Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very rare and sought after "Screw Back" version of the 1939 Eisernes Kreuz (Iron Cross) 1st Class, obtained post war from German WWII Flying Ace Hauptmann Kurt Bonow. which come with some fantastic documentation! Records show that he recorded 8 Aerial Victories during the war, and as a Night Fighter, most of his targets would have been bombers, not other fighters. Also as it was at night, much of the flying was instruments only, using radar, so definitely a totally different type of flying than daytime fighters.

Bonow is listed as being a part of Nachtjagdgeschwader 100, Nachtjagdgruppe 10, and possibly Nachtjagdgeschwader 5. The Iron Cross came to us with a a letter inside an envelope, with the envelope giving a summary of some of Bonow's service:

MAJOR KURT BONOW

EX-LUFTHANSA CAPT. PRE WAR.
NOW RETIRED (EX. SAA) IN SOUTH AFRICA
C.O. OF FIRST JET NIGHT FIGHTER
SQDN IN THE WORLD - IN THE CLOSING
WEEKS OF THE WAR.

Inside the envelope is a letter addressed to "Barry", who appears to have been a British Mosquito pilot during the war who then was a fellow South African Airlines pilot with Bonow during the post war period. We unfortunately do not know Barry's last name, but this could be a great avenue of further research. The letter is headed with Benoni, 8. 2. 66., which is a town in South Africa. The letter reads:

Dear Barry,
        This Iron Cross First Class,
I Have Received after I had shot down
my eighth Russian Bomber as a
night fighter.
        Later I fought over Berlin
and I believe, of that time you
flew a Mosquito as a night fighter
also over Berlin. May be we met
then over the burning town.
        To remember those hard
days, and the much friendlier time
we flew as friends together here in
South Africa, please accept this old
Iron Cross of mind as a Goodby gift.

Yours sincerely
Kurt Bonow

Along with the letter we also received a small piece of paper indicating that he was also awarded the German Cross in Gold, and further information that he was part of a very early Arado Jet Unit. We have found information online that Bonow flew a Arado Ar 234B-2 “Nachtigall” Night Bomber as part of the experimental unit Kommando Bonow. He flew the plane with serial number WNr 140146 out of Oranienburg during March 1945. There is lot of further research available on the internet, making this a fantastically interesting offering!

The iron cross itself is a great example of a rare type of EKI, with a Magnetic core, vaulted design, and rare screw back attachment. It is marked with LDO number L / 52 on the back of the screw back, which represents C.F. Zimmermann of Pforzheim, a very desirable maker. The LDO, (Leistungs Gemeinschaft der Deutscher Ordenshersteller - Administration of German orders Manufacturers), was a self-governing organization formed in 1941 which regulated the manufacturing of all German awards. The firm C.F. Zimmermann was a fully licensed in the organization, entry number 52.

The Iron Cross is in excellent condition, with the silver displaying just a bit of oxidation. It is well retained overall, with just a bit of wear on the back. The screw back is in very good condition as well, and matches the color of the iron cross well. The matte black paint on the central cross shows some crazing in areas with a bit of flaking, and the central swas (hook cross) has the paint partly worn away. Just a lovely example in the highly desirable "screw back" vaulted iron cross!

The basic design of the WWII crosses is a central Tatzenkreuz (cross pattée) struck from iron and mounted in a silver frame which has a raised crenulated decorative border. The obverse of the cross bears the date 1939 under a "mobile" swas (Hook Cross). Second class crosses would have a ring at the top where a ring was attached, and had more markings on the back. The first class award, however, was meant to attach directly to the front of the uniform.

Please note the edge seam for authentication, which is not present on reproductions. Iron crosses were commonly constructed from an iron core sandwiched in a surrounding two part silver frame, normally the seam of these two silver parts is visible around the edge of the cross as is seen on this fine example.

A fantastic "screw back" EKI, in really great shape, with some fantastic documentation linking it to a German WWII Night Fighter Ace! Ready to research and display!

There is no more iconic German military award than the Iron Cross. The long history of this order began during the Napoleonic Wars. King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia instituted the “Eisernes Kreuz” (Iron Cross) in March of 1813. The award criteria changed somewhat with time, but generally speaking, Iron Crosses could be awarded for individual acts of bravery, or for leadership achievements on the battlefield. The design was created by a Karl Friedrich Schinkel, his choice of the black cross with silver outline was derived from the heraldic emblem of the Teutonic Knights.

There were a number of different type and grades of Iron Cross awards throughout its long history, but the basic details of the most widely awarded grades: The Iron Cross 1st Class and Iron Cross 2nd Class- remained the same. The first class award was a breast badge, with fittings on the reverse to allow it to be worn on the uniform. These fittings varied widely over time and from maker to maker, and could be a simple in and catch, a screw post and retaining disc, or more elaborate setups. The second class award was suspended from a ribbon, originally in the Prussian colors of black and white, later in the Reich colors of black, red and white.

On the original versions of these crosses, in 1813, the front of the iron core of each grade was bare, and only the second class award had ornamentation: a crown over the initials “FW” representing the King, a sprig of oak leaves, and the date 1813. The core was redesigned in 1870, when the cross was re-instituted during the Franco-Prussian War. The reverse ornamentation on the Iron Cross 2nd Class remained the same, but the front of the core on both grades now bore another crown, a “W” representing Kaiser Wilhelm, and the date 1870. This pattern repeated again when the cross was reinstituted for WWI- everything stayed the same, only the date 1870 was replaced with 1914.

The final reinstitution of the cross came in 1939. For this version, the front of the core for both grades bore a swas and the date 1939. The oak leaves, crown and royal initials were removed from the reverse, with only the date 1813 remaining as a reminder of the legacy of this award. In WWII, hundreds of thousands of Iron Cross First Class awards were bestowed, and four and a half million Iron Cross Second Class awards. Iron Crosses were made by a large number of authorized manufacturers. Some variants of these awards were mass produced in huge numbers. Others were made in very limited quantities.

The Iron Cross was normally a military decoration only, though there were instances of it being awarded to civilians for performing military functions. Two examples of this were civilian test pilots Hanna Reitsch who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class and 1st Class and Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class, for their actions as pilots during World War II.