Willi Reschke (3 February 1922 – 5 July 2017) was a Luftwaffe ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II, credited with 27 aerial victories in 70 missions.

In 1999, Reschke recounted his wartime experiences in print, published in English in 2005 as "Jagdgeschwader 301/302 'Wilde Sau': In Defense Of The Reich with the Bf 109, Fw 190 and Ta 152;" including writing about the late-war period he spent flying the exotic Focke-Wulf Ta 152 high-altitude fighter-interceptor designed by Kurt Tank.

Reschke was born on 3 February 1922 at Mühlow, Province of Brandenburg, present-day Miłów in western Poland.

[1] Mühlow is located approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) northeast of Guben where the Luftwaffe operated an A/B flight school.

One year later, on 4 February 1941, he joined the Fliegerausbildungs-Bataillon at Königsberg in der Neumark where he received his basic training.

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

Following a brief stay, he was sent to the airfield at Götzendorf an der Leitha where the I. Gruppe (1st group) of Jagdgeschwader 302 (JG 302—302nd Fighter Wing) under the command of Hauptmann Richard Lewens was based.

[13] Reschke claimed an unconfirmed aerial victory over a North American P-51 Mustang fighter on 6 July during an USAAF attack on Munich.

[14] The next day, Reschke downed a B-24, his third confirmed claim, this time by ramming when his guns malfunctioned.

Reschke claimed his first aerial victory flying the Fw 190 on 21 November, a B-17 shot down south of Magdeburg.

On 24 December 1944, the USAAF’s Eighth Air Force launched its largest aerial attack of the war, dispatching over 2,000 bombers against Luftwaffe airfields and infrastructure.

[17] In the account presented by Mathews and Foreman, Reschke had claimed two B-17 bombers that day south of Hanover.

[18] On 1 January 1945, Feldwebel Reschke downed a B-17 for his 22nd victory claim but again, hit by return fire, he bailed out of his Fw 190 near Gardelegen.

Gruppe of JG 301 was equipped with the Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-0 on 27 January 1945, receiving eleven aircraft at the Neuhausen Airfield near Cottbus.

This figure was never reached and in consequence the pilots and their remaining Ta 152s were all transferred to the Geschwaderstab (headquarters unit) of JG 301.

[27] On 14 April, Reschke and two other pilots were scrambled when Hawker Tempest fighters were reported attacking the railway yards at Ludwigslust.

[29] That day, fellow JG 301 pilot Oberfeldwebel Walter Loos was also awarded the Knight's Cross.

[30] Reschke claimed his last two victories of the war on 24 April when he downed two Soviet Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters near Berlin.